I got my brand new Gaggia straight from italy a couple of days ago. I'm still waiting for the delivery-guy to turn up with my grinder, so i've spent the first days together with my machine, observing how it heats water and pushes it down the cylinder. As mentioned before, the cylinder also acts as a heat-exchanger. I first thought that the machine was gravity-fed, feeding the cylinder when the lever is raised. However, the machine draws water when the lever is pulled...which must mean that the cylinder is in fact split in a lower and upper compartment, separated by a disc with a one-way valve; feeding the upper compartment while the lever is pulled down, and moving water from the upper to the lower when you rise the lever.
I tried pulling some shots with preground, but i met little resistance and the coffee came out with no crema. Will this be fixed when i install my Rocky and grind me some beans?
With my old $100-machine, i could make quite nice microfoam, even though it seemed to use some pump to get steam pressure, instead of boiling water. I was quite scared that the Achille would take latte art away from me, so i loaded my pitcher with milk and steamed it with the turbofrother removed...and it seams to work fine! The naked wand is long enough to reach down into my pitcher, and the hole at the tip is small enough to create high velocity steam. If i later find that i can make better microfoam on my buddy's Tea, i'm thinking that i might get a professional steam tip, drill away the threads and somehow attach it to the wand...
Got any questions or tips about this machine? I found the old achille thread, but it didn't really contain much meat...
