Hey All. I come to you as an espresso beginner, but with six months of learning so far.

I have a Gaggia Classic, and have been using the Hario hand grinder to make reasonably good espresso. I recently started roasting my own beans, and that brought in a new challenge, and with that a new level of appreciation for what really espresso can be.

To take it to the next step, I bought a Baratza Vario grinder. It came, and upon unpacking, it was DOA. Ok, things happen. I called, and they shipped me another one. I got this one and it works. Thankfully.

I spent an hour last night and about a pound of beans trying to get a tolerable shot (thankfully I used my crap beans). I *finally* got to a setting that wouldn't choke the Gaggia, and wouldn't spurt out like a firehose, and made a tolerable shot. I was really having a hard time getting the levers on the side to make any difference. It seems like I'd move the levers to change the grind and nothing would happen. The grind seemingly stayed the same. Then, all of a sudden, voila - I had a grind setting that was within range. I thought "ok, this must be it". I shut things down, and thought "I'm going to have a great shot in the morning with the last of my best beans!".

Fast forward to this morning - and my last few scoops of my great fantastic beans. I run them through the grinder, and it chokes the Gaggia fully. Not even a drop. Putting more beans in and setting the large adjustment another step coarser, still chokes.

I gave up. Are the levers there just to make us think we're doing something? Everyone said the Vario was a great grinder, but at this rate I'm about ready to send it back.

So I have to conclude, what am I doing wrong? I tried adjusting levers while the machine is running, tried moving them all the way to coarse and back, tried incremental, nothing seems to adjust like I'd expect.

And yes, before I started I confirmed it was calibrated per the standard process, and it was.

It must be me. I'm humble, but very frustrated. Please help...

How old were the "crap beans"? Old, stale beans will require a much finer grind setting to achieve a decent pour then fresh beans using the same dose. Dial in your good beans & see what you think.

They were old (just bagged beans bought from Costco for learning against). They were no doubt stale by espresso standards, but I thought they'd at least get me in the ballpark.

Is there a secret to changing the grind settings? From my vantage point - its magic. There is seemingly no rhyme or reason to getting the grind to change. And I have no more good beans at this point

Oh, btw, my "setting" was around 2H for the old beans. Opened it up to 3H and still no luck with my good beans.

Dan Kehn (the owner of HB) in one of his videos has been advocating against the use of stale beans for training as a newbie...IIRC

Just get some beans that are great and start dialling in the grind.. (when dialling the grind be sure the dose is consistently the same otherwise you arent dialling properly)

N6GQ wrote:...I used my crap beans... Fast forward to this morning - and my last few scoops of my great fantastic beans. I run them through the grinder, and it chokes the Gaggia fully.

Sadly this is an entirely predictable outcome that most experience at least once. This is why I advocate using only fresh coffee, even if you're a newbie. Those who decide to "economize" by dialing in using stale coffee invariably report the same thing that you have. The margin of error on stale coffee is razor thin, the grind setting is super fine compared to fresh, and even if you do manage a reasonable pour time, the taste is between flat and undrinkable.

If you haven't done so already, consider watching the Newbie Introduction to Espresso video series. It covers this and just about every problem you'll encounter in your first 3-6 months of making espresso at home.

Thanks Dan and others. I'll go through your list and read/watch up and attempt this again...sounds like I fell into the standard trap.

If you prefer a quick read to videos, see Fine tuning grinder setting with minimum waste. It explains how to get in the 20-30 second ballpark without wasting coffee. I demonstrated this approach in the grinders video. Once you're in the ballpark, follow How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste.

Using "crap" beans and expecting a good shot is like using ground beef and expecting filet mignon.

Yup can't dial in with stale beans. In addition to the meat analogy, it'd also be like throwing truck a/t tires on your sports car and trying to track it