Hello all!
I have been lurking this forum for many months and this is my first post. Thank you all for sharing such great expertise and information. I was wondering if any of you excperts can help me with the shot quality of my Gaggia Achille.

This is not my first machine. I have had good machines in the past and I also drink very good coffee on a regular basis both at home and when going out. I love creamy buttery aroma-rich shots and some of my most used beans are Intelligentsia, Gorilla, 9th St, Espresso, La Colombe and Gimme. From the more commercial brands, I usually prefer the Italians; Kimbo, 1882, Dansei and Bristot.

I am new to lever machines however. I've had my Gaggia for about 3 weeks now and I am going through coffee at the rate of gasoline usage by a Persian gulf oil monarchy. Making my morning Americano usually I go through about 2 full tanks of water and 4-5 doses until I give up and end up with something that tastes like Folgers. I just can't seem to produce a decent shot. Regardless of 7g dosage that is pressed to the limiting rim with 60-70 Lbs tamping (!!!) at a very fine grind -I get pucks stuck to the showerhead while my portafilter and basket come out clean. That had tripled my paper towel budget in the past few weeks and I spend most of the morning cleaning the machine up.
Typically, the single shot basket yields very poor crema in under extracted sour shots. (I press it just right to have a drizzle, not too fast. I know what the drizzle speed is supposed to look like).

Out of frustration I switch to the other basket which is triple in size. I fill it half way and I get what looks like decent crema on top but has no depth to it. The shot is flavorless/bodyless and having so much espresso, I need to toss one espresso and only use the other to make an Americano at the right strength - a huge waste of very expensive coffee.

So here's what I have:

• I am vigilant about pressure to speed of drizzle ratio
• I know how to tamp very properly
• My beans are fresh and high quality
• Due to real estate limitation (I live in Manhattan, NYC apartments are small and expensive) I cannot afford the space for a proper grinder. I do however have a good network of coffee roasters and baristas around who happily grind the coffee for me at whatever setting I desire using some very good grinders. All of the grinds from brands I mentioned above have been tested anywhere from 0.2 to 2.0 on a perfectly calibrated newer model 18-step Mazzer commercial grinder.

The only thing I can think is that I still haven't found the right grind. One of the best baristas I know (owner of 6 amazing coffee shops and roasting house) had told me that I should go coarser and not finer with the ground. It indeed produced far better results with more crema, but having it so coarse, I just can't seem to keep a puck together, even at very heavy tamping.

I know that I am doing something wrong and this machine can do the magic. Can anyone please advise?

There is a lot to cover, I did the same thing as you at the start. Got a machine and tried to get good enough pregroung to live without a grinder.

The 'drizzle' speed is set by the coffee and your Achille basically just wants you to pull hard. This is very hard to get right without your own grinder. If the coffee is too coarse and you are modulating the pour speed with the lever you are probably not making enough pressure.

That large basket should have a lot of coffee in it, enough to nearly touch the shower screen, do not worry about what the pucks look like.

I would spend a few hours trawling around this site there is a fair bit of good general advice and talk about grinders as well as some Achille specific info.

You really need a grinder if you have any hope of getting this right. Find the space somewhere. Hunt around Craigslist and you should be able to get a good, used, commercial grinder for under $200. I used to live in Hong Kong, so I sympathize with regards to little apartments, but your own grinder is crucial.

you don't need a lot of space for a proper grinder, a Baratza vario is very compact yet excellent grinder.

Here is a great review

http://www.home-barista.com/gaggia-achi...guide.html

Wow, what a great welcome for my first post!

lsjms - thanks, this is a very good tip. When I pack the grind hard enough to where it's hard to pull the machine makes crackly sounds that seem as if I may be over-doing it. I have lurked around the forums here for a while and saw several complaints about the gasket giving up when the pulls are consistently very strong. I suppose I need to find the balance.

The other thing is, it seems that coarser coffee (as per the suggestion of my barista buddy) did produce a better shot but there is no way on earth where I can tamper coarser grind and get any sort of resistance from the machine. Dense coffee comes out bitter at the back of the tongue and lacks any sort of body or roundness in the middle and tip of the tongue. The crema is mediocre. I wish with all those photos and videos that someone would have shown what type of grind they actually use.

Clint Orchuk, sontondaman - thanks! Yes, it's more a matter of space than a matter of cost. (frankly all this experimentation costs far more than a really nice grinder). The thing is that at this point, I have a $2800 Mazzer (clean, calibrated, newer) available to me just downstairs. I have a sense that the heart of my problem is in the grind size indeed, but if I can't get it right on the $2800 grinder than I can only assume that my concept of grind size must be wrong to begin with.

It seems to be a very challenging balance between a grind size that doesn't burn, yet doesn't blond and at the same time extracts lots of proper crema. Even tougher once you factor in the desire for lever resistance while remaining as a bonded puck that is not stuck to the group head after giving it a standard 30Lbs tamp.

I am also not sure if I should use the double or the single. I mostly pull double espresso shots for my Americano and Latte. What say you?

I tried an ESE yesterday and that was the first time I got a proper lever resistance and got a good looking/smelling shot (single though). It was decaf so I can't tell you what it tasted like; (to me all decafs feel as if you are drinking slightly-used coffee -even with the best beans/roast/grind/barista/equipment)

ANeat - Yes, I read this review before purchasing the machine. Saw the videos and many other videos of people pulling beautiful shots with this machine rather easily. I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. It must be some silly "A-Ha!" thing.

The problems you're having sound very similar to what I was getting on my La Pavoni Europiccola while I was trying to dial in my grinder. I'm thinking your problem is that the $2800 Mazzer is downstairs in your friends apartment and not sitting next to your Gaggia. It doesn't matter how good the grinder is if it's far away and you can't make small adjustments each shot to get the correct flow and resistance.

If you really don't have room for a big electric grinder get a hand grinder to use in your apartment...then you'll be able to adjust the grind each shot and actually get it dialed in.

When pulling good shots on the Achille it will bend, groan and occasionally leak. Look again at Cannonfodders video and check the power(lots, steadily) going into the lever.

Borrow that Mazzer for the night = A-ha

lsjms - thanks! Elbow grease it is!

entropyembrace - Oh,m I wish. That machine is attached to a coffee shop and is not going anywhere. (but I did think of bringing my Gaggia down there instead!).
Surely there must be some small wiggle room between a 'terrible' shot and a 'heavenly' shot. I want to get to the grinds in the general neighborhood from the grinder downstairs, so I can at least have an idea of which range makes this work. At this point I don't even know if I should go finer or coarser as my results are so mixed. I am utterly confused.

Do those hand grinders really work? someone demonstrated one to me the other day ($50 unit) with conical burrs and the grind just didn't seem very even sized. Any recommendations?

Are you flushing before getting ready to pull a shot? The water could be getting over heated, and it's what I used to do with mine when I had one. Way-cool machine....miss it sometimes.