by ntwkgestapo on Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:19 am It arrived from WLL this evening about 7:30. Came packed in a fairly large box with enough styrofoam peanuts to choke an elephant. Inside that was yet another corrugated cardboard box and inside THAT was the "retail" box for the Gaggia Factory 16 Cup that I'd ordered. I'm a LITTLE disappointed as the corrugated box had been opened and resealed (tape over the flaps, about half of the staples that were put in @ the factory were missing and the ones that WERE there weren't fastened). When I opened the retail box, the power cord wasn't "restrained" in any way (no twist ties, no tape.... Asia has a tendency to use wire twist ties, Europe usually coils the cord and tapes the coil at a single point. Just what I've observed over the years), the double filter basket was loose in the styrofoam packing, and the rest of the parts were inside a plastic bag folded over a few times and stapled to seal. Had I purchased a "buyers remorse" system it would have been one thing, but I purchased a NEW system (and the invoice says that)...
BUT, I went ahead and unpacked and assembled. Filled the boiler with water (with a bit of baking soda) turned it on and let it build pressure. At about .9 bar it began cycling, down to about .65 then up to .9. Looked good. I purged the water out thru the P/F, turned it off, bled the pressure off via the steam wand and emptied the boiler once it was safe. Refilled with clean, filtered water and repeated the purge cycle (twice. Refilled the boiler one more time and purged, JUST to make sure).
Now I had planned on just "playing" with the system. Put a thermocouple up the P/F spouts and see what kind of temps I could get as well as see how the temps climbed over time..... Well, "the best laid plans o' mice and men, gang aft aglay" (don't kill me on the spelling, haven't seen the original in about 40 years!
). Instead, I ground some coffee using the Starbucks Barista grinder I've got, loaded the filterbasket up, tamped and tried to take a shot! A bit fast, not the darkest crema I've ever seen and somewhat bitter... OK, tighten the grind up and try again. Better! Still bitter, crema is better but not great and she still pulled fast, BUT, not as bitter and it actually made a fairly decent cappa! UNFORTUNATELY, this is as tight as the Barista/Solis grinder goes!
In the morning I'm gonna break out the hand grinder and see what I can do with it!
There will be more to come (and I WILL do the T/C up the filter spout and take some measurements!).
Pictures will show up from time to time showing good AND bad!
). I've gotten much better shots this last week from it than I recall ever getting before. I am using a Cimabli MAX grinder with it, which of course probably helps. Finer grind, 10-15lb tamp, plastic POS tamper. I'm also leaning way into it (placing my shoulder on the lever near the bottom), more so than I ever did before (and maybe a bit too much, I dunno?).
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