Hi,
this is my first post here
This week I got GAGGIA Classic and Gaggia MDF grinder and my last hour was disaster trying to make some drinkable shots.
I made 15-20 shots and each one had very acidic+bitter taste which was so intense like burned rubber and the strange - fast shot like 10-12sec

I tried:
-2 kind of coffee beans, one was fresher than other
-different grinder settings (from 6 to 3)
-different dosing - from less (very quick watered shots) to overfill with hard locking PF (not more than 15sec) - all was undrinkable bitter sour....

The only weak part is the plastic tamper from Gaggia Clasic, but I doubt that tamping with it cannot make at least some decent shots as this that I got was horrible burnt rubber bitterness

Have no idea....I got better espresso with pre-ground coffee on my cheap Saeco ViaVeneto machine

What kind of beans are you using? Are they really fresh, i.e. less than two weeks post roast date? Are they dark roast (like Starbucks) or lighter? You won't get good results with old, stale beans, or beans that are roasted to the point where they look like charcoal. Try fresh beans from a good roaster.

Gaggia machines are generally pretty good for the money, but you do have to use good technique, good fresh beans and a good grinder. The MDF is not the greatest grinder, but it's not terrible either. The worst limitation is that it only has a few clicks of adjustment in the espresso range, which often isn't enough to get the shot dialed in just right. You should shoot for a setting that gives you a 25-30 second shot time. If it's too slow, grind coarser. If it's too fast, grind finer. You can also play with the amount of coffee dose to change shot time - more coffee will result in a slower shot.

Also, my experience with Gaggias is that they can run a bit too hot. It's best to run a few ounces of water through them as a cooling flush before pulling your shot. As a side benefit, you can use the hot water to pre-warm your cup and PF.

You can get a lot of specific information from the Yahoo Gaggia Users Group:
http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/Gaggia/

It would help if you told us specifically what coffee you are using. The roast level, how old is is since it has been roasted, the blend, etc. Espresso is water + coffee, and water has little or no taste, so if the espresso tastes that bad, a likely suspect are the coffee beans.

Espresso is a demanding method of making coffee beverages. Small changes can make a big difference in the taste. If the amount of coffee is changed (by as little as .1 or .2 grams) the grind needs to be adjusted, and the two factors together can make huge difference in taste.

Then we start talking about distribution of the coffee in the basket. Whether the basket is equipped with a "crema enhancing" device, brew temperature, water quality, and more.

And possibly as important as all that is a scientific approach to the art. It takes experience to be able to do all those things the same way, every time, so that if you make a small change you can know how that change affects taste.

It's a long road. Enjoy the journey.

Beezer wrote: Also, my experience with Gaggias is that they can run a bit too hot. It's best to run a few ounces of water through them as a cooling flush before pulling your shot. As a side benefit, you can use the hot water to pre-warm your cup and PF.

Okay, sorry, but this doesn't work well with the Gaggias. The boiler only holds 3.5 ounces of water at all. If you "run a cooling shot" all you are doing is totally emptying the boiler and forcing it to start over. Controlling the temperature on the Gaggia is tricky (due to the huge deadband of the oem tstat), and most of us who use them successfully have opted to add a PID for the purpose, but pulling water through before pulling a shot really is counterproductive.

Susan

Yeah, I know the MDF isn't stellar, but I have little difficulty on my Gaggia Baby Twin getting a 25 to 30 second 2 oz. double shot with a setting of 3 or 4 and fresh roasted beans. I'm guessing you aren't using fresh roasted beans. You can get them from any of the advertisers here - Paradise, Klatch, Metropolis and others by mail within a few days of roasting. What you buy in the grocery store will not work.

The beans are like a month from the roasted (medium), the funny thing is that when I use the same beans in the superautomatic Saeco machine it becomes very lite refreshing good coffee and now with tha Classics is undrinkably bad and go to sink...

I don't claim to know the specific details of your older machine, but a lot of those lower end saeco machines have pressurized portafilters. You'll never ever get great espresso that way, BUT they are actually a lot more forgiving when it comes to things like improper grind, and old coffee. That's why they exist.

A month is on the oldish side. And where did your beans come from? If its bad coffee, it doesn't matter how fresh it is. If it says starbucks, throw it away. Get some fresher beans from a source people at HB have experience with and that is known to be good. Be prepared to spend some time dialing your grinder in. You'll get there.

The problem is that where I live there is only one place roasting beans so I have no option at all....
Any ordering outside country will last weeks arriving.

I know about pressurized filters on other machines, but my result is the same beans with the "perfect crema" pressurised filter on the Gaggia - bad tasting asidic fast pouring result. So I'm doing something wrong and it is not the beans...?!

Are these new machines? If not, the burrs on the MDF may be worn out. You tried a 3 setting and still got a fast draw - so try a 2. You should be able to at least come near choking the espresso machine. Do you have a non-pressurized porta filter? If you have a local roaster, why can't you get fresher roasted beans?

I just tried the finest settings 1 - it was slower but again not more than 15sec....didnt chok

The Classic is new but the MDF just got it from ebay and looked very new