Suave wrote:Like I said, I am saving up to buy a decent grinder & have learn't from various posts that any old cheap one will not do - over here in London, a decent grinder can cost a fair bit & initially I was a bit concerned to buy a used/secondhand one in case I got stuck with a lemon and/or incase it's useful life was already done or fears that it would need costly servicing or be on it's last legs etc.
...
They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I have just pulled a shot for you all to see & advise me of - it was done using Pre-Ground Lavazza Black Espresso Coffee (100% Arabica).

As others have stated, the pictures you show are exactly what I'd expect from the coffee you're using. IMO, you won't be able to do significantly better until you've got a decent grinder and are using fresh beans. If you enjoy these results, continue to enjoy them until you've saved up for a decent grinder. If you're not enjoying these results, I'd suggest draining the machine and storing it until you get a decent grinder and some fresh beans. There is no meaningful improvement to be had tweaking things short of that, as far as I can tell.

Suave-
This double



was made with this old stash (pre-ground coffee ground about 18 days ago, approx 25 days from roast, guessing)



It tasted like


Well... not bad eh!

Bottom line,
It is possible to get a decent espresso (taste & pour included) just like above using the classic with pre ground coffee (granted if it's really really old it will not taste very good). Anyway, something to work on 'till you get a grinder and some fresh beans..
All that said please don't going into debt or ignore your kids in this process.

Suave wrote:Hi All,

I was very surprised at how good the results were - a shot would take anything between 20-30 seconds & it was a decent size amount of coffee with good thick creme. This happened with various pre-ground coffee brands.

Lately though, my Gaggia Classic seems to pull really fast shots and produces way too much volume - it can easily fill a regular size mug to about 1/2 full in about 8-10 seconds, 3/4 full in about 15 and full at or before 20 seconds. After first pressing on the pump, the coffee comes out very thin & after a about 5 or 6 seconds, there is pretty much water just coming out - almost no crema at all.

There is one other possibility. If you were getting the 20-30 second semi decent shots with crema then started getting the 1/2 full mug in 8-10 seconds, with no real change in the coffee used, it may be the pressure valve is not closing all the way. The Classic has a spring loaded rubber valve that opens when the boiler pressure is high enough, and springs closed when the pump is turned off. You may have some coffee grinds or scale built up on the valve which is causing it to let water through prematurely. Result would be low brew pressure, watery thin shots, no crema, and way too much volume for the brew time..[http://www.wholelattelove.com/articles/espresso_machine_repairs.cfm] This is a link that explains how to check and clean the valve. Just a thought. If the hyperlink dosen't work just copy and paste the link into your browser. Not sure how the code works on this site to put in urls.

The Classic has a spring loaded rubber valve that opens when the boiler pressure is high enough, and springs closed when the pump is turned off.

On some way older model Gaggias, for sure the gran gaggia, possibly I think the older baby's but not the classic model. All the classic Gaggias have a 3 way solenoid valve. Not trying to be a dink, just for clarification.

I stand corrected. I was thinking of the Carezza, not the classic. My bad.

I use to use preground Illy long, long ago. A freshly opened can would make a half decent cup, but later that day, not so much. My opinion of what is good has evolved quite a bit. Your results are going to be marginal and sporadic at best until you get a grinder. Supermarket beans are about the worst and if you grind them in the bulk grinder in the store you will have a hard time getting the grind fine enough. You will also be picking up the leftover sludge from the flavored and whatever else the rest of the populous dumped in the grinder.

cafeIKE wrote:
If you've not seen it in your web travels, we have an Espresso Rule of 15's:
Green Coffee is good for 15 months
Roasted Coffee is good for 15 days
Ground Coffee is good for 15 MINUTES

"WE"... who is we? There are no rules in espresso, only very vague guidelines. I suggest using time/volume ONLY to get in the ballpark of what is right for you then tweak a bit until you lock onto a routine that works great for YOU. Don't worry what others have achieved as all machines/grinders are a bit-alot different. The temperature/humidity may vary greatly in your environment. Just too many variables to even compare your routine to what others do.

-I have no knowledge of green bean timeline, so 15 months might be max in that regard.

-I have successfully used beans for drip coffee up to the 1 month mark. Really depends on storage, etc. Now for espresso 2 weeks might be ideal, but is by no means the true cutoff point. That really depends on bean roast level, storage, etc. I have had great results with espresso roasts over 3 weeks out from roast.

-15 mins after grinding? For drip coffee maybe... for espresso I like to lower that to 5 mins. or less.

Suave,

Ive never worked with pre-ground, so I wont
give any advice or judgment on it.

I have however, owned a Carezza, which is like
a Classic, and can tell you that my results
would become inconsistent once the group
valve assembly got dirty.

This may be your problem, since you were
having "good results" before.

You should remove and clean the shower holding
plate, group valve assembly, and the hole of the group
body.

check out the link below to see what I mean
http://www.partsguru.com/user/Carezza%20diagram%20and%20parts%20list.pdf

wholelattelove.com had an instruction doc on how to do this as well.



Good Luck

appa wrote:This may be your problem, since you were
having "good results" before.

You should remove and clean the shower holding
plate, group valve assembly, and the hole of the group
body.

See my response above, classic doesn't have a valve assembly like the carezza, gran, etc....