I’m probably going to be throwing espresso notes online here, since it seems as good a place as any to keep track of them. For the benefit of the innocents who might stumble across insane espresso posts and wonder, here’s the story of how the setup came about along with notes about the equipment.

So I finally snapped. I’ve been considering improving my coffee making setup approximately since we got the house. About a month ago, our coffee maker suddenly stopped making the water hot enough to brew a decent pot. I had always planned that the next coffee machine I got was going to be a good one, but hadn’t done my research to determine that. So I bought a press pot from target to keep me caffeinated and got to researching.


My first thought was that I’d just get a Rancilio Silvia. Based on my recollections from lurking around alt.coffee and coffeegeeks, it was the consensus good-but-not-insane home setup. That is to say, you could get one without spending an arm and a leg and learn to produce good coffee with it fairly easily. I had also read an article some time back in make magazine about modifying the thermostat with some electronics for better temperature control, and that sounded both fun and useful. Unfortunately, inflation’s been a bitch for coffee equipment. The machine that I remembered as a $300 – $400 toy had just gone up to $700. And I’d still need a new grinder. I just wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective I suppose) this particular hobby seems to induce “upgrade-itis” in its partisans. That means there’s a healthy market for second hand machines. Many are very gently used. So I started keeping an eye out for bargains on machine and grinder alike.

I found a machine first. The Gaggia Classic is very much like the Silvia in terms of capability and price. There’s a gentleman in Texas who buys used ones, refurbishes them, and adds PID controllers to them, and I ran across one of his sales. The price was much lower than a new machine, and with the precise temperature control installed, the machine promised to be better than new, so I jumped on it. When the machine arrived, news was mixed. I now had a great machine and nothing that could grind for it. I went down to Murky Coffee to get some pre-ground beans, but they choked it. My old grinder gave me a full shot of espresso in about 7 seconds, which made for a very sour experience.

After getting outbid on several other grinders, I managed to secure a one of these from a coffee shop that was going out of business. It took quite a bit of work to de-gunk it, but after cleaning it thoroughly and installing a brand new set of burrs, it’s fantastic.

So far, I’m happy with the setup. I know the basics of operating the machines, and have begun to hone my technique. I’m now at the point where I get consistently tasty results without wasting too much coffee.