Making great coffee at home

[char1ie]

I'm thinking about buying a Gaggia Titanium to make proper espresso and capuccino at home. Anybody else have a method, a machine or a recommendation for proper coffee?

The Titanium has beans at the top, espresso out the bottom, a proper steamer with proper pressure and it's fully automatic:

http://www.coffeeitalia.co.uk/prodimages/gaggia/titanium-plus/198_99_titanium_plus.jpg

And I have been lusting after the tank filled Gaggia TS for some time - more robust, more industrial, less automatic:

http://kofem.ru/images/goods/good_455bbd36bd797.jpg

There's one on the bar of the EDT.

Charlie

[peckhamboy]

I've got a little Gaggia (like this one) and I love it. You can't beat making your own espresso, although those little stove top makers are a hell of a lot cheaper! And as for coffee, the best espresso has to be illy.

[SimonM]

Out of interest how many double espressos could you buy at the EDT for the cost of this admittedly marvellous-looking machine? :))

And yes, Illy beans are the best, and should be at the price: from time to time though Sainsbury's knock ?1 off a tin and then I bulk-buy!

[lozzyloz]

Are you planning to compete with Blue Mountain? I love my ancient Bialetti.

[Domitianus]

I must say that I think percolating coffee has a special quality and also is hugely reminiscent for me of Christmas time when my grandfather would buy freshly ground coffee beans and fill the house with the wonderful smell every morning. I would come downstairs as a five or six year old to see the silver coffee percolator going "blubble-blubble" on the hot-plate. Memories!

[Asset]

ancient bialetti percolator for me too. I'm planning to upgrade to a stainless steel one like this bialetti. no good for espresso as you need a machine for a proper one but good for my morning coffee with warm milk. don't like cappucino, all froth.

[SimonM]

Percolators are the inventions of Satan as they boil the coffee....

[Domitianus]

Is this one of those wanky, pretentious things - you must never boil coffee as it ruins the taste? A bit like having sorbet between courses to cleanse the palette? Or not rubbing perfume once it is on the skin as it ruins the fragrance?

[Michael Palaeologus]

Boil water for tea, not for coffee - well known, not wanky.

I have seriously thought about buying an expresso machine but dont drink that much coffee, but do like a nice one. I was warned that this would mean that the machine would get horrible inside - is this true?

[lozzyloz]

Not if it's fed from a water softener.

[Domitianus]

So how come percolated coffee tastes so damn good then, if boiling ruins coffee?

[lozzyloz]

It depends how you percolate. Once the bubbling starts reduce the heat. when the coffee has percolated turn off heat and serve immediately. That way it doesn't quite boil and you're right - tastes damn fine

[Asset]

percolating it does not boil the coffee. If you then leave the percolator on the heat after it has percolated, it burns the coffee. You have to remove it the second it starts bubbling.

[Domitianus]

I knew there had to be an answer. And, let's face it, for a six year old, it is the most exciting way to watch coffee being made (especially if you have also watched the beans being ground at local importer). I remember us getting the plywood tea-crates from the importer to put our toys in. We had to rip out the foil linings and every time we went to get out Action Man there was a wonderful smell of tea.

[citizenED]

surely, two spoonfuls of Morrisons Instant coffee powder, evaporated milk and four sugars.

[char1ie]

SimonM Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Out of interest how many double espressos could

> you buy at the EDT for the cost of this admittedly

> marvellous-looking machine? :))

>

> And yes, Illy beans are the best, and should be at

> the price: from time to time though Sainsbury's

> knock ?1 off a tin and then I bulk-buy!

For the Gaggia TS the answer is 550ish.

[AnotherPaul]

Kimbo is my favourite coffee, fiesty and Neopolitan.

It's stocked in SMBS

and no I don't work there.

[snorky]

Ive had a brace of the gaggaias and they aint what you expect

they make a noise like a trabant engine with a loose scraper ring & shot bottom end. they really are grim - the finish is utterly shocking - more sharp edged tinplate than a 1950's Japanese toy robot.

Th water takn on my model did seem to be constructed to make filling as complicated as possible.

Go for simplicity - there a many decent priced espresso machineas about that do exactly the same job , but with no fancy dan frills - its a very basic concept - a water tank, a heater and a filter.

you atre paying serious money for the gaggia badge and in my opinion, its not worth the hassle or the expense.

[snorky]

AnotherPaul Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Kimbo is my favourite coffee, fiesty and

> Neopolitan.

> It's stocked in SMBS

> and no I don't work there.

Iv been to naples and its not a taste I would wish to remembet to be honest - Tirana felt a great deal safer and marginally cleaner

[char1ie]

snorky Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Ive had a brace of the gaggaias and they aint what

> you expect

>

> they make a noise like a trabant engine with a

> loose scraper ring & shot bottom end. they really

> are grim - the finish is utterly shocking - more

> sharp edged tinplate than a 1950's Japanese toy

> robot.

>

> Th water takn on my model did seem to be

> constructed to make filling as complicated as

> possible.

>

> Go for simplicity - there a many decent priced

> espresso machineas about that do exactly the same

> job , but with no fancy dan frills - its a very

> basic concept - a water tank, a heater and a

> filter.

>

> you atre paying serious money for the gaggia badge

> and in my opinion, its not worth the hassle or the

> expense.

I agree that they are Italian made, rough and ready, unreliable and shonky. Do you have a recommendation for a good machine Snorky?

Charlie

[david_carnell]

How about one of these bad boys:

http://www.gocoffee.co.uk/coffee-machines/images/100104.jpg

Anything involving levers and dials has to be good, right?

[missd]

In my humble opinion you can't beat those traditional little on the hob espresso makers. we have one at home and they're great. it's all we use. Illy or Monmouth coffee are both lovely.

[James]

Is this thread a wind-up?

What next? Recommendations for an Aga, a camper van, designer pushchairs and other middle-class cliches?

[lozzyloz]

James are you feeling a tad envious? Need a review of a Burberry Cap, Academy track suit or Staffordshire Bull Terrier instead?

[snorky]

its not a wind up - no for me anyway.