Coffee Q - A newb moving on from bean to cup!

bigpoppa

Evening all,

After a whopping six years my magimix robot cafe bean to cup machine has died. Had some good years experimenting with different beans etc but now must move on (and from the sounds of it bean to cup is old hat anyway).

I will add that when I had the machine I would froth milk manually and put in shots and worked great.

I have taken the time to research this forum and reckon I will get a decent grinder (MC model) and a Gaggi Classic.

Is this the generally recommended way to go? Anyone recommend a good place to buy in ireland ?

TIA

Doodee

The Gaggia classic is a very good machine for the home. Providing you also get yourself a very good grinder.
To start out a good combo would be the Classic and the Ibertal MC2 grinder.
The MC2 offers decent grind for the money and will be a good base to learn from.
As regards buying them, I did see a few machines in Kennelworth electric in Harolds Cross. I don't know if these were in for repair or for sale but you could always ring them and ask, otherwise keep your eyes on adverts.ie as a few good deals have been gotten there recently.

Regarding the grinder, I'm not sure where you can get one. Happydonkey.co.uk are no longer shipping to Ireland and they were one of the only places to get one from.
An alternative to the MC2 could be the Rancillio rocky. These can be bought from http://www.ristrettocoffee.com/ . If you have some extra cash you could go for the Rocky + Silvia combo which would be an ideal home barista set up for under 1k.

llatsni

As Doodee said the Gaggia Classic is a good machine; but in the same price range I think I prefer the Rancilio Silvia. Do keep your eye out for a 2nd hand e61 type machine, I got my Zaffiro for about the price of a new Classic

The MC2 is available from coffeehit ((MC2) but is a fair bit more than the happydonkey prices unfortunately (idiots).

If I was buying another grinder (MUST RESIST) I'd be getting the Mahlkonig Vario or the Mazzer Mini E, but they're a lot more money I suppose; the advantage being that big adjustments are way way easier than the MC2 where cafetiere to espresso is basically untenable.

Gran Hermano

I've had both the Gaggia Classic and a Silvia, both are good home machines but the Silvia gets my vote.

See if you can pick up a Gaggia MDF (not sure if still available new), MC2 or Rocky grinder.

bigpoppa

Afternoon, ok so in the interest of sharing information I just wanted to make the following points for fellow boardsies! Note I am going to order a classic and MC2 Grinder this week.

BT no longer stock Gaggia as Gaggia UK closed down apparently (only the UK distributor) I am sure most people here knew that already.

Kennelworth have some Gaggia Classic but to be honest I personally wouldnt buy em as they looked well scraggy

donnacha

OP - I haven't checked recently but I'd be fairly sure you'll pick up a gaggia machine in arnotts.