Upgraded to a Gaggia MDF this morning. Cant wait to finish work to try it out!!

murphyebass

Hi guys,

So recently I bought a second hand Gaggia Evolution for €50 on adverts and decided not to spend a lot on a grinder. I went with the Delongi KG79 for about €50 off amazon. Anyway after 4 weeks of use it gave up working so I've sent it back to amazon for a full refund.
Part of me was quite happy because it now means I can justify buying a proper grinder, que the Gaggia MDF.

I didnt want to buy online again incase anything went wrong so I went to Watermark out in Dublin 24 this morning, they supply mainly commercial machinery but do some home based stuff too, all gaggia.
www.gaggia.ie is the website for anyone interested in finding out more on them. I have no affiliation btw.
Paid €175 for the grinder and €18 for an aluminium tamper.

I'll upgrade the machine to a gaggia classic at some point down the line but I reckon the new grinder coupled with the old gaggia evolution will do for now.

Cant wait to get home and try it all out!!!

Dero

I've had a Gaggia MDF for years and can't fault it. It is a compromise of course, as everything at this price point is, but overall, it produces a good grind that will be more than good enough for any Gaggia domestic espresso machine.

The compromises are the grind retention (stale coffee stuck in the throat of the grind chamber from the previous session). I dump the first few grams of each session, but it's not strictly necessary I suppose.

The other big bugbear I had was the gap between the grind settings. It was fine really, not optimal, but quite workable. However, as I'm a bit of a tinkerer I modded it to be stepless, which was easy to do, is fully reversible, and makes life a whole lot easier when trying to get a coffee dialled in properly.

I originally used it with a Gaggia Coffee Deluxe, but I finally upgraded to a Brewtus IV earlier this year, so I'm going to upgrade to a Vario-W as soon as I can, but thus far the MDF hasn't disgraced itself with the better machine.

Have fun, and most importantly, enjoy the coffee!

murphyebass

Dero wrote: »

I've had a Gaggia MDF for years and can't fault it. It is a compromise of course, as everything at this price point is, but overall, it produces a good grind that will be more than good enough for any Gaggia domestic espresso machine.

The compromises are the grind retention (stale coffee stuck in the throat of the grind chamber from the previous session). I dump the first few grams of each session, but it's not strictly necessary I suppose.

The other big bugbear I had was the gap between the grind settings. It was fine really, not optimal, but quite workable. However, as I'm a bit of a tinkerer I modded it to be stepless, which was easy to do, is fully reversible, and makes life a whole lot easier when trying to get a coffee dialled in properly.

I originally used it with a Gaggia Coffee Deluxe, but I finally upgraded to a Brewtus IV earlier this year, so I'm going to upgrade to a Vario-W as soon as I can, but thus far the MDF hasn't disgraced itself with the better machine.

Have fun, and most importantly, enjoy the coffee!

Yeah I know there has to be a compromise alright. Sure you can spend mad money on both grinder and machine if you want but to be honest this will have to do me for now. Might PM you about the stepless mod when I get used to it in general.

The Delongi just couldnt get it fine enough. I had an espresso in 3FE on day recently bought the beans and attempted to grind them to the right level to get a "similar" espresso to the one in 3fe but unfortunately I could only get a hint of the flavour they gave me so I reckon it was the grinder just wasnt up to it as the machine I have should be capable enough.

Seriously roll on 5pm lads I'm dyin to try this out!!!

murphyebass

Just tried my first coffee using the new grinder. Put the grinder to mark 5 and went for it. Tamped down with the new tamper and straight into the evolution.
Genuinely i can not get over the difference the grinder has made. I used some of the beans I bought in 3fe. With the old grinder I could only get a hint of the flavour which was obviously a big let down but with the new grinder it tastes the way it does in 3fe or a lot closer anyway... Lol. And that's only my first go with no playin about with settings etc..
Anyway bottom line is spend ur money on the grinder people not the machine.
Best purchase I've made.

jdburkedjburke

Enjoy and Happy Grinding

Mr Magnolia

Ah the slippery slope....

Doodee

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

Ah the slippery slope....

Early stage upgraditis.

okedoke

Dero wrote: »

I've had a Gaggia MDF for years and can't fault it. It is a compromise of course, as everything at this price point is, but overall, it produces a good grind that will be more than good enough for any Gaggia domestic espresso machine.

The compromises are the grind retention (stale coffee stuck in the throat of the grind chamber from the previous session). I dump the first few grams of each session, but it's not strictly necessary I suppose.

The other big bugbear I had was the gap between the grind settings. It was fine really, not optimal, but quite workable. However, as I'm a bit of a tinkerer I modded it to be stepless, which was easy to do, is fully reversible, and makes life a whole lot easier when trying to get a coffee dialled in properly.

I originally used it with a Gaggia Coffee Deluxe, but I finally upgraded to a Brewtus IV earlier this year, so I'm going to upgrade to a Vario-W as soon as I can, but thus far the MDF hasn't disgraced itself with the better machine.

Have fun, and most importantly, enjoy the coffee!

I also have an MDF - I converted it to stepless, which I think is necessary for espresso use with this machine. I also cut out the finger guard which allows you to poke out all the trapped coffee after each grind.