Gaggia Coffee Makers Anyone??
Discussion
All
My Gaggia Cubika Coffee Maker seems to be on the blink -
1. Espresso never seems to get a decent crema on, even though we have bought a decent grinder and tried the different settings. Also with getting the beans ground in the shop for Gaggia makers seems to be fairly poor.
2. Milk never gets a decent froth on - although we do use only skimmed milk.
The coffee tastes good - it just looks crap.
My question is do you think the maker is pants or just unserviceable. It is a few years old, and from a bit of google research the water pressue in this maker is pretty poor.
Any thoughts?
My Gaggia Cubika Coffee Maker seems to be on the blink -
1. Espresso never seems to get a decent crema on, even though we have bought a decent grinder and tried the different settings. Also with getting the beans ground in the shop for Gaggia makers seems to be fairly poor.
2. Milk never gets a decent froth on - although we do use only skimmed milk.
The coffee tastes good - it just looks crap.
My question is do you think the maker is pants or just unserviceable. It is a few years old, and from a bit of google research the water pressue in this maker is pretty poor.
Any thoughts?
You can get a general descaler from supermarkets but they don't give specific instructions for use wth coffee makers. Descalers specific to yours can be got from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gaggia-Descaler-Decalcifie...
If it's not been done for a very long while it may need a couple of treatments but I reckon 1 is normally fine. Hope this fixes it!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gaggia-Descaler-Decalcifie...
If it's not been done for a very long while it may need a couple of treatments but I reckon 1 is normally fine. Hope this fixes it!
pointedstarman said:
You can get a general descaler from supermarkets but they don't give specific instructions for use wth coffee makers. Descalers specific to yours can be got from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gaggia-Descaler-Decalcifie...
If it's not been done for a very long while it may need a couple of treatments but I reckon 1 is normally fine. Hope this fixes it!
Magic thanks - descaling should fix both you think? I assume skimmed milk should still froth nice and thick?http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gaggia-Descaler-Decalcifie...
If it's not been done for a very long while it may need a couple of treatments but I reckon 1 is normally fine. Hope this fixes it!
Just run through the whole reservoir of water into a jug - and it really is not very hot - I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to hot water but even I could easily put my fingers in it. Does a descale increase the temperature?
The steamer seemed to steam ok, but not bery fast. I can see how descale would increase the steam flow, but the temperature thing is bugging me.
The steamer seemed to steam ok, but not bery fast. I can see how descale would increase the steam flow, but the temperature thing is bugging me.
Temperature thing is an odd one - scale can affect pressure but don't know about temp?
Suggest you give it a blast with descaler & see what happens. It's the cheapest potential solution. Suspect repair will cost a bob or two and new machine is couple hundred quid if it's the one I'm thinking of.
Suggest you give it a blast with descaler & see what happens. It's the cheapest potential solution. Suspect repair will cost a bob or two and new machine is couple hundred quid if it's the one I'm thinking of.
ok - descaler ordered - but it in the mean time i have taken it apart - and my god it was minging!
The filter bit (head?) had very few unblocked holes - so have soaked it in bicarb of soda to clean this. Above this in some sort of capsule (two peice sealed with an O-Ring) was really scaled up - so have cleaned as best I can, and the centre tube was alnost fully blocked - but a good blow through sorted that!
All the tubes have been blown through. All back together and functionally tested - the coffee definitely runs faster, but still is not very hot. There was a little ring of crema on the coffee but i never used my best ground coffee for this. But it is progress.
I have not frothed some milk yet! Like I said, progress but am not convinced because of the temperature of the coffee!
The filter bit (head?) had very few unblocked holes - so have soaked it in bicarb of soda to clean this. Above this in some sort of capsule (two peice sealed with an O-Ring) was really scaled up - so have cleaned as best I can, and the centre tube was alnost fully blocked - but a good blow through sorted that!
All the tubes have been blown through. All back together and functionally tested - the coffee definitely runs faster, but still is not very hot. There was a little ring of crema on the coffee but i never used my best ground coffee for this. But it is progress.
I have not frothed some milk yet! Like I said, progress but am not convinced because of the temperature of the coffee!
mattyn1 said:
Just run through the whole reservoir of water into a jug - and it really is not very hot - I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to hot water but even I could easily put my fingers in it. Does a descale increase the temperature?
The steamer seemed to steam ok, but not bery fast. I can see how descale would increase the steam flow, but the temperature thing is bugging me.
Yes, it should help all of that. Internally it'll be similar to a kettle, and when those get scaly they don't boil properly. The steamer seemed to steam ok, but not bery fast. I can see how descale would increase the steam flow, but the temperature thing is bugging me.
Found this. I know thier Aussies but there's still a slim chance of it being right...
http://www.coffeemachinedescaling.com.au/index.php...
http://www.coffeemachinedescaling.com.au/index.php...
pointedstarman said:
Found this. I know thier Aussies but there's still a slim chance of it being right...
http://www.coffeemachinedescaling.com.au/index.php...
Mate thanks - having had a good clean and later in the week a descale or two we hopefully will see improvement! Otherwise I guess it is wallet time!http://www.coffeemachinedescaling.com.au/index.php...
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