new to all this :)

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A friend donated me a lovely Gaggia Carezza. He had broken the steam knob off the top and it hadnt been used since. I just adapted something to work in its place and delighted to say the machine works well.

Proper 58mm portafilter and 15 bar pump (same one used in the higher end gaggias i believe).

Picked myself up some thick, lined espresso shot glasses and a 58mm tamper too.

Now just a matter of learning what i'm doing. The coffees are getting better, but sadly my reliance on pre-gound (lavazza espresso) is meaning i'm not getting too much crema at the moment. May need to invest in a reasonable burr grinder!

I'll read through this sub forum for hints and tips, but any advice anyone has would certainly help :)

my process so far:

-1 machine left to heat up for between 15-30 mins (manual only asks for 6 but i find more is better).
-2 fill porta filter till heaped and then use my pinkie to brush off to a level finish.
-3 tamp down firmly and polish the tamp
-4 put portafilter back into machine and hit the steam button for 8 seconds. on this machine its supposed to help raise the water temperature ever so slightly.
-5 hit the button to pour coffee!

This is getting me reasonably tasty results, and with a good steam wand i'm making nice tasting latte's and cappucinos etc. But the shots that come out do so a little quickly (e.g. a shot should perhaps take 20-25 seconds and these take maybe 15-16 seconds) and with very little crema (although some is evident).

I'm guessing that largely i'm noty doing much wrong, and its likely down to the grind and freshness of the coffee thats the issue!
 
That's it...beans, grind and tamp pressure. Pre-ground isn't nearly fine or fresh enough for the best results.

The 15 bar pump pressure claims are a little arbitrary too as it's the pressure at the group head that matters. I don't know about your particular model (it may have classic internals) but there's plenty of info about measuring and adjusting the classic's pump pressure, around 9-10 bar being considered the optimum.

However comparatively it's far more important to get a decent grinder and use fresher beans as you've concluded.
 
With the gorgeous jura beans to cup machine that was loaned to me last year, i got amazing tasting coffee from fairly standard lavazza beans. But then i kept the beans vacuum sealed, only poured what was needed into the machine which of course ground them perfectly to suit.

Must be said though, when you consider a half decent espresso machine, a decent grinder with hopper, a good tamper etc. The cost of a decent beans to cup machine seems less outrageous.
 
As an experiment i picked up some fresh ground espresso from whittards. Nice fine grind. Got it home and in the machine within half an hour. Result? Oodles of lovely thick crema. It was like pouring a guinness

Seems my brewing technique is fine, i just need fresher coffee!!
 
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