Do you have fond memories of your first espresso machine?

dfk41

Here is your chance to reveal all. I got into coffee in a funny way. We went for a family holiday to Torquay and I had to do the driving. I decided to stop, taking short breaks and dispatching the kids inside to get me two coffees. At this point, I drank Birds mellow! Anyway, after several stops I learnt that the motorway shops had BTC machines.
On returning home, I started to research a bit, not knowing anyone who was into proper coffee! I eventually found a firm selling renovated Gaggia Classics and bought one of those. No grinder so I bought tins of Illy. I had no idea that you needed a grinder! A friend said to me, buy a Starbucks conical grinder, I think they were less than £50! It made such a difference. I replaced the Illy with a bean called Bellaroma that was on Ebay in kilo bags from a Welsh based firm. Boy, I was really in the hot seat now!
I then found my way onto @DavecUK who had his original forum and my knowledge started to expand. I soon upgraded the Classic thst I sold to a friend for a Fracino Heavenly. Then grinder was replaced by a Cunhill Tranquilo
and then to rot set in!

Ernie1

Great story!

I bought a Gaggia Classic around 2005, used Lavazza pre-ground as my blade grinder clearly wasn’t up to the job! Fortunately I don’t recall what the results tasted like but probably as you’d imagine.

Sold it very shortly after when I moved to London and got heavily into V60 with a Baratza, didn’t get another espresso machine until about 10 years later when I got a Silvia and more seriously into home espresso.

I can’t say I have fond memories of the Classic or the Silvia. Both great to learn on but the inconsistency, temp surfing and the sound of a vibe pump meant I didn’t really enjoy the making part of home espresso until I got a Bianca.

DavecUK

No, it was an early Gaggia model, I didn’t like anything about it apart from getting rid of it and buying an Isomac Zafffiro….which shows how low the bar was set! 🙄

Rob666

In the mid to late 80’s I’d been at work for over 24 hours mixing a Panorama. I had a nasty cold and reckoned I deserved a treat with the overtime I was going to get. Went to Harrods and bought a Krups. Used it for a few months then kids and work got in the way…
Around 7 years ago after enjoying coffees in Nero (yes I know better now!) I dug the Krups out of the loft and plugged it in. It promptly tripped the main house breaker… Bought a De Longi with pressurised basket in the January sales and started to enjoy coffee at home despite it being pre-ground. Discovered the old coffee forum and the rot set in with a used Vibiemme single boiler and a Pharos grinder. That kept me happy for a while until a 6 month old Rocket Evo and Eureka 65e appeared in the classifieds. I’m still using the Rocket but the grinder is sitting miserably on the bench superceded by a Niche. At some point I will change the machine for either a lever or dual boiler but the current set up keeps me and the family very happy.

hornbyben

My journey was:

A moka pot at uni, which a friend had brought from Italy. It was bitter by todays standards but I enjoyed it.
A terrible home coffee machine that did average filter and pretty bad espresso. It was the sort of machine that used a pressurised basket and could deliver 14 bar 😂
I then moved to Oz for a few years so just used a cafetière
When I came back I spent a few years with a chemex. I enjoyed the look but by the time it had drained through it was always a bit cold.
I then enjoyed an aeropress for a few years
I then bought a nespresso machine, which gave coffee I was happy with for a few years (although the waste was always nagged at my conscience even though I always sent them back for recycling).
I then found the v60 and decided to have a go at grinding so bought an aergrind. I especially liked this with specialty Ethiopian coffees. Up to this point I’d pretty much always just bought supermarket coffee.
Then the pandemic hit and I wanted better coffee and less waste. Plus I had more time on my hands, and nothing much to spend my salary on (I was one of the lucky ones who’s employer wasn’t too badly affected). After a lot of thinking I decided to get a Rancilio Silvia.
- I temp surfed for a bit, but this could pretty tedious and I had a pid controller kicking around in the loft, so I soon made the upgrade
- I then decided hand grinding was too slow, and was sick of using the cordless drill 🤣, so upgraded to a niche grinder.
- I finally decided I wanted more of a project and the ability to pressure profile, so I did the Ito mod. I’ve now been using This setup since January and have been very happy. Repeatable, controllable, and a small energy efficient machine that fits my requirements perfectly.

All in all a convoluted but fun journey.

CafeCalando

Mine was another convoluted journey

Growing up at home my mother used to make coffee using a percolater on the stove top. Ground coffee came from a green tin. I have a feeling it was Nescafe Blend 37.
At college in London it was the height of metropolitan sophistication - a red Habitat enamel jug with a lid. Beans were from Army & Navy Stores in Victoria and they were ground in a Sponge hand grinder that fixed to the worktop and looked like a mincer.
By the time we moved out of London we had graduated to filter coffee. The glass jug broke on our first set up and we graduated to a Krups automatic machine with timer. We would awake to the smell of brewing coffee. The smell was probably the best aspect of this coffee as the hot plate used to stew the coffee in next to no time.
This was followed by a number of filter jugs and cafetieres. Coffee was just coffee. Ground coffee was better than instant but it was not something that attracted a lot of thought.
Somehow we moved on to a Moka pot and this was a step up. Coffee became interesting again.
.This was followed by our first foray into espresso with a Dualit machine. If I remember correctly this had a pressurised basket. We had a matching Burr grinder and thought ourselves very well set up. This lasted for about 18 months to two years when the machine died. I guess it was limescale . Nobody was talking to me about that at the time.
Back to the moka pot for a couple of years whilst we half heartedly looked for a new machine.
In the meantime a new coffee roaster opened in a local market town. The owner made me an espresso and it was a revelation. We started talking and I realised there was much more to this coffee lark than I thought. It was the thin edge of the wedge.
From there I bought a refurbished Gaggia Baby . A bit like a Classic inside but with some fancy electronic controls. The coffee was an improvement and it was a fun introduction. .
A Niche was my first big upgrade.That made so much difference.
The Electronic panel on the Gaggia died and I moved on to a Silvia which is where I am to this day. The temperature surfing can be a bit of a pain but it has been a great machine on which to learn about coffee . No doubt I’ll succumb to the lure of a new machine some day but agonising over the choice just prolongs the pleasure.

John_Yossarian

My first brewing device was a small Krups that I bought in Germany when was there back in 1993. As I was only drinking coffee with milk, the machine was OK for quite some time before buying my first espresso Saeco Via Veneto combined with a conical grinder (nothing good came out of it), that was replaced by Fracino Heavenly and Cunill Tranquilo grinder. When I look back what was considered a good shot, nowadays would most likely go down the drain.

Cuprajake

My first machine was a £30 thing from Argos,

My first real machine was a gaggia classic.

Horrible machine

Sold it within a week and bought a sage

tompoland

Sunbeam for me. Could steam and pour at the same time. Wonder of wonders. Loved it.

gordy53

I can remember my old man having a Percolater that he got off American servicemen friends of his ( this was early 60’s) and I used to watch the Coffee bubbling in the glass part of it and I did like theCoffee but after that it was just instant until I got a Moka Pot and was happy with it until I bought a Lelit Mara X V2 in April and I bought an 1Zpresso J Max but then got fed up with the ginger so I bought a Eureka Mignon Specialita which is great for me. the J Max I use for my wife DeCaff, I am happy with things at the moment

SurreyAlan

A Gaggia Espresso Deluxe in the 80’s, still in the loft along with a very iffy grinder, keep meaning to bring it down and try it out.

CoyoteOldMan

Bialetti moka for a very long time, then wife got a Nespresso thing which I maintained for 8 years, until it finally succumbed to hard water. That was ‘replaced’ by a Smeg-labelled DeLonghi Dedica (with worse coffee taste results, but a very modest ‘steam wand’ that was appreciated by the kids). I never enjoyed the coffee from the Dedica (unmodified, including pressurised basket), so after 3 years started looking at something that could make good coffee and landed on an Evo with a Ceado E37S. Much enjoying both, but not having fond memories of much else!

Amberale

Similar to above.
The old man’s percolator used to come out on some weekends.
At uni it was Italian coffee shops in Carlton and french press at home.
In the 80s I bought an Atomic which, if you tweaked the water level and used hot water, would give you an espresso shot.
Paired with a hand grinder, it worked, looked cool and I still love it(haven’t used it for decades).
Around 2000 I bought a Classic Pro(choice was GCP or Silvia) and pimped it for the next twenty years.
I gave it to a niece who is still loving it.

Doram

Not sure the 1980’s Krups that my sister gave me because she didn’t use it would now count as an espresso machine, but I thought it was. First with pre-ground Lavazza Oro, then Illy. Added a Braun grinder at some point, then a second Krups (looked more like the Business but was basically the same thing).

I then followed my wife to a year in the U.S. On the way there I spotted something amazing in a shop in Amsterdam: a Rancilio Silvia (it was 1998, and too expensive). I got a horrible DeLonghi from display to use while across the pond, but hated everything about it. Couldn’t get Silvia out of my head.

After the U.S. I followed my wife again, this time to Belgium. Amsterdam was close enough: got in the Corsa, drove to that shop behind Dam Square and got the V1 Silvia. Paired it with a Solis grinder, then another, then an Iberital.

Took me almost twenty years to realise that not doing temp surfing is the reason some shots are good and many are not. So decided I needed a PID, but wasn’t sure if the aging machine would survive the operation.

So got a shiny V6 Silvia. I was disappointed that out of the box not much has changed for Silvia in 20 years. So when I realised that adding a PID would bring me close to HX territory, I decided to move the new Silvia on and got a Mara X.

So yes, I have very fond memories of the mediocre coffee I had along the way, but I definitely prefer the taste of the present.

purnelljack

I don’t remember the exact date when I purchased the Saeco espresso coffee machine, but yes I bought it online from Cerini Coffee’s website last year at a reasonable cost. The model is made of stainless steel, weighs 37.5 lbs, and features two rapid steam boilers.

Pompeyexile

Gaggia Classic for me too that had a PID fitted by the previous owner. I nearly blew it up and electrocuted myself a few times when I dismantled it to replace some bits and give it a thorough clean, which was well documented on the forum that shall not be named. Got a Brasilia RR55OD to go with it which was a behemoth of a grinder and although a very good performer, produced more static than a plasma globe.

Since then, I have all sorts of kit for making pour overs, drips, stove tops and of course my Sage Dual Boiler and Niche.

Loved every minute of my journey even if I have stalled regarding tasting nuances, but am happy I still get great tasting coffee that makes instant taste like ditch water.

Systemic

Gaggia Classic here too. Then briefly a Silvia.

Rob666

Not particularly fond… It was Krups. I didn’t know any better so I was using pre-ground coffee and the steaming was pathetic. When I dug it out of the loft, twenty plus years later, having discovered half way decent coffee, it promptly blew the RCD breaker… The curve has been on an upward trajectory since.

SurreyAlan

Clearing out the loft (thought we ought to do it rather than leave it for the kids to do) found a Gaggia something and a grinder from 2003. Put some water in and it steams and the pump works but not much water out of the group so a rainy day project. At the time I thought it was great, when it’s working I’ll put some coffeen in from the Niche and maybe it will be. I think it was replaced with a Sensio bean to cup which was a massive improvement.

purnelljack

Yes, the Gaggia Classic is also considered a great option for home, office, and commercial use.