Gaggia Macinadosatore MDF

The grind was good though it is a messy machine. My doser broke three months ago. The mechanism is plastic and I suspect not strong enough. So the doser doesn't close and the coffee pours through. I took it for repair under guarantee. Three months later I am still waiting for it to be repaired. Gaggia seems unable or unwilling to send a part to their repair agent. I like the machine but I wouldn't trust Gaggia to stand by the product. I'm told that Gaggis has been taken over by Philips and that may be the problem.

I am a thrift store junky and once in a blue moon I find a real steal. Bought the Gaggia Macinadosatore MDF coffee grinder in great condition for eight bucks. As my espresso machine recently went down I have only used it to make a regular cup of coffee, it works well and is very sturdy. I just want to find an apropriate timer so it will only grind the right amount of beans each morning. One is made for darkroom enlargers where one only needs to push a button and a preset amount of time will run whatever you plug into it. The MDF is rather plain looking but that is the only fault I can find with it.

I don't have a vac pot and got rid of my drip pot after purchasing a Gaggia Coffee so I don't know how suited the MDF is for other applications. For espresso, though, it's perfect. Nice even grind with enough settings to get just the coarseness you need for that perfect pull.

The doser allows me to grind enough for several shots if friends are over. If I'm just pulling shots for myself, then I only grind as much as I need. The dosing feature isn't very useful in this case because the little dosing chambers won't be full, but it's better than grinding a bunch and having the leftovers stale.

This was a refurb machine that I ordered from Electra-Craft for $140 delivered. It seems like a lot of money for a grinder when you can pick up one of those whirly-bird doodads for about ten bucks, but I haven't regretted buying the MDF. You need a burr grinder for espresso, and the MDF offers good quality at a better price than a lot of the other brands.