Pre-ground coffee in a Magnifica, what's the actual procedure?

[Thomas Martinez]

See the question regarding using pre-ground coffee in place of the bean hopper of the De’Longhi Magnifica? Thought it was worth a discussion due to the number of peoples who get tripped up by this process.
From what I’ve read, you starts the machine up and let it warm up for a bit to prepare the machine. Then, you place one scoop of pre-ground coffee into the dedicated funnel for that type of coffee rather than the bean hopper. Once you’ve placed the scoop into the machine, you simply press the espresso or long button and the machine will brew the coffees using that pre-ground coffee rather than ground coffee from the machine.
So my question is, is the grind size important for pre-ground coffee? Obviously, the grinder is set to appropriately grind the beans when you use the bean hopper, but is there a preferred setting/size for pre-ground coffee? I assume it should be somewhat fine like espresso grounds but not so fine that the coffee wont come out of the machine. Does anyone notice a difference in flavor if they use the pre-ground coffee in the espresso position versus the long position? Have any of you used pre-ground coffee in your De’Longhi Magnifica machines and have a preferred grind size for that coffee?

 

[Nervous Newt]

one scoop is the rule yeah. Tried two once thinking id get a stronger shot and it just jammed up and gave me a sad trickle then an error. Learned my lesson

 

[Divine Worm Ma]

Grind size seem to matter alot with the De’Longhi Magnifica. I use Lavazza Crema e Gusto pre-ground coffee when I’m out of beans, but anything labeled as espresso ground from the supermarket tends to choke the machine.

 

[Funny Fowl]

wait does the warm up cycle matter? mine beeps once and i just dump the scoop in straightly, never had issues

 

[Impossib]

so dumb question but is the funnel the one with the hatch on it right? not the one for the beans. I swear my wife once put ground coffee in the bean part and nearly choked on the amount of effort to clean it out

 

[Divine Worm Ma]

so dumb question but is the funnel the one with the hatch on it right? not the one for the beans. I swear my wife once put ground coffee in the bean part and nearly choked on the amount of effort to clean it out

Yeah its the small hatch on the side of the funnel with the small scoop icon on it. If you put grounds in the bean hopper you have to vacuum it out and run the grinder cycles with beans to clear the burrs.