I find myself in the enviable position of coming into enough money that I can consider doing an upgrade of the machine at home. Being a lever-leaning kinda guy, and it not being enough money for a Mirage Idrocompresso, I'm looking at the Strega and the Londinium. Wanting to have a machine that's relocation proof, I'm inclined to the tank/plumb convertible versions of these machines.

So, I'm looking for tales of personal experience, ideally from somebody who's pulled enough shots on both to be able to provide that perspective, but since such folks are likely few and far between, any personal experience will be useful. I want to know about shot quality, ease of maintenance, build quality, and overall gestalt. I know, it's a lot to ask, but I may not ever have this particular chance again, so want to make sure I jump in the right direction. Thanks all, for your assistance.

There is about $1000 spread between these two machines and taking that into account Strega is a steal. I don't think either machine will make better shot so that's a wash, but I think Strega with pump will give you much more flexibility since it can do what spring lever alone cannot... In my mind choice is very easy

L1 is a sweet machine without a doubt...
Strega has options-tank, no tank, pump, no pump.
But given the $ spread on a budget I'd do a line fed, no pumps Strega (I also like the Bezzera valves) and a conical grinder.

Hohoho

Got the grinder covered. My MD85 (85mm Gaggia flat-burr, made, I believe, by Aristarcho-at least the big Aristarcho and the Gaggia share the same burr set.) is more than sufficient for my purposes.

As I said, whichever machine I go with, I'll be getting the version that's switchable between plumbed and reservoir. Since the plumb-in kit is available for the L1 and the top-end Strega has that option as well, those are the two machines in contention. What I'm interested in is comparisons in the cup, and if there's no clear winner, build quality and ease of maintenance are the second considerations.

Interesting that this question is being posed at the moment as I was in the mode of dreaming and what if? Everytime I go to Intelligentsia here in Socal (venice, pasadena) and see the GS3 I sometimes think - someday. But, then I realize that I'm a lever guy.

I have no personal experience with either machine
Seeing as you are somewhat similar to me in that I have levers (Europiccola, micro-casa) and HX (NS Oscar) I was also thinking along the same lines. Unfortunately, for me it is dreaming and for luck (opportunity and preparation, blah, blah blah)

But relevant topic, and recent topic might help: Olympia Cremina or Londinium I?

As already stated, there is a relevant price gap between the two - you can always consider going for a titan conical and the Strega?

As far as ease of maintenance - I understand that one too as I'm going through the pain at the moment with my Oscar (grouch). My levers are definetly easier to fix/maintain. Not sure who can assist with the L1 locally when the time comes.

Enjoy the process and the decision.
Ho, Ho, Ho Holidays

Here's part of the quandary for me. I'm intrigued by the possibilities of the Strega to be able to leverage (pun vaguely intended) the combination of pump and lever to be able to, as Jim Schulman put it in his review, "play it like an instrument," and, in essence, manually profiling shots using the two aspects of the machine to draw on what's best for a particular coffee. On the other hand, the L1 seems to have been designed with the aim of being the ultimate "walk up and pull" home lever machine for those of us who may not be able to devote the resources to a full blown commercial lever (Idrocompresso, vintage Gaggia or Faema, Astoria/CMA, etc.).

GVDub wrote:What I'm interested in is comparisons in the cup, and if there's no clear winner, build quality and ease of maintenance are the second considerations.

I don't think there are many people that had both machines to give you in cup comparison, but I have Strega and have used extensively number of spring levers, and I can tell you that on blind tasting I don't think many would be able to distinguish one spring lever from another... I know I could not. However with Strega what you get is very flexible combo with pump providing initial pressure and spring providing declining pressure throughout the shot and there is no lever that I know of that has that capability.

I think build quality would be about equal and I believe that Strega would win on maintenance due to local availability of parts and mostly standard parts used in it...

You cannot go wrong with either machine, I personally have chosen Strega when faced with same dilemma and have saved myself $1000...

GVDub wrote:On the other hand, the L1 seems to have been designed with the aim of being the ultimate "walk up and pull" home lever machine for those of us who may not be able to devote the resources to a full blown commercial lever (Idrocompresso, vintage Gaggia or Faema, Astoria/CMA, etc.).

Strega is same way. Short 5-7 seconds flush and you are good to go...

GVDub wrote: On the other hand, the L1 seems to have been designed with the aim of being the ultimate "walk up and pull" home lever machine for those of us who may not be able to devote the resources to a full blown commercial lever (Idrocompresso, vintage Gaggia or Faema, Astoria/CMA, etc.).

I'm sure Reiss would agree with that description. What's the current Londinium price with shipping to the U.S.? The CCS website shows the Achille is under $2900 shipped & the Pompei is $3295 shipped. A phone call would probably yield a better price on either one plus you have warranty back up right here in the U.S.

As far as the Strega vs the Londinium goes do you drink much S/O espresso? Are you interested in playing with the options the Strega's pump P/I allows? If not then a more conventional spring lever might be a better choice.

The ratio of my single-origin to blend drinking is probably about 60/40, maybe as high as 70/30 at times. Mostly my own roasts, with occasional ventures into roasts of others (lots of roaster options living in L.A.).

The Achille could certainly go into the mix, but not the Pompeii, as I don't have 20 amp service or the ability to plumb in my current rented residence. The Achille is the Bosco group?