I've been waiting since April for this day. The UPS tracking page says "OUT FOR DELIVERY." Last I heard from Chris Coffee was that 35 people were on the pre-order list. How many of you are watching the forums here?

This machine will replace the Krups that I had since March. So I am definitely in over my head for a few weeks/months. But my wife is just as excited as I am about this, so I'll get to make twice as many shots as I drink. My plan is to let her learn the milk steaming and latte art so that she can eventually teach me.

congrats,
from a Krups to a Alex Duetto II, now THAT'S what I call and UPGRADE...
(you have the grinder already.. right!)

enjoy it...

PS,
my wife is big time spoiled.. every afternoon she don't ask, she DEMAND me to make her a cappuccino.. :/
you lucky man..

Yeah, got the Mini when I preordered the Duetto. I could not have been more surprised by the quantum leap in our espresso quality when the Mazzer came in. I had been getting the local roaster to put a 1/2 pound through the bulk grinder every few days. With that set up I though the machine was the problem, but with the new grinder I got some enjoyable drinks out of that Krups with a ( dremeled ) de-pressurized filter basket. I hope that the move to the Duetto is a similar jump in quality.

WOW nice upgrade. I have the vetrano and the duetto is my next step. Please let us know how you make out with your new machine. I have been looking at the duetto for awhile now and would like to know your impressions once you get the hang of it.

congrats, I have a feeling you will be well caffeinated this afternoon and into the evening. What coffee do you have on hand for the special occasion?

It's FINALLY here! Definitely worth giving up a third of our kitchen counter space. It seems like it shipped well, right out of the box everything was well put together. Unfortunately, the stickers above the steamers were peeling and the Alex badge was put on crooked and was falling off. One of the three rubber protectors under the cup warming plate was not on, so it fell against the wiring harness. When we tried to get it, it fell under a boiler and we had to take off the bottom plate to retrieve it. But, we're frantically waiting for Mr. Alex to warm up, and we've got a grinder full of Chris Coffee's Black Pearl Espresso ready to go.

Keep you posted...

I want to hear details! Mine shipped today, so I should have it on Friday!

Krups<ALEX DUETTO.
You don't mess around.

Yeah, the Krups was kind of an accident. We were walking through Burlington Coat Factory when I spotted the XP4030 for $50. After seeing the price on Amazon and reading the reviews I decided that it was a deal I couldn't pass up. It wasn't long before I found CoffeeGeek and this site and caught my first case of upgradeitis. I thought for a long time that I was sold on a Silvia, but knowing my predisposition to want to upgrade I decided it was best to overshoot. So I went with the Mini and Alex Duetto. If I could do it over again I would have gone a step up on the grinder and gotten the Super Jolly, but it will be a very long time before I think about upgrading.

I am loving the Duetto! I was expecting to have more trouble getting great shots out of it, but once I got used to the size of the new portafilter/tamper I got some nice looking naked extractions (using WDT). That brings up a question I wanted to ask of everyone. I was having a hard time getting a level tamp with the new equipment so I started holding the portafilter in the air at chest height and tamping with my other hand. The tamps have been level and I can repeat them well enough for now. Is this a bad habit? I know that some baristas are trained to use the edge of the bar and turn their palm out with the elbow right over the portafilter. Is it worth learning the "correct" way?

jlunavtgrad wrote:Unfortunately, the stickers above the steamers were peeling and the Alex badge was put on crooked and was falling off. One of the three rubber protectors under the cup warming plate was not on, so it fell against the wiring harness. When we tried to get it, it fell under a boiler and we had to take off the bottom plate to retrieve it.

Minor issues but I hope this doesn't indicate greater quality problems down the road.

jlunavtgrad wrote:I was having a hard time getting a level tamp with the new equipment so I started holding the portafilter in the air at chest height and tamping with my other hand. The tamps have been level and I can repeat them well enough for now. Is this a bad habit?

Really? You are getting straight tamps without resting the portafilter on a level surface? You must be doing a very light tamp (nothing wrong with that, some people prefer it). But tamping a portafilter held in mid-air sounds really awkward to me.

jlunavtgrad wrote: Is this a bad habit? I know that some baristas are trained to use the edge of the bar and turn their palm out with the elbow right over the portafilter. Is it worth learning the "correct" way?

No matter what anyone tells you, the bottom line reason for this is consistency. If you are having problems being consistent in the "normal" way, do whatever you have to. In the long run, if you were at a cafe pulling many shots, it might help to learn how to do it on the edge of the bar etc. etc... but at home, it's all what you feel comfortable doing.

jlunavtgrad wrote:I was having a hard time getting a level tamp with the new equipment so I started holding the portafilter in the air at chest height and tamping with my other hand. The tamps have been level and I can repeat them well enough for now. Is this a bad habit?

I won't call it "bad", but it's certainly unusual. I'll be lazy and repost an edited version my reply from another thread... Focus on your technique:


Matt Riddle from HB Tamper Roadshow

Note how he's grasped the tamper like a doorknob and the elbow is directly above the portafilter, ideally at a near 90 degree angle. Use your fingers along the perimeter of the basket / piston interface to judge if the tamper is canted.

Final hint: If tamping level proves challenging, try removing the portafilter retainer spring and tamping the basket outside of the portafilter directly on the countertop.

Keep in mind, Baristas also have to consider repetitive stress injuries. So their technique needs to take this into account as well. For MOST of us, this is not an issue.

I just wanted to tell everyone how amazing the Alex Duetto II has been thus far! We've had it for almost a week, and I must say it's been one of the best (and most caffeinated) weeks of my life. I am having a blast learning how to use it...generally, for the last few nights, half of our evening is spent reading these forums for ideas/techniques/advice, and the other half has been trying them. Yesterday, I finally made a competent pitcher of microfoam, and I couldn't stop giggling at how easy it was. My next feat: latte art. I have a feeling it will take a while, but I am eagerly welcoming the process.

I remember my first succesful pitcher of microfoam, or at least not Macro foam. I ran around the house showing it to my wife and kids.
The Cremina is a steaming beast, and a moron (yours truly) can do it.
Great that you can have so much fun with coffee. Tastes pretty darn good, too.
Question..how quiet is the Rotary pump? Any rattles?

Quiet is such a relative term. I hear many people say that they have gotten their vibe pump machines to be as quiet as a rotary pump, then I hear people say that their rotary pump machines are whisper quiet. I can tell you that the pump is not whisper quiet. My wife says that she can't quite talk on the phone (in the same room) while I am grinding but she can while I am running the pump. If I squeeze the machine on both sides while the pump is running I can get some of the noise to go away, so I guess I have a vibration issue. I took the drip tray and top cover off the machine and watched as I ran the pump. When the pump starts I can see that it lunges forward by as much as an inch at the top, but I think that the top cover would hold this back a little if it was in place. Eventually I will go in and see how it is attached and maybe improve the situation, but since I've only had the machine 6 days I am not up to talking the back cover off yet.

Thanks. BTW, I pass through Roanoke (well Interstate 81) every year on my journey to the in-laws...
If we stop near you, I'll give you a heads-up..I'll bring a little home roasted for you.

Offer accepted. We're off exit 143.