Christmas came a bit early for me, so I spent the weekend playing with my new BZ07. Some initial thoughts in addition to what has already been said:

-fit and finish are excellent. It is a very solid and very good looking machine that is fairly compact
-packing was very solid and resulted in no damage.
-It takes at least 3 full reservoirs to season and flush out the metallic/plastic taste and smell from the steam wand and group.
-the stock 4 head tip is insane for anything less than a 5 gallon bucket of milk and it dumps the boiler pressure very quickly although it recovers well. I'm ordering a two or one hole, whichever 1st-line recommends.
-My very unscientific testing showed a very stable shot temp. I let the unit sit for over and hour untouched and using the foam cup/instant thermo method of testing the shot water temp, I got 194-95 over three tests. Flushing a full shot through and testing gave me a temp of 192-194 over three tests. I can't tell any difference in the shots at those temps, but for consistency, I flush a couple ounces before any shot now.
-It has a very low screen so it does not like more than 14g in a double basket for me, but I grind tight and tamp lightly. I'm ordering a triple basket to play with larger dosages.
-shot quality is very consistent so far and very, very good, I think.
-Steam power is impressive. I've steamed a couple ounces while pulling a shot and it worked fine -- won't be the normal procedure, but it can do it if you want to. The levers are fine to work with.

For $1K, I think it will be very hard to beat this machine especially with its footprint. If anyone knows how to direct plumb in this unit (where to route the overpressure lines primarily), please let me know. The factory says it can't be plumbed, but I haven't asked 1st Line yet.

Thanks,
Mike

Some additional thoughts on the BZ07 from a couple months more use since this thread is still one of the most useful source of information on this model:

-the stock double basket is incredibly difficult to use. Its shape is such that a max of 14.0 grams of coffee can fit w/o screen contact with terrible shot quality and lots of channeling. Fix is easy. I ordered the following parts from EspressoParts (which I highly recommend):

1 (MZ_108) Triple Portafilter Basket
1 (C_256) Backflush Disk - Rubber (Blind Filter)
1 (MZ_107A) Ridgeless Marzocco/Synesso Style Double Portafilter Basket
1 (MZ_107) La Marzocco Double Portafilter Basket - L116/A

Both double baskets perform much better than the stock bz07 basket, but the ridged is incredibly difficult to get out of the PF handle and it rattles a bit when in. The triple basket is now my daily one with about 16 gr or so for a double shot. It gives the most flexibility in dosing and tamping while allowing a normal cushion on top of the puck. I doubt it would fit in a stock PF, however, as it is quite deep. nothing a $3 hole saw won't fix.

-The only way I have found to stop channeling is to grind fine and tamp lightly. I haven't weighed it, but I'd bet I tamp at 5-10 pounds now. a normal tamp that worked fine on my gaggia with the same grinder (mazzer SJ) almost always gives me some channeling on the bz07, even with the other baskets. I'd have to count, but I'd bet my current setting with week old beans is 10 or so ticks from burr contact, maybe a bit more. That is MUCH tighter than it was on the gaggia.

-I picked up the backflush disk b/c I'm going to mount a pressure gauge in the solid disk that I can snap in and out of the pf to calibrate the opv.

-i never did swap out the steam tip. the stock one is not that hard to get used to and it works great on as little as 2oz or as much as 8oz, which is the most I've steamed. much more than about 10oz and I'd bet it would start running out of steam towards the end with the 4hole tip, but I don't know for sure.

-I did not have as good a service experience with the US seller as others, but nothing dramatic and the machine was in great shape upon receipt. As they told me, this is a very low margin product for them, so take that for what its worth.

From my experience,tamping lightly and using the non-stock baskets makes this a really outstanding machine for the price.

mike

Mike,

Thanks for the update on your experience with the BZ07. I wanted to introduce you, as well as others to another source of information on Bezzera machines. I know I am not supposed to cross-post, but I think this is very helpful:

http://coffeegeek.com/forums/espresso/m...636&Page=1

Cheers,
Jackson