Hi all,

Just for interest sake here...

Bought a used Synesso Sabre, about 2 years old for a cafe 'at some stage in the future' , don't think they are available in the US. Volumetric dosing.. but before the moans and groans, it seems they have been quite clever in implementing it.



The flowmeters are positioned in the cold water area, before the heat exchangers, before the groupheads. So the water is metered well before its heated, resulting in no temperature variance since it never leaves the grouphead at the last minute (other than to meet the coffee!). Each grouphead also has an override button on the side, which bypasses all the electronics and lets you operate it much as a LM EE or Cyncra, so it would seem to be the best of both worlds. No pre-infusion, but 0.6mm flow restrictors and four boilers to boot!

A bit ugly IMO from the barista's viewpoint, but actually quite stylish from the customers side. And it would appear she has some decent lungs on her...



And before someone asks, I have no means to measure the temperature to validate it!

Oh, and I must add, Synesso have been outstanding to deal with regarding questions about the machine despite the fact that I am not the original purchaser.

Thanks Paul, its actually in Christchurch now too. It was really an opportunity buy as the master plan for a cafe is still 3 years downtrack (unless I bring it to Hong Kong). With the NZD tanking, I figured it was probably around 30% of the cost (in NZD) of landing a new one in country in three years time.

My main concern was the temperature/flowmeter issue, but Synesso were excellent with my enquiries and it would appear from the above that its not an issue with this design.

I didn't get to play with it much last time I was in Christchurch, other than to pull it apart and give it a good clean and a couple of descales. All in all, it seemed in very good condition, as you would expect for a machine only in service for 18 months. I did pull a few shots from a homeroast I use in HK on my ECM, only with a cheap Sunbeam grinder, and the results were impressive despite my unfamiliarity with the machine. Huge crema!

With regard to the previous post, I too like to see whats going on behind the machine, but I imagine 99% of people (other than those on this forum!) couldn't care less. I think it important for the Barista to be facing the customers, otherwise it seems rude! Perhaps the answer is to have the machine on a corner, so that those interested can pop around the side to keep an eye on the process?

Cheers,
Chris