Hello my old pals in the home-barista forum.

I am originally a home barista who's currently pursuing a career as a barista in Dubai. I have been working in a nice cafe and a restaurant named Park Central for few months and there, we have a 3-group La Marzocco Linea which I like but not so much in love with its original steaming tip.

I have no problem with the speed of steaming, yet, I tend to think the holes are a tad too big and that the dispersion angle is a little bit too wide. To this end, I have been searching for an alternative tip as I still, with all honesty, can produce much superior foam on my domestic La Pavoni professional with a modified 3-hole 0.9-mm tips.

I steam at home with a pressure of 1.8-2.0 bars which I have been using for years. There is not a single time in which I fail to produce superior milk on my domestic machine at home, but this is not the case at work which frustrates me a bit.

Recently I started considering the Elektra's tip which seems to the naked eye to have a slightly smaller holes, but I was not sure it would fit. So what I did was that I sent a question to Stefano's espresso care asking them about the tip. The person who replied was not only nice enough to correct the photo in the catalogue for me but also prompt and kind enough to test for me if the tip would fit the La Marzocco Linea. He sent me a photo showing that it does, so I started saving money to buy it online.

(PHOTO SENT BY STEFANO'S ESPRESSO CARE)


Days later however, I decided to visit the HEDIARD cafe in BURJUMAN shopping mall opposite to my home to check the tip in person as they use an Elektra espresso machine. I started socializing with the barista there and talking him in a subtle way to show me the tip and maybe try it in front of me. To my surprise, the barista was so charming that he allowed me to go inside the bar and try it myself, which was very flattering as I expect Filipinos in Dubai to lack interest and be frightened to lose their jobs for simple reasons. So, not only that he allowed me to try it a couple of times using water-and-soap (I was shy to ask for milk even though he offered) but ended up giving me a spare tip to try at work! I was so thrilled!

(THE TIP HE GAVE TO ME)


So next day I replaced the tip and started using it. The performance of the tip was distinctively different but it was unclear in the first day whether it was better. Few days later I started feeling much more comfortable with the new tip, but left with the feeling that it is not the optimum tip I can have.

However, for the purpose of this little article I want to provide actual data on how is the Elektra's tip different from the original one. So few days later, being the engineer I am, I grabbed my caliper and, using simple tools that I made at work I was able to compare the hole diameter as well as the dispersion angle of both tips.

To measure the diameter of the tips I forced soft wooden sticks into the holes and then measured the diameter of the deformed tip of the soft-wood sticks. Using this method I was able to measure the hole diameter of the original tip as 1.7mm and the Elektra's one as 1.6mm. Not much of a difference on paper but as the steam force corresponds to the area this slight difference does make a difference in the force of the steam and the dryness as well (The Elektra's tip is less susceptible to dripping, that is, it is easier to produce dry steam with it).

As for the dispersion angle, I made a simple protractor using two wooden sticks and a pin, which I used to roughly compare the dispersion angles as shown in the photos here:

(THE TOOL I MADE)


(DISPERSION ANGLE OF ORIGINAL TIP)


(DISPERSION ANGLE OF THE ELEKTRA'S ONE)


(DISPERSION ANGLE OF ORIGINAL TIP NEXT TO FIXED REFERENCE)


(DISPERSION ANGLE OF ELEKTRA'S TIP NEXT TO FIXED REFERENCE)


Even thought it is not very clear, but the Elektra's tip seems to have a tad-narrower angle, this combined with the tad-smaller hole might explain why it can work in more positions compared to the original tip, even though it is unclear if the foam quality is different.

My problem at work is with repeatability (foaming ease) and with the stability of the foam (foam quality). Sometimes I produce nice foam but it is very unstable meaning that shortly after the making the drink starts to look really embarrassing and really ugly. This is NOT the case with the milk I steam at home so I know better results are possible with the same milk brands I am using at work.

Below are samples of the latte art I do, using both tips (from older to newer).











So bottom line is that the Elektra's tip is easier to use, but the final results are similar. In all of the photos above you can see that the foam is not as silky and fine as you'd like it to be which I think is related to its instability.

So I do not think that I will buy the Elektra's tip. It is simply too expensive and unless it is perfect I am not going to buy it. I am thinking of machining my own tip.

What would you do differently in designing your own?

I am thinking of something more similar to the tip I use at home, since I know it delivers great steaming performance. I just don't know how am I going to adapt this to the boiler-size, the steam wand gauge, etc., of a commercial machine like the Linea.

Narrower angle, smaller holes, and less distance between the holes are some of the possibilities I am thinking of.

Very cool. Good luck, and it will be interesting to see your results when your done.

You could try something like this- not too sure how the price matches up to the Elektra one. The stock Linea tip is a bit of a beast for small single drinks.

http://www.coffeehit.co.uk/la-marzocco-...m-tip/p507

I already considered this tip but this website does not ship to the UAE. I also contacted La Marzocco in Dubai and they do not seem to have such a "slow-flow" alternative tip.

The "espressoparts" website also has a custom-made tip with narrower holes, which I have been most-than-willing to buy. However, it is currently out of stock and expected to stay like this for some more months.

Orwa: It is quite a wonder to see how devoted some baristas (home or pro) are to perfecting everything espresso. A steaming tip is a simple thing, could not any machine shop make one to whatever spec? Has anyone had one made to personal spec?
KDM

It's a simple part you're right but the problem is that it is very small with very precise hole diameters. This implies the following requirements: (1) precision (2) small drilling bits -not always available- and (3) two machining processes, namely a lathe and a mill (because we want to drill holes at a precise angle, too).

I doubt that I will find someone in Dubai who's willing to go through all the trouble for less than a fortune. Furthermore, my first candidate design might not perform as well as I want it to be, making the whole plan of making my own tip more costly. I will try to ask.

I just now found out that the Rocket Giotto domestic espresso machine has a really nice 4-hole 0.9mm-holes tip which a local distributor has a stock of in Dubai. I just sent a request asking if the tip fits a La Marzocco machine and the guy said no.