"What is it?" Salvatore restoration

Equipment doesn't work? Troubleshooting? If you're handy, members can help.
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Marshall
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#1: Post by Marshall »

We were visiting friends in the Santa Ynez Valley this weekend and went to a new place in Buellton called Industrial Eats. Salvatore's workshop is about five minutes away. We'd been told there was an amazing restoration there, but were not prepared for this. The deli manager said this machine was a very old Faema Gaggia lever and that Salvatore restored it from parts. The glass cylinder on the right is to prepare "American style" coffee for tourists. Never seen a gizmo like that before.

Marshall
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DanoM
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#2: Post by DanoM »

I'm likely wrong, but it looks like a Gaggia Orione 2 group with one of them being the classic Hotel Group. (I've never seen a hotel group demonstrated.)

I'll have to stop by and take a look someday when passing through. Do they use this machine in normal operation or is it eye candy? How was the espresso?

Here's a link to an HB owner post showing almost the same machine:
Gaggia Orione Lever Restoration of Epic Proportions - HELP!
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Marshall (original poster)
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#3: Post by Marshall (original poster) »

That's their working machine. You can see brewed coffee in the cylinder. It was a very high-end deli (fabulous salume). Frankly, this was a wine weekend in the Santa Rita Hills for us, and we were more focused on the excellent local wines on tap at the deli than the coffee.

I met my coffee needs for three days with my Porlex hand grinder (love that device!) and a Clever dripper.
Marshall
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DanoM
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#4: Post by DanoM »

Hey, with a good wine in hand who needs espresso right? Enjoy the wine country!
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bogiesan
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#5: Post by bogiesan »

If you visit the Salvatore website or their facebook thingy, you can see photos of the machine.

Any topic with "Salvatore" in it gets my attention around here.

DanoM
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#6: Post by DanoM »

When driving through to Paso Robles we stopped by at Industrial Eats. Good little lunch place. Great sandwiches too.

I took a good long look at the Gaggia. They were very happy to talk about the hotel group, but seemed less interested in the lever side of the machine. I didn't opt for coffee or espresso, but their wine on tap was quite nice! I was surprised how large the machine was though, as I'd never seen one of these old Gaggia levers in person.
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drgary
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#7: Post by drgary »

I don't know if that was an entirely original Gaggia Orione. Didn't ABC Coffee Company pimp them out with that copper case and dome and hoopla?

Here's one Paul Pratt posted in a restoration thread at this link:

Gaggia Orione restoration



There are other case styles too displayed on the Enrico Maltoni and Dr. Espresso sites. All have decorative cases but I didn't find any on those sites with the copper superstructure.
Gary
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What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

DanoM
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#8: Post by DanoM »

Looking at google images I found one of these sitting in London with the exact same gaudy dome twisted metal and pots on it. Could have been shipped from USA over the years I guess. Some may like those domes, but I never quite got it.

The main machine seems to be just shrouded by the bulkier copper work. It's a pretty big machine without the shroud work, so it must have a huge boiler as there isn't much else on these machines I think.

From the comments I've seen here and elsewhere ABC company seems to be the one responsible for the shroud work.
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drgary
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#9: Post by drgary »

Here are some links to Gaggia Orione images that make more sense to me. I've seen the ABC scaffolding over other vintage commercial machines, too, not just Gaggia. Doug Garrott once wrote half jokingly that the scaffolding reduces the value of the machine by about $1K.

http://www.espressomadeinitaly.com/en/g ... -1960.html

http://www.espressomadeinitaly.com/en/g ... -1960.html
Gary
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What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

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stuartmac
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#10: Post by stuartmac »

what exactly is a hotel group?

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