Buyer's Guide to the Gaggia Achille - Page 5

[cannonfodder]

Under the base

Under the base of the Achille there is nothing too remarkable, pretty much standard layout. One feature worth pointing out is the over temperature breaker on the plastic base. The reset button is accessible from under the machine. A simple paperclip to push up the reset button is all that is needed. I let the machine run for over 8 hours and never did trip the reset. You can run the machine non stop all day.




1. Pstat
2. Heating element
3. Power switch
4. Power and heater (red, green) lights
5. over temperature safety sensor
6. Power plug
7. Over temperature breaker (can be reset from the bottom of the machine)

[timo888]

I never made a lever pull with the shower screen off to watch the flow out of the block. Sounds like a good reason to make another video.

Take 1: Flow without the shower screen in place
Take 2: Flow with shower screen in place

An extreme close-up of the unexposed side of the shower-screen would also be of interest.
Regards
Timo

[cpl593h]

While it may be that some of us are interested in the minute technical matters of lever machines, I think most of us are really interested in:

-Consistency
-Thermal stability
-Results in the cup

[HB]

Understood, but recall that the typical review cycle lasts several months and it's only week 1. Dave has laid the groundwork by covering the mechanics, which are unfamiliar to most of the readership, even the hardcore Lever Espresso Machine forum followers. Rest assured that the Achille's in-cup performance will be as thoroughly scrutinized as its design.

[timo888]

Details like lever and piston dimensions and how water flows through the piston chamber are not "minute" IMO. Those dimensions determine the range of brew pressures the machine has been optimized for (assuming a 40-50 pound pull). How the water flows through the machine can tell you quite a bit about it. For example, is a slow pull hotter or cooler than a quick pull on this machine, knowing what we know about the water flow? If the lever-specific details of the machine are of minor interest to you, why even consider a lever over an electric pump

Regards
Timo

[espressoperson]

Details like lever and piston dimensions and how water flows through the piston chamber are not "minute" IMO. Those dimensions determine the range of brew pressures the machine has been optimized for (assuming a 40-50 pound pull). How the water flows through the machine can tell you quite a bit about it. For example, is a slow pull hotter or cooler than a quick pull on this machine, knowing what we know about the water flow? If the lever-specific details of the machine are of minor interest to you, why even consider a lever over an electric pump

Regards
Timo

IMO it's the bass ackwards approach that is getting some of us antsy. If the machine doesn't produce amazing espresso then why would we be interested in how it works? Without the results in the cup it's just a mechanical curiosity. But if it produces espresso to die for then you've got a good reason to study its innards.

One doesn't have to tear levers apart to appreciate them and favor them over electrical pump machines. I've owned an Olympia Cremina for over two decades. It produces amazing espresso. And I don't have the least desire to take it apart or know how it is put together. Actually seeing a machine apart with all those little pieces all over the place is a frightening thing But I'll do my best to chill, put up with the vivisection, and wait for the good part to come

[another_jim]

Unless it's a seriously compromised or budget machine, the details of the construction usually doesn't explain the quality of the espresso -- we simply don't know enough to make connections like that. However, analysing the construction tells a lot about how to control the machine and how to work the taste. So it greatly cuts down the time one needs to get the most out of an espresso machine if one has analyzed how it works.

So there's really three choices when shopping for reviews:
1. "I just got the machine, and let me tell you, it's the greatest thing ever"
2. "Talk to me in a year"
3. Or put up with what Dave is doing.

[cpl593h]

IMO it's the bass ackwards approach that is getting some of us antsy. If the machine doesn't produce amazing espresso then why would we be interested in how it works? Without the results in the cup it's just a mechanical curiosity. But if it produces espresso to die for then you've got a good reason to study its innards.

That basically sums it up. It wasn't a complaint against Dave, he's doing a bang-up job and I am glad he was chosen to do this review.

[peacecup]

Dave's doing a great job, and we've all been clamoring for more. I've been following the posts on both form and function with great interest. As a lever enthusiast I'll attribute all of the interest in the review to a general awakening of interest in old school espresso.

PC

[cannonfodder]

What is in the cup is the most important aspect to myself and that was the way I was going. However, since 90% of the questions being posted were about the function of the machine I decided to address those, and stated that in a post. Ever hear 'the squeaky wheel gets the grease'?

The mechanical aspects are essentially completed as far as I am concerned. I think we have covered the what's under the covers questions and will be moving back to the cup.

My progress has almost come to a halt this past week. I have been writing and posting from the hospital (and do not work in a hospital). So be a little patient and we will get back on track. I have gobs of coffee from our super sponsors and have several things in the works.

The sudden increase in posts tells me that there are more people interested in the machine than originally thought.

[timo888]

IMO it's the bass ackwards approach that is getting some of us antsy. If the machine doesn't produce amazing espresso then why would we be interested in how it works? Without the results in the cup it's just a mechanical curiosity. But if it produces espresso to die for then you've got a good reason to study its innards.

One doesn't have to tear levers apart to appreciate them and favor them over electrical pump machines. I've owned an Olympia Cremina for over two decades. It produces amazing espresso. And I don't have the least desire to take it apart or know how it is put together. Actually seeing a machine apart with all those little pieces all over the place is a frightening thing But I'll do my best to chill, put up with the vivisection, and wait for the good part to come

Reasonable people can disagree on what is 'bass ackwards'. One can treat the machine as a family sedan with automatic transmission; or one can treat it as a car that's been tweaked at a speed shop. Until you know how a machine works (which is knowing more than how to work it) you cannot know how to make it produce a range of good espressos (ristretto, normale, lungo) on a consistent basis, even if you do manage to get a good shot right out of the box.

As for your irrational fear of small pieces, maybe you could carry some loose screws around in your pocket? Take them out and hold them in the palm of your hand and look at them now and then; remember to breathe deeply and slowly till the terror subsides. And relax, it's a machine, not a puppy; it's a tear-down, not a vivisection.

The only reason I can think of to explain your impatience with the design analysis approach is that you must be really eager to learn whether the machine makes good espresso, because you would buy one if it did. I cannot think of any other practical reason why one would be interested primarily in finding out (second-hand) whether a particular lever machine produces good espresso. So, if that's the case, why not order one from WLL on their buyer's remorse plan and find out for yourself first-hand?

Regards
Timo

P.S. My own main practical concern is whether this machine offers better inter-shot temperature stability than its competitors.

[HB]

It's exciting (and a little surprising) to see the interest level in this lever espresso machine and Dave's approach to it. All the questions being posed will be answered in due time. We have every intention of posting temperature and pressure profiles of the Achille in the coming weeks. There will also be group taste tests that will compare it to popular alternatives (e.g., Olympia Cremina and Elektra Microcasa a Leva).

I like that each reviewer has their own style. However, they do agree to roughly follow the format of the Buyer's Guides series to assure a level of consistency. My personal style is to wait a long, long time before publicly offering before publicly offering such comments as "wow, this pulls some fantastic shots!" because I understand that some readers may be weighing a purchase decision. Subsequently I prefer to build a small mountain of peer feedback and data to support my claims, especially if they are for a new offering or require "unconventional" techniques to obtain. The Elektra A3 was a case in point: It impressed the heck out of me on Day 1, I was still impressed a week later, but contained my public enthusiasm until my observations were independently confirmed by two other local baristas, Steve Robinson and Geoff Corey.

With that said, Dave's free to conduct research as he wishes. I have every confidence that he'll do a bang up job; I've thoroughly enjoyed his report to-date and understand everyone's "more more more!" encouragement. So let's sit back, enjoy the ride, and focus on the developing scenery, not the particulars of the route to the destination.

PS: With regard to the interest level, below are the results from a home page poll last year:

[cannonfodder]

Steaming

Every machine has one or two 'why did they do that?' With the Achille, that happens to be the steam wand, or more specifically the tip. The steam wand itself works wonderfully. It has ball mount so it can be articulated in any direction or angle the user could ever want. The diameter of the steam tube is a little small but well matched to the machine's steaming capacity. It produces a high velocity steam and lots of it:



The velocity of the steam will produce an absolutely wicked turbulence in the pitcher which makes wonderful wet silky microfoam. And then they do this:



Why would you equip it with a frothing aid? I have never been a fan of froth aid devices, but the one on the Achille is not too bad. Unlike most of its contemporaries, this one is constructed of stainless steel with a plastic insert. As with most of these devices, the key is a small air intake on the wand. That air intake injects air into the milk producing foam. If you can surf that hole on the milk's surface, you can control the amount of air injected and produce decent microfoam. The problem is that the froth aid tip is long and the pin-sized air hole is near the top of the froth aid attachment. That means you either need to be frothing a lot of milk, or a little milk in a tall and narrow pitcher.


If you plug the hole, then you can use the froth aid as you would any other steam wand and surf the tip. If you remove the froth aid device you are left with a single hole steam wand. Unfortunately, that wand is not long enough to use for steaming unless you are using a shallow pitcher.

I discussed the froth aid device with Todd Salzman at Whole Latte Love to see if there were any other options. He sent me the frothing attachment from another machine which uses a longer inner tube. I removed the outer shell and just used the inner sheath as an extension. I can produce wonderful microfoam with the machine, but this is a Band-Aid fix at best.


The Achille really soars as an espresso machine. Gaggia has designed espresso capability that's worthy of the most demanding aficionado, but coupled it with a frothing aid meant for newbies. The price point of the Achille clearly targets the serious espresso hound. Why would you hamper it with a frothing aid? In my view, steam wands are not expensive and Gaggia / Whole Latte Love would be well advised to provide a drop-in replacement option that would compare favorably out of the box with less expensive levers like the Elektra Microcasa a Leva that boast legendary microfoaming ease.

NOTE: Steam heating performance numbers will be included in the final Buyer's Guide.

[peacecup]

I like the ball joint and finger guard.

I have a Saeco that has their frothing attachment, and it does make good frothing pretty simple, especially with small volumes of milk. On the other hand, it may make great frothing difficult or impossible. I've learned after using more standard 2 or 3 hole tips that great frothing is a bit more difficult, and it requires a large volume of milk that subsequently gets tossed if one is making just one drink. Maybe the Gaggia folks were thinking about the single serving frother?

One thing for sure, I've broken the plastic insert once or twice on the Saceo, which puts it out of action until I can get a new one in the mail. NO PLASTIC PARTS PLEASE!

PC

[another_jim]

I think the machine may be aimed at the Italian and especially German markets. The habit there is straight shots during the day, and a big pitcher of steamed milk in the morning to add to ones regular powered coffee (this is true even in Italy, where a morning cappa is a cafe thing, not a home thing). Given that a home machine is in use for breakfast and the late afternoon/dinner, this style of breakfast coffee is something a home machine should do.

The Achille should make a better pair of cafe cremas (6 pulls) than any other home lever (bigger basket, no overheating), and better than a vibe machine (no pressure drop problems when pulling super long shots). You can check this -- try fitting two 12 ounce latte cups under the spouts, filling each half way with cafe crema from an overfilled, coarse ground basket, then frothing 9 ounces of milk to top off the cups. A concoction like this would be a fairly de luxe variant of euro style breakfast coffee, and this machine may do it better than anything that doesn't have a rotary pump, including home HXs or superautos.

All that in a sexy lever package may be what their marketing people were thinking when making design decisions.

[danblev]

Why would you equip it with a frothing aid?

That would be a big problem in my view. Most of the time its two cappas here.

And yes, there is interest in an exceptional lever machine.

Waiting for the coffee review.

[espressoperson]

My personal style is to wait a long, long time before publicly offering such comments as "wow, this pulls some fantastic shots!" because I understand that some readers may be weighing a purchase decision. Subsequently I prefer to build a small mountain of peer feedback and data to support my claims, especially if they are for a new offering or require "unconventional" techniques to obtain. The Elektra A3 was a case in point: It impressed the heck out of me on Day 1, I was still impressed a week later, but contained my public enthusiasm until my observations were independently confirmed by two other local baristas, Steve Robinson and Geoff Corey.

IMO this is disappointing. Sharing only well thought out and validated opinions without sharing progress and opinions along the way. I think we understand the difference between first impressions and final validated conclusions. Why not give us both? Think how much we can learn from sharing the learning process with the reviewer.

[HB]

Sharing only well thought out and validated opinions without sharing progress and opinions along the way. I think we understand the difference between first impressions and final validated conclusions. Why not give us both?

It's a tradeoff. If it's any consolation, Dave and I have agreed to fast-track this review in time for the holiday season. With luck, we'll publish the Buyer's Guide by early December, with only retouches in mid-January for longer-term evaluations that may have slipped under the radar of the initially shorter review cycle.

[cannonfodder]

I spent the evening pulling shots and trying different recovery times with some mixed results. The lower 1.1-1.2 pstat setting makes a big difference in the cooling flush, it also makes a difference in the steam velocity which goes without saying.

My cursory shot tests appear to favor a short recover after a flush however I was getting a better cup with the higher Pstat setting. That being said it could also have simply been an off day. After sampling 8 different double shots in one hour you tend to suffer sensory overload and everything tastes and smells the same.

One interesting design feature that has a direct impact on the cup is the heat exchanger. Unlike most HX machines, the Achille's HX is coiled in the top of the boiler. It appears to only be heated with steam, no water immersion. That slows the heating rate of the water in the HX. However steam is a more thermally stable medium which means the boiler cycle has less impact.

Jim offered up this gem of information offline. WARNING, scientific content to follow.

1. Steam is far less conductive than water, an HX in steam will draw heat more slowly than in water at the same temperature.
2. A gram of steam releases only 0.58 calories per degree C versus water's 1 calorie, it is less efficient than water if it doesn't change state. However, turning a gram of steam to water releases 540 calories -- this is where all steam engines, including turbines get their energy density -- they drip water out of their output.
3. This extra energy is fairly irrelevant inside a boiler -- the water/steam is at the same temperature so any energy from condensation is immediately reabsorbed by the water vaporizing to fill the space. When one frothes milk, on the other hand, one is getting that 540 calories per gram.

So a steam heat exchanger is slower than a water one. It has more length to get the water to the right temp when it's flowing, and will be slower to overheat when the water is not flowing. This is why some of the really stable designs, like the Aurelia, the Cimbalis, and the La Spaziales, have the water storage of the HX sitting in the steam. However, since this is a home machine, with PF sneeze, I'm not sure what the design point was -- the water will probably get all the way to boiler temp in any case by the time one can pull the next shot. However, the point of the design may show up in the thermal tests.

[cannonfodder]

Being a lever machine, there is no three way solenoid on the Achille. Anyone with a lever machine is familiar with the dreaded portafilter sneeze.

One thing I quickly learned with the Achille is that it holds its portafilter pressure longer than my Factory. I have pulled a shot, drank the shot then gone back to dump the puck and was surprised that the portafilter was still under pressure.

I quickly learned that you can crack open the portafilter with a quarter turn to depressurize it without blowing coffee all over the kitchen. The pressure will bleed around the portafilter and any water/coffee will drip into the drip tray. Using that technique I was able to pull back to back shots using two loaded baskets. Couple that with a 1300 watt heater and you can pull shots almost as fast as a 3-way enabled pump machine. I will shoot a video tomorrow to illustrate. In fact I will go one better and bang out two double shots as fast as I can just to showcase the machine's speedy recovery.

I have often wondered why a manufacturer has never added a manual pressure release valve. They add them to pressure cookers, why can they not add a pressure release to a lever machine?