Buyer's Guide to the La Spaziale Vivaldi II

[woodchuck]

Dan Kehn reviewed the La Spaziale S1 when it was first released back in April 2005. By all accounts the La Spaziale Vivaldi was a very successful machine with Chris Coffee selling over 500 machines before introducing the Vivaldi II.

With the recent additions of Programmable Preinfusion and Programmable Temperature Offset Differential, Dan and I thought it was time to update the buyers guide with a fresh look at the LaSpaziale Vivaldi II?
I already have a Vivaldi VII pre preinfusion and programmable offset so was interested in the differences.
Dan was also kind enough to loan me his La Valentina as a comparison machine and Bob Barazza has offered up a jam on his A3 as well.

Here is a picture of the setup in my kitchen.



Also a closer look at the VII.



I do hate those stickers. I understand the need for them but I hope that Chris and others have some good suggestions as to how to clean them off.

For all of you Luddites out there close your eyes for the next picture.

A closeup of the control panel and that big S1 logo. It actually ends up being a pretty good place to stick a shot timer



Now for some coffee! In the essence of full disclosure I have had this machine for awhile now so have had a chance to get the temperature and offsets dialed in. I'll go through that in more detail in future posts.

I have had a little Counter Counter Coffee Biloya stashed away in the freezer for a couple of weeks. So decided to give it a try. 3sec of preinfusion and 93°C.

It started off OK and finished fine. But for me it was a tad hot. I think 92°C would have been a little better.

I'll post the pics in the next post since I can only upload three here.

One quick note that I have already experienced with this machine compared to my VII is the improved tolerance to channeling you get with the addition of preinfusion. More about this in later posts.

Cheers

Ian

[woodchuck]

Here are the pics of the Biloya.

The start:



Midway through:



I'll be getting into the preinfusion and offsets in the the next few posts.

Cheers
Ian

[CoffeeOwl]

Also a closer look at the VII.

<image>

I do hate those stickers. I understand the need for them (...)

LOL!
I understand that the sticker on the group is needed only on those machines accompanied with a naked pf and that it sais something like 'please do not stick your tongue out beneath the portafilter: the liquid is HOT!'

p.s.
anyway, guys, very good idea to update the reviews. In fact I'm perfectly happy with my Vivaldi II as it is (read: no preinfusion) and yet very courious about the enhancement, so please go on testing.

[woodchuck]

Brings back memories of Northern Canadian winters and a metal flag pole

Cheers

Ian

[JohnB.]

Warm the decals with a heat gun or hair dryer & peel them off. Clean off any remaining adhesive with 3M Adhesive remover or undiluted citrus cleaner. 7 months ago when I bought mine there was only 1 info decal on the front section. That big one on the right was inside the drip tray shelf where it belongs.

[scalla]

Nice extraction pictures. If that doesn't make you want to have a shot you should check your pulse. Looking forward to the rest of the review.

[CoffeeOwl]

I just don't log in without a cup. On any coffee forum! unresistable.

[woodchuck]

I thought it would be good to go through a few of the machine basics for those of you who are not familiar with the earlier incarnation of Vivaldi.

The Vivaldi ships with two portafilters, one double and one single spout, a double basket, single basket and a backflushing disk. You also get a black plastic tamper and a grouphead brush for cleaning the shower screen and gasket. The owner's manual is pretty well written and is available online as well.



You'll want to order a 53mm tamper before you get too far with this machine. The plastic tamper that ships with it won't take you too far espresso nirvana wise. There is a fair amount of debate over what kind of tamper works best. I would recommend starting with a slightly convex tamper.

The VII is a double boiler espresso machine with a 2.5 liter steam boiler and a 450 ml group boiler. Double boiler home machines have become more popular over the years with a handful of machines on the market today. The VII rotary is plumbed for direct connect. There is a version of the La Spaziale the Mini Vivaldi that sports a vibe pump and tank rather than the rotary plumbing.

The VII is 16.5 inches wide and 15.25 inches tall. Including space for a grinder, you should plan on approximately twenty-four inches of countertop to allow ample elbowroom. The VII is short enough that the cups on the warming tray have good clearance when the unit is located under standard height kitchen cabinets.



The VII ships in either 20amp or 15amp configurations. The 20 amp model can be switched to "economy" mode by pressing and holding the BOILER button for 10 seconds until the ECON light illuminates. This setting is remembered even if the unit is unplugged and assures that only one boiler will activate at a time in order to remain below a 15 amp load.



One note to add here is that the VII has now achieved ETL Sanitation and Electrical Certification for both the US and Canada. This is a pretty big deal for smaller machines like the VII and makes it usable in a small commercial environment such as a restaurant or catering business.

You will also need to plan for the VII's water hookup. The VII's water hookup is a standard 1/8" inner diameter NPT fitting that Chris' Coffee Service technicians can adapt to whatever plumbing fixture you have available under the sink or from the icemaker hookup (3/8" outer diameter tubing is also available). They recommend John Guest push-in fittings and 230 PSI flexible water tubing. Your local hardware store may have the equivalent Watts brand. Dan has noted in his earlier review that these are lower-pressure 120 PSI fittings and tubing that will still work but you may as well order everything you need to plumb the VII from Chris' to avoid delays. It is worth noting here that adding a water filter and softener is a good idea if you're plumbing in a new machine. The water softener is a must for areas with hard water and will reduce the descaling intervals across the board.

[woodchuck]

Continuing on with the tour - a view of the working area of the VII.



The VII comes standard with an articulated steam wand and 1.2mm four-hole tip. Two accessories definitely worth considering are the no burn steam arms and a smaller 0.9mm four-hole tip. The standard steam tip's speed can be a bit challenging for smaller quantities of milk or the less experienced home barista. The steam wand can easily be swung over the drip tray and purged of water before steaming and the s-curve makes it easy to reach the bottom of a 20 oz pitcher.

The VII also has a hot water dispenser and an enclosed group (or at least less exposed than the E61). There is lots of headroom under the group for a big Americano mug or doubling up as I do when I'm trying to get some nice crema in the cup.



The VII has a monster drip tray. You can easily get a quart of water in the tray and still have enough room left over to remove it and get it to the sink without sloshing the water over the sides.

[JohnB.]

Check the steam tip that came on your test machine to see what size the holes are. Several of us that ordered the "optional" .9mm tip found that our machines actually came with it & not the 1.2mm. I believe the 1.2mm tip came on the older S1 machines but with the Italians you never know.

[woodchuck]

John, my test machine came with the 1.2mm tip. I'll confirm with Chris what he is shipping with the new machines.

Cheers

Ian

[JohnB.]

My machine was from the shipment they received 12/07 & when I mentioned this to them they checked their stock and found the .9mm tip on the machines. Maybe La Spaziale screwed up that shipment but others on the Vivaldi forum found the same thing after ordering the "optional" .9mm tip.

[chris]

John is correct, one shipment last year came through with the .9 mm tip on the Vivaldi II. That tip is optional for the Vivaldi II but standard for the Mini Vivaldi II. I can not say for sure how many machines shipped with the .9 mm tip from that batch of machines. Once we became aware of it we changed the tip prior to shipping from that point on, all subsequent shipments came with the standard tip already on the machines.

[woodchuck]

Here is quick picture of both tips:



Cheers

Ian

[woodchuck]

My fluke is in transit at the moment so no definitive temperature measurements for a couple of days yet. I had previously setup the VII so am comfortable with its temperature but comparative tests with La Valentina will have to wait. That said I couldn't wait at least try out both machines.

You will need to set up a couple of presets on the VII: namely, group temperature, preinfusion time and volumetric dose before pulling your first shots. I won't go into the details here since the steps for setting them are pretty well covered in the manual. I do have some suggestions on starting points that have worked well for me.

Let's start with preinfusion. My recommendation here is 3 seconds with a water inlet pressure of 25psi. I'll be doing a lot more testing of preinfusion later.

Set the volumetric dosing on the double button for 2 oz and the single for 4oz. Why? Because I generally don't pull singles and use that button for back flushing and rinsing. Also I generally pull about 1.75oz doubles so I'll be pretty close even if I'm not paying attention and don't cut the double shot off myself.

Temperature wise 93°C is a pretty good starting point for your basic espresso blends. I picked up some Toscano from Counter Culture Coffee. I am pretty familiar with this blend and lately 93°C has been pulling pretty sweet.

Here's a typical recipe for the VII that has worked for me:

1. Allow the group 25 minutes to warm up.
Or leave it on with the portafilter loosely locked in or use the optional timer to have everything nice a toasty as you're crawling out of bed. Here is a quick picture of the timer control. I'll post more about setting it up later.



2. Draw a blank shot with the portafilter in place.
Press the two-cup button, preferably into your espresso cup to preheat it. You will ultimately have to pull two blank doubles to get the grouphead up to temperature.

3. Measure out and grind your beans.

4. I found that 16 grams of beans (a level basket with one slight tap during dosing) works best for your more traditional espresso blends like Toscano. Lighter roasts have denser beans so will not need the mid dose tap. Some may even end up below the lip for a similar dose.



5. Tamp firmly, about 30 pounds of pressure.

6. Now pull a second blank double. Then lock in the portafilter.

7. Dump the hot water from the cup and wait for the temperature led to stop flashing, wait until it is solid and then press the two-cup button. For me, waiting for the temperature light to go solid is the trick to consistent temperatures across my VII espresso routine.

You will here the water solenoid click on for about 3 seconds before the pump starts followed by your first drops of espresso in about another five seconds and continuing for about another twenty. I like to cut off the pull just as the cone is starting to collapse a bit. This generally just precedes the blonding.

The Toscano worked out pretty well. Nice and sweet strong chocolate notes with just a hint of fruit. I have just started getting the extra fruit in the cup. I think Tim has tweaked the blend a little bit lately. Here is a quick shot of the pour:



Onto Miss Valentina. As I have said earlier I am not very familiar with this machine so I expect it will take me awhile to get used to it. Dan has it set up with one of Eric's thermocouples. Once I get the fluke back it will be a bit easier to dial in the temperature.

Image

For now, I followed Dan's formula in his buyers guide for La Valentina (a brief excerpt follows):

• Allow La Valentina at least 25 minutes to warm up.
  
• Start the grinder and press the brew button to begin the cooling flush. Remove the portafilter after about 10 seconds, dry out the basket, and then fill and tamp firmly. Again I measured out 16grams of coffee. Dan recommends about 17 grams in his review but I wanted to use the same amount as I had used in the VII.
  
• Remove the portafilter about halfway through the flush and start to prepare the basket, that doesn't leave a lot of time to dose, distribute, and tamp before you should start the extraction. Listen for the hissing of steam and gurgling of boiling water before locking in the portafilter. Continue drawing water for about five seconds after the stream has settled down, for around six ounces total. Depending on the blend and your taste preference, the recovery time after the cooling flush is somewhere between 15 seconds (puck surface temperature briefly peaks about one or two degrees Fahrenheit above target brew temperature) to 35 seconds (puck surface temperature peaks around four degrees above brew temperature).
  
• Lock in the portafilter and toggle the brew button to start the extraction.
  Remember to relock the portafilter back into the grouphead to keep it warm.

As it turns out things went pretty well after my second attempt. The cone is a bit forward of center on this pour. Note to self - pay more attention to making sure the tamp is level.



The grind was pretty close, surprising given the different basket geometries. The VII is a 53mm basket: smaller diameter but deeper than the 58mm E61 basket. I'm really interested to see if there are taste differences in the two geometries.

Taste wise the Valentina shot was a bit harsher and not as buttery as the VII shot. I suspect my temperature surfing is getting me to a little too high a temperature. I'll have to work on my surfing more and when the Fluke gets back this week I should be able to do a better comparison.

[woodchuck]

Got the Fluke back today so am able to do a better job of setting up temps on La Valentina for comparison with the VII. Here is the setup:



Eric's thermocouple makes it pretty easy to hit the temps you want. I surfed down to 202°F for a target brew temperature of 200°F. This lines up pretty well with the 93°C setup on the VII.

Pour was a little fast so tightened up the grind and pulled another shot:



Lots of crema. A hint of nut and of course, tons of chocolate. Very well rounded shot.

Onto the VII. Take note here. Dealing with a double boiler is definitely easier than an HX. Pull a blank double. Pull a second if you have been idle for awhile. Lock in and pull.



I had to dial the grind back a bit again. I have noticed that for the same weight (16gr) the La Valentina needs a slightly finer grind than the VII. I ended up cutting both shots off at around 25 seconds.

Even more interesting given that the brew pressure is set a bit lower than the VII. I'll true up the two pressures and try again later.

Taste wise I have to give the edge to the VII. As with my shots yesterday a more buttery mouth feel than the La Valentina. Tomorrow onto milk!

[woodchuck]

Today was a bit of a rush since we are teaching an underwater photo course in the caymans next week and leaving tomorrow. There will be a brief hiatus in this thread until I get back the following week.

I wanted to try out the VII on milk drinks today so I did get in a few caps and macchiatos. The steaming performance of the VII is pretty spectacular. That is one of the advantages of a double boiler you can crank up the steam performance without impacting brew temperature.

The VII comes with a stock 1.2mm tip and you can order an optional 0.9mm tip from Chris. I highly recommend the smaller diameter tip if you are going to be pulling smaller (6oz or less) amounts of milk. The larger tip is pretty fast and can get away from you if you're not careful.

With 1.2mm tip and the steam boiler set to 1.1bar it takes me about 16 seconds to get 8oz of milk up to temperature in 20oz pitcher. The 0.9mm tip slows this down to 22 seconds.

I'll do some water tests when I get back to get a better spread on temperature time and volumes. In the mean time, trust me you won't run out of steam!

I started off with a nice double shot of Toscano:



and 6 oz of milk in a small pitcher. The four hole steam tip makes it easy to get a nice whirlpool going in the pitcher and some good microfoam in the pitcher.



A little swirl of the pitcher and voila - excuse my latte art. Not my strong suit.



My wife prefers skim milk (probably why she is half my size). I find it more difficult to get good microfoam with skim so I generally just pour a good monk's head for her.



And finally a quick macchiato for me before getting back to packing.



See you all in a weeks time.

[JohnB.]

The VII has a monster drip tray. You can easily get a quart of water in the tray and still have enough room left over to remove it and get it to the sink without sloshing the water over the sides.

<image>

Actually the tray will hold 48 oz & still make it to the sink without spilling! You do need a steady hand though.

[woodchuck]

John, you're a better man than I

Cheers

Ian

[woodchuck]

OK back from a weeks teaching in Little Cayman. Lots of action. Nothing to do with coffee but here's one of a Caribbean Reef shark on one of our dives.



Had a great time but I did miss my espresso. Gladys at Pirates Point where we stay is a great chef but has yet to bend to my constant hints about getting an espresso machine in.

I figured I would do some tests on preinfusion today since that is one of the major additions from my VII to the new one.

Pre infusion can be programmed on the VII from 0 to 9 seconds in one second increments. The programmable version works by opening the intake manifold to let water into the group at line pressure then turning on the pump after the preinfusion interval. Chris also sells a preinfusion chamber that has a fixed interval of (I believe) six seconds. Maybe Chris can confirm the time.

I have my line pressure set to 25 psi. I am on a well so this keeps the pressure bumps to a minimum. I started off by looking at how far water penetrates into a puck with 16gr of coffee during preinfusion. I had done this before but here is the nine seconds in four steps:

0 seconds



3 seconds



6 seconds



9 seconds



I ran out of time before I got a fully saturated puck at the 25psi line pressure. The 3 second seems to have the most impact in terms of depth it slows at 6 and then further at 9.

I went back and pulled and tasted shots across all four steps. I have had this machine for a few weeks and my experience so far is that 3 seconds of preinfusion does make a noticeable difference in shot to shot consistency. I note a small addition of brightness to the cup at 3 seconds but some on the S1 board have not.

Adding additional preinfusion time beyond the 3 seconds doesn't seem to help and by 9 seconds the shot tends to fall apart. Here is a shot at nine seconds of preinfusion (ugly) and one at 3 seconds (much better).





As I mentioned before, the 0, 3 and 6 seconds shots tasted pretty much the same with a bit of additional brightness going to the preinfused shots. This will likely be more apparent in some of the brighter SO espressos. I'll have Dan over for a blind to confirm that the slight taste difference is real and not just in my head. The 9 seconds shots were quite sour - a lot of channeling starting to take place as the puck falls apart. I think I could have mitigated this some by tightening up the grind for the longer preinfused shots. Another test for later.

There has been much more comprehensive testing done on preinfusion on HB than I've done here. Probably the best thread to start with would be The Impact of Preinfusion on the Taste of Espresso Shots

For me, the added consistency of the preinfusion makes the upgrade worthwhile. That is one good thing about Chris's Vivaldi line - he has kept the upgrade path open for a number of his improvements.