My attention has turned to my old friend, my kids call it tin man (after the pointed boiler topper) but you know him as the Gaggia Factory. The Factory was manufactured by La Pavoni for Gaggia and I have owned it for a few years, I cut my lever teeth (or arm) on it. My unit is the 16 cup version but I have made a modification or two to it. One is strictly for bling, hand turned and finished cocobolo handles, the other is more functional. An adjustable digital thermostat which bypasses the pressurestat so I can adjust temperature on the fly, but more on that one later.
My Factory has the newer millennium group. There are 4 major changes to the millennium design over the older units. Three of those are centered on the grouphead. The millennium design increased the portafilter displacement from 49 to 51mm. They also added a nylon/plastic liner in the group to help insulate the piston from the hot group. The piston is also made of a nylon/plastic; the older units used a brass piston. The piston will unscrew from the shaft, which has happened over time while inside the machine. That can lead to a piston that does not rise enough to pass over the water outlet hole in the group. I have also heard that you can purchase a brass piston to replace the plastic if you so desire. The fourth change is a combination switch instead of two power switches (one for steam the other for brew); there is one switch and the boiler temperature is controlled by a pressurestat.
The machine ships with black plastic portafilter and lever handles, one double spouted portafilter, a single basket, double basket and useless black plastic tamper. The drip tray is black plastic and lifts off the base of the machine and comes with two drip tray covers, one black plastic, which is what I use, and the other stainless steel with holes punched in it. The drainage on the stainless drip tray cover is horrible so I use the plastic cover. Make sure that when you order a LaPavoni you get a proper tamper. I use a flat bottom stainless lava tamper.
Assembly is next to non existent: un-box, put on table, put on drip tray, fill boiler, turn on. That is all the setup required. Unlike most pump machines that need two people to un-box and place, the Factory is relatively light weight and is easily moved around by one person. That light weight also translates to easily moved when pulling a shot. The base on the LaPavoni style machines is small and because of the machines light weight it wants to wiggle around on the kitchen counter. For an easy fix, go to your local hardware store and get a roll of kitchen cabinet matting, or if you are a wood worker get a router mat. This is a spongy and sticky foam rubber mat; you can cut it to fit under the base of the machine and will hold it place while pulling a shot.
The steam wand on the Factory is located on the right side of the machine with the valve on the left rear side of the machine. The steam wand is fixed and non adjustable unless you man handle it and bend it to a new position, but I would not recommend it. It is a little awkward to use being mounted so close the exposed boiler. The acorn nut steam tip is three holed and the large boiler will provide ample steam.
The boiler is capped with a single large boiler cap. Inside that cap is both the vacuum breaker and emergency pressure release. If either becomes sticky you have to soak the entire cap. If one wears out, you have to replace the cap. I have had to do nether and I have had the machine for a few years.
The boiler sight glass does not have minimum or maximum level markings. When filling the boiler pay attention to the water level. You will not want to fill the boiler beyond 3/4 and 2/3rds full. If you go over that the steam tends to get wet. Once you have the boiler filled and the boiler cap installed, just flip the power switch and let it heat.
It takes around 10 minutes for the boiler to heat to temperature but that is not to say it is ready to pull shots. While the machine has a vacuum breaker, I make it a practice to purge the boiler via the steam wand after the initial heating has finished just in case. After that another 5 minutes and it is ready for business. If you want to speed the process you can flush water through the group a couple of times and purge the steam wand. Keep in mind that flushing water through the group could overheat the machine.
The Factory uses a 51mm double spout portafilter. I never split a shot so I removed the double spouts quite some time ago. One thing to consider, the portafilter does not have a retaining spring. The basket just sits in the portafilter. If you prefer to dose and tamp with the basket out of the portafilter then this is a convenient feature. The down side, there is nothing to hold the basket in the portafilter so when you knock out the puck you have to hold the basket in the portafilter with a finger.
The Factory has no cup warmer, unless you place your demi cup upside down over the boiler cap while heating. Before I prepare my portafilter I like to pull a couple of ounces through the group and into my cup to heat it.
The double basket holds 13 grams of coffee by filling the basket to the top and then leveling the grinds off while using no downward pressure. If you wish to dose higher, then a light tap or two to settle the grinds in the basket while dosing will allow you to get 15 grams in the double basket. While dosing changes with coffee, I prefer to start with a 12 gram dose. At 12 grams you will be dosing slightly below the top of the basket rim. When tamping, the top of the side of the piston is just below the top of the basket, the tamped dose fills the double basket around 2/3's full.
The factory has a full manual lever, which means there is no spring or other mechanism to assist in the pulling or raising of the lever. You alone control the extraction pressure which can make a manual lever challenging to use for some. One of the keys to consistent shots is to learn to pull the lever with consistent pressure. The barista can also vary the pressure on the fly to compensate for a slightly slow or fast shot.
One again, there are many ways to pull a shot, the only rule is that the technique you use produces a shot that you enjoy to drink. Having said that, this is how I pull a shot. After the machine has heated I pull around 2 ounces of water into my demi to preheat it. While it sits, I grind, dose and tamp my selected coffee. I tend to grind finer for the lever than my pump machine requires. I find I get a better shot with a lower than maximum dose, fine grind and light tamp.
Once the portafilter is prepared, I empty and dry my cup, raise the lever until water flows then back down just until it stops flowing. Then I lock in the portafilter, raise the lever and allow the puck to infuse for 5-6 seconds before I start my pull. When doing multiple lever pulls, I will pull the lever around a half stroke, usually no coffee has dropped out of the portafilter. If it has it is only a drop. Then I gently raise the handle to the top of the stroke and hold it another 2-3 seconds to allow the chamber to refill. Then I pull the lever to completion. Using that technique I get a 1.5 ounce shot.
In order to generate enough pressure to properly extract the shot, a fair amount of pressure is needed. You really have to put some muscle, or body weight into the lever. If you are having trouble gauging your pull pressure try this simple test. Get your bathroom scale out and put it on your counter, then put your machine on top of it. Zero out your weight, prep you portafilter and pull a shot. Use minimal counter force on the portafilter handle but be very careful. The small base makes the machine tippy and you do not want to pull it over onto yourself. While carefully pulling that shot, look at the scale. You should be exerting at least 30 pounds of pressure. That will put your brew pressure in the 8 bar range. The shots flow rich and crema laden. If you up the pressure it will produce even more crema. My test coffee was
Counter Culture Cafe's Twin Cities espresso which delivered some absolutely wonderful shots. Very creamy and intensely nutty with a hint of berry in the finish.
While that multi pull technique works better for me on this machine that it did on the Elektra, I still prefer a single lever pull. While it only produces a one ounce drink, the flavor is more intense, smoother and creamier than what I get from a multi pull shot.
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