Hi Tom, As far as I know Brita filters contain a cation exchange resin, which will reduce Ca2+ concentration. EDIT: From the brita site (emphasis mine): "How does a BRITA water filter cartridge work? The majority of BRITA cartridges contain a combination of ion exchange resin and activated carbon. T...

Kurt, I received it, see your email. Stelios, Yes, I have the model with ~52 mm inner diameter filter basket. The tap water here is relatively hard, but I use a brita filter. Exchanging beans would be fun, to keep the shipping cost to bean cost ratio reasonable I would suggest to send a larger amoun...

It is a fairly new machine, I found a sticker inside with a June 2011 production date. It will be interesting to hear the answer from La Pavoni. I don't think there is one right pressure though. Different pressures, within certain limits, will just give you different temperature profiles to which yo...

Stelios, I do not think the pressure is too high. In contradiction to those specifications, the manual gives different ones on page 23: {link} There it says "Pressione in caldaia: atm 0,8 - 1" Although I do agree that it might reduce the lifespan of the gaskets a bit, but I would be surprised if 0.1...

Thanks again for the help and I'm sorry for the late reply. I am happy to tell you that by adjusting the pressurestat I was able to solve my problems. It peaks at 0.9 BAR now and I am getting some great results with single origins. After opening up the machine, I was pleasantly surprised to find tha...

Thanks for the suggestions. In this follow-up I would like to write the (so far unsuccessful) steps I have taken to resolve the sourness issue. First of all I switched to freshly roasted single origin beans from a reputable local roaster, I am currently using a Guatemalan antigua. Then for unrelated...

Just felt I should chime in on the Aluminium/Alzheimer's discussion since I have some background on the topic. There is, as far as I know, no solid evidence linking Aluminium exposure, or any other metal for that matter, to an increased risk for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). At best there is ...

I have recently bought a new La Pavoni Europiccola and paired it with an old zassenhaus hand grinder. After using it for a while I am left with some questions on which I'm hoping someone here will be able to shed some light. 1) Quite a few shots turn out to be on the somewhat cold and sour side