I replaced this pressurestat, which has been in my ECM Giotto since I bought it, used, I think about 10 years ago. It had started to self-adjust to lower pressure. I bought a MATER, installed it, and everything was great. For a year. It failed in the classic way, so I put the old one back in and eve...

The occasional drip became too steady to ignore so I got up the nerve to replace the cam gaskets on my ECM Giotto. It went more smoothly than I expected, and now the drip is gone! The outer gasket was quite deformed, but I'm sure they were original to the machine, which was manufactured in 1997, acc...

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I've had this machine for close to 10 years and it's been great. According to the user's manual (included) it was manufactured in 1997. I've descaled it regularly, changed the dispersion screen about once a year, and I've recently replaced the pump, the hot water valve, and the pressurestat. All par...

Thanks! I thought the Swifts were 64mm. I'll have to look more closely

I was about to push the buy botton on a new set of burrs, which I assume would be a good idea as I've had to adjust it finer and finer in the past year or so (does the wear accelerate that way?). My real question is whether there's a set of compatible burrs made of some better, newer material

From "The buzz on caffeine in coffee: A genetic quirk" on ap.org:

Liking the Birch espresso okay, but I've had some bags of Oslo that were head and shoulders above the Birch I'm drinking now, at least with milk (I'll try a straight shot tomorrow). That said, there have been some less great bags from Oslo, so I won't give up on the Birch. Might also be a day or two...

Given the nice mention of Cimarron in another thread on this forum, maybe you should add them to the list. Three 6 oz. bags for $19

Also have to give them kudos for offering a sampler, three 6 oz. bags for $19 plus shipping. Makes me want to give them a try. Thanks for sharing that!