La Cimbali Junior Casa DT1

Recommendations for buyers and upgraders from the site's members.
bsalamon
Posts: 24
Joined: 9 years ago

#1: Post by bsalamon »

Greetings,
I believe this is my first post on this great site. The wealth of information here has been appreciated and has helped me a great deal on my journey to purchasing what i hope is my last espresso machine. I currently have a QM Vetrano that is 10 years old and I have decided to upgrade it. I think I'm about ready to purchase the Cimbali Jr Casa DT1 from Chris Coffee. I did read on one of the posts in this site that inevitably the first shot of the day is going to be a sink shot and that does concern me. If you are an owner of the Jr Casa what been your experience? I was thinking that if I had a proper grind/tamp/coffee and followed the flush routine outlined in Dan's excellent review here that I wouldn't have to waste my first shot in the morning.
Brian

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pizzaman383
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Posts: 1730
Joined: 13 years ago

#2: Post by pizzaman383 »

I built a shot simulator that lets water flow at about the same rate as a shot. I use it for my first "shot" of the day so it's like doing a sink shot. However, I don't waste any coffee doing it this way.

I made it by putting epoxy in the bottom of a filter basket using a guitar string to form a hole through which the water flows.
Curtis
LMWDP #551
“Taste every shot before adding milk!”

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boar_d_laze
Posts: 2058
Joined: 17 years ago

#3: Post by boar_d_laze »

The first shot of the day from a Casa is only "inevitably a sink shot," if you don't know what you're doing. It's a very easy and forgiving HX machine -- perhaps the easiest of conventional HXs (i.e., those with a single HX) -- and made even more forgiving (since Dan's review) by the introduction of preinfusion.

Talk to someone who's used a Casa, rather than a pre-Casa DT1 like the one Dan reviewed. The Casa is a collaboration between Cimbali and Chris Nachtrieb (of Chris Coffee). Chris got Cimbali to add a preinfusion circuit, as well as upgrade the manometer and switch the standard commercial steam tip for something friendlier.

Because the Casa starts with a 4 second preinfusion, it doesn't slam a dry puck with 9 bar of water the instant the pump switches on like other Juniors with rotary pumps, and doesn't demand the same barista skills as older models.

They aren't exactly a rarity here, there are a several H-B regulars who currently own Casas. I bought one of the first within a few weeks of their debut more than four years ago, and have been delighted with it ever since.

More, it seems to me as someone who's a consumer of coffee forums and coffee blogs that the whole idea of a predictably bad first shot faded as preinfusion became more common and our grinders improved.

As always
GRINDER GRINDER GRINDER

Rich
Drop a nickel in the pot Joe. Takin' it slow. Waiter, waiter, percolator