Quickmill Achille 2012 or Bezzera Strega. - Page 2

#11: Post by **Paolo** » September 26th, 2015, 2:04 am

baldheadracing wrote:Perhaps I wasn't clear enough - look into the history of the particular machine that you are looking at. Assuming that you are looking at the vendor that Pierre (abnuceals) mentioned, I strongly suspect that the machine is the one Pierre used to have. That vendor only brought in two machines in 2012 AFAIK, so flip a coin.

I am sure that there are Achilles that work perfectly - Chris Coffee would not sell the machine otherwise - but the Internet shows that there were some early machines that perhaps didn't work perfectly - but also some early machines that did work perfectly.

Also, as an FYI, Jack (sorrentinacoffee) was the Australian importer of the Achilles.

FWIW the 2012 Achille DOES work perfectly, provided you have a stick-on thermometer on the group. Otherwise there is no way of knowing what the group temperature is, as there is a definite TS stall after each shot. I don't know how/why the Londinium doesn't perform the same way as it very similar in its (thermosiphon) design/group.

With a flush to get rid of dreggs on the screen after a shot, the group is up to correct temperature ready for the next shot...how much of a flush is dictated by the strip thermometer. It is ingenious really...you need to do the flush anyway and this flush prepares the temperature of the group....and not much of a flush is required.

Without the strip thermometer it is quite a hit/miss machine.
WITH the strip thermometer it is a fabulous machine.

If the 2012 machine in question IS the one that Abnuceals had, I find it a bit sneaky that that fact hasn't been disclosed. "may have been used" in this case would be quite distant from the truth.

September 26th, 2015, 7:36 am

After reading all the above and also questioning the owner/salesman and the other older fellow over at espresso planet - they certainly seemed a bit quite and hesitant to my eager curiosity, i certainly felt something out of place.
Yes this is the Achilles from espresso planet listed for $2625. They told me it was not sold to anyone but just an open box and "it may" have been used a couple times. They did not have the box for it either.I did visually inspect the machine and it definitely was used as it was quite dirty under the group- i removed the drip tray and it was quite dirty. The water reservoir was full of scale.
I'm not going to chance this at $3K. I am very pleased with the honesty and replies around here

thank you very much HB community!!
I think I just may go with the stregga- $2449 @ idrinkcoffee and no sales tax event coming up thanksgiving weekend. I actually stopped in at idrinkcoffee the other day and they prepared a yellow daterra espresso for me on the stregga- it was the best espresso i ever had- dark, creamy, thick and full of flavour.I have yet to read any serious issues with the stregga. Everyone around here seems pretty happy with it. I am still researching the group though.
Cheers

September 26th, 2015, 11:21 am

Thanks for the explanation Paulo - that makes a lot of sense.

My understanding is that the L1 benefits from a post-shot flush to ensure that the thermosyphon restarts.

OP, the machine at Espresso Planet could very well be their demo machine and thus never sold - as I said, they did bring in (at least) two. Three years of being used in a showroom is going to show as used.

#14: Post by **dpiette** » September 26th, 2015, 11:59 am

Have you tried a shot from the Achille? It seems as if you have a great opportunity to try each of these machines before you make a decision.

I have the first Achille that was imported to the US by Chris Coffee (back in 2012). I have had no problems with the machine at all, and am very happy with the quality of the espresso. But I have no experience with a Strega, so I could not make a recommendation on that machine.

September 26th, 2015, 7:37 pm

I have tried the stregga at idrinkcoffee and i liked it but the achille was not set up at espressoplanet. I think there is an issue with the achille itself and I'm not prepared to deal with that at the moment.

#16: Post by **dpiette** » September 26th, 2015, 11:08 pm

No reason to take a risk if you don't have to.

#17: Post by **Pino** » September 28th, 2015, 8:01 am

sorrentinacoffee, just for clarity the price has been reduced by ~ $1,100, that is, from 3,700 to 2,600.