Thank God for the Caravel! - Page 2

November 10th, 2009, 3:52 am

It's not made any more and is a MANUAL not a spring lever. So from what you say the Peppina may suit you better. The Caravel is very versatile and very, very easy to work on, clean etc., but it's manual.

Cheers

Mike

#12: Post by **Bluecold** » November 10th, 2009, 5:42 am

Or a Brunella, or a Microcimbali, or a Faemina, or a Comocafe, or a MiniGaggia....

#13: Post by **Bushrod** » November 10th, 2009, 9:30 am

For my 4 week kitchen remodel, I used my MCaL on a card table. Made it much more bearable!

#14: Post by **hperry** » November 10th, 2009, 11:04 am

JmanEspresso wrote:Is the Arrarex Caravel a machine you can "buy", or do you need to track down a used on Ebay/CL or the like?

Ive considered getting a lever, and If I did, I want a spring boiler, and prefer an open boiler*, and the Caravel fits that(as does the peppina). Wondering how I go about finding a caravel. . .

*of course, Id be happy with a Cremina as well

In a large commercial machine I prefer a spring lever for its consistency and powerful spring. In the smaller machines I've had much better luck with the Caravel than with the Peppina, although I own both. The combination of the Peppina's relatively weak spring and fast extaction does not yield as good a cup as the Caravel where more pressure and a tighter grind may be used.

#15: Post by **mikekarr** » November 10th, 2009, 11:33 am

I second the preference for the Caravel over the Peppina, I find the Caravel to produce a more well rounded shot over the Peppina.

November 10th, 2009, 11:37 am

I found mine on eBay.it. I had no problem with shipping, and it arrived in great shape.

#17: Post by **peacecup** » November 10th, 2009, 12:33 pm

They cost 100-200 euros now, and parts are completely unavailable, should you need any. That said, they make great espresso.

You could fiddle around with lots of low-dose, fine-grind, no tamp methods until you hit the mark. Or, you can do like I do, and fill the basket completely to the rim, including a firm (5-10lb) tamp. Once you've got the grind right for this dose, so it feels like "slicing through frozen butter", or a little firmer, you'll be there.

Oh, and watch the kettle temperature, which i like around 199-201F with the Italian espresso blend I use.

PC

#18: Post by **hperry** » November 10th, 2009, 12:57 pm

peacecup wrote:They cost 100-200 euros now, and parts are completely unavailable, should you need any. That said, they make great espresso.

Common parts for the Caravel such as gasket sets are available from Orphan Espresso as are some other parts. I agree with the "great espresso" part. At its best the Caravel (and the VAM) make shots that are comparable to (but somewhat smaller than) the best on both of my commercial machines.

November 10th, 2009, 3:07 pm

There are 2 decent looking Caravel's on ebay.it now.

#20: Post by **pavman** » November 10th, 2009, 3:33 pm

But these all run on 220, right? Can it easily be converted to 110?

Been reading about the Caravel for years. Intrigued, but what about it makes it so different or better than other manual levers, say, the europiccola, for example? (With the understanding it "doesn't do milk")