Less than 2 weeks with the Europiccola and the results have been pretty impressive and better than I expected (largely due to this site and some of the videos members created on Youtube, particularly ray5961's stress-free, no gram scale demonstration).

The first by-product of this hobby has been that Ulysses is now the perfect narrative style, though it has become light and breezy.

It was necessary to convince my spouse that this all is gear is necessary and I have begun this journey modestly by brushing up an Europiccola that needed some love and pairing it with a Zassenhaus grinder. It's been very satisfying.

A Beginner's Notes:

- It makes fantastic espresso. (Aggregate web info may lead you to a different impression.)
- For a rank newbie, results are good to "OMG". The worst are tossed, mostly because they are boring. ("It can do better than that!")
- Grind matters a lot (required statement). A couple of mm turn of the Zassenhaus grind ring makes a big difference. I put a couple of index marks on the ring with a Sharpie pen.
- Grind changes a bit day to day and bean to bean.
- The 1st couple of uses are challenging (think small steam locomotive), but you can make something good in the first session.
- Singles and 2x are handled differently (I'm using MCAL filters - and I'm not sure if they're necessary).
- You can make good singles. The double basket is more forgiving.
- Single basket is a bit tricky to load and tamp. Handling the 'shoulder' is something you need to sort out.
- Haven't quite figured out the best way to pump doubles. I'm doing a half + a full. Some results could be called super ristrettos and I nearly reached for the paddles for one older, but bold drinker.
- The original 3-hole steam wand can make fine froth with some practice.
- While practicing, I found that the little ones really like the frothed milk with Hersey's syrup.
- It has 2 modes: relatively fast - work mornings and slow: weekends and multiple shots.
- It overheats after the second cup. Cool cloths and ice have been my answer, but it is fussy and time consuming (again, fine for my weekends with friends).
- Visitors now show up early on Saturday & Sunday. People don't mind waiting for their cup. They stare at the machine while you chat, grind, pull, cool, etc.
- Women are charmed and see you in a new light.
- I'm roasting my own beans (heat gun/dog bowl) and really enjoying that aspect, too.

-Charlie

Welcome to the club. Glad to hear you're enjoying the machine.

I would add one more downside: the inevitable enormous increase in the amount of coffee purchased due to how much fun it is to operate! Sometimes I wonder whether I enjoy making or drinking the espresso more.

Something I've noticed is that if I take a break and brew with some other method for a couple of days, then come back to it, my shots improve noticeably. Might be just because I've missed the taste, but I think it has something to do with how conscious I am of the variables after daily use, tweaking this, tweaking that, etc. and getting so caught up in technique that I forget that I'm just trying to make good coffee. The less I quantify, the more I 'flow', the better the results.

I believe the Europiccola should be thought of as a kinetic sculpture that just so happens to also be a functional espresso maker.

Happy pulling

It's amazing, isn't it, how great the espresso can be from a modest investment in a 2nd hand lever and a hand grinder? It makes me wonder sometimes, about those "but I only have $3000 to spend on my first kit" threads in the Buying advice forum. Ah well, different strokes...

Ah, but my $3000 upgrade to a Strega and K10 is also very lovely. Still in the lever world.

My second machine is a La Pavoni Pro. Great machines, simple to operate and maintain.

taildraggin wrote:Less than 2 weeks with the Europiccola and the results have been pretty impressive and better than I expected (largely due to this site and some of the videos members created on Youtube, particularly ray5961's stress-free, no gram scale demonstration).

Glad the videos helped

I've actually been thinking about dragging my La Pavoni out of storage and firing it up again

Ray

Dear taildraggin,
Kudos to you!
Some shortcuts volunteered for your consideration:

A ramekin of cold water brought up under the group to immerse the bottom of the bell in it works much quicker than an 'ice massage', although it does not cool the brew pathway or the internals, much. The heat will tend to dissipate into the cooled bell portion, but you are fighting against the heat constantly delivered into the upper group, above the piston by the continuously condensing steam from the boiler. This being so, the second suggestion is much more effective, but requires more finesse:

Turn off the boiler earlier in your production. You will need the group head slightly hotter than you now have it to make your second pull with the same temperature of infusion, but you will have less heat delivered to the head, subsequently. This, I believe, is the way one barista has been anecdotally reported to pull a succession of shots without overheating. It is a balancing act. You can understand, if the boiler and group were near the same temperature and that temperature was near the target infusion temperature (adjusting for heat loss), overheating would be less likely to occur. I am currently trying to master this particular technique and it takes some practice. Thermocouples on the boiler and group head (cf my other posts) help me a lot.
Happy pulling!
B

@ Ray, welcome back!

For reference:

These links will help you understand temperature control on these machines and ones of similar design like the Olympia Express Cremina:

Reaching the Zen Zone with a Two Switch La Pavoni

Adding Thermometry to a La Pavoni Europiccola This gives you more fine-tuning than temperature strips.

Dalton's law (And problems from it) This tells you how to release pockets of air that register as pressure and may keep your machine from coming up to temperature.

Olympia Cremina Temperature Study, Part 1

La Pavoni Millennium Owners, Are Temperature Problems Solved?

There are other threads on H-B about this subject. These should get you in the ballpark. If there are consistency issues the grinder is brakes and accelerator controlling the resistance you need for a good extraction.

I'm fighting the urge to make this process any more complicated. I'd like to develop the skills to manage heat with what I have, if that's possible.

Tried the ramekin, but you have to hold it and not much of the group gets dunked. I have tried turning the machine off once close to the 1000 watt "blowoff" and later pulls (200watt). Havent figured out how to anticipate that too well, which leads to intrumentation (thanks for the links). The group does really hold heat and I can see why they tried a plastic piston to keep core heat down.

For comparison, I walked into a Starbucks for a double espresso this morning. Wow!!! I nearly spewed. I couldn't finish it. I can't go back...

Charlie

I keep my heat management pretty simple, using a spouted portafilter kept in a cool water bath to cool the group after a couple of shots. I'll shut down the power and lock in the cool portafilter to cool down the group. I use a chopped portafilter to pull my shots.

Chris and I do something similar and perhaps it's overlooked. We use an unmodified portafilter to cool the group. Because it's not chopped it's got more mass so it's a good heat sink. People with a Richard Penney bottomless portafilter used on a Cremina or Elektra Microcasa a Leva will find it has lots of mass too. But that portafilter doesn't reliably fit 49 mm La Pavoni groups and definitely won't fit the Millennium La Pavoni or Gaggia Factory group. FWIW Christopher Cara swapped out my plastic piston for a brass one and temperature management is still easy. I routinely ditch the plastic piston if I'm servicing a La Pavoni machine because the plastic can degrade and loosen on the shaft over time.