Hi all,

I am a long-term lurker on these forums, and have benefitted substantially from the accumulated knowledge and passion of many regular, and some irregular posters here. For that, I am ever grateful.

In fact, it was the information that I found here that was instrumental in my decision 4 years ago to buy a KvdW Speedster. Fantastic machine, and Kees is just an absolute gentleman to deal with. I had the pleasure of visiting his workshops twice, meeting he and his team and getting a tour of the facility. And having the man himself pull some of the most sublime shots that I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. The attention to detail, and the commitment of all of those guys to produce the very best machines possible is so clear.

It was also through these forums that I discovered Frank (Terranova) whilst I was looking for repairs and mods to my then Versalab M3, and I was lucky enough to meet he and his family too, and to acquire the very first of Frank's new Titus grinders. I think that I shall have to post the full story here for those that may be interested.

The purpose of this post though is to ask for perspectives from anyone who owns, or who has used, a KvdW Idrocompresso. I would be very thankful to hear any and all perspectives and views. I'm particularly interested in hearing about how easy they are to use and to live with; together with any comparisons with pump machines.

Much appreciated.

Keith.

Is Kees going to make you an Idrocompresso? I thought he officially stopped making them.

Yes, you're correct - he has officially stopped manufacturing them . . I'm lucky enough to have bought one of the last ones to be produced. It will be arriving in January.


Cheers

That's fantastic,

I love the look of it, and I have a particular preference for multigroup levers, I thought that I would wind up with one in the future. Now barring a particular blue police box getting my hands on an Idrocompresso doesn't seem likely unless I snag one off the used market in a few years.

Don't look now but usedcoffeegear.com has just what you've been asking for 2-group idro. No tardis necessary.

Already reserved...man, that was pretty quick!

One is reserved, there is another for a measly $10k for sale, but the seller didn't categorize it correctly I believe, so I don't know how many people are going to find it

I love making drinks with this thing!

preinfusion is at line pressure and it seems to be working great for me at 3bar.

for me, prep is paramount and good distribution pre-tamp makes or breaks the shot with this machine.

although group-wise, i do believe several other manufacturers use similar/same groups, it's theoretically possible to have same quality shots with other machines. --but the styling of the mirage is unbelievable!

chris_n wrote: although group-wise, i do believe several other manufacturers use similar/same groups, it's theoretically possible to have same quality shots with other machines. --but the styling of the mirage is unbelievable!

It certainly is a stylish machine, and while I can't talk to any Idrocompresso specific experiences, I can certainly talk to the experiences of making shots on commercial lever groups. I have a two group machine and have modified the thermosiphon to make one run a few degrees cooler than the other. Is that possible on an Idrocompresso? I had heard that there were adjustable needle valves on the thermosiphon.

chris_n wrote:although group-wise, i do believe several other manufacturers use similar/same groups, it's theoretically possible to have same quality shots with other machines. --but the styling of the mirage is unbelievable!

You are spot on! Another member suggested I consider a Bosco Sorrento instead of an Idro Duette, as I believe the groups employed by both are identical. However, the rest of the machine's form factor just does not compare well to a KvdW Idro.