Although HB and others are replete with the problems associated with overheating small lever machines mention is almost never made of the fact that there are times when their speed of heating is a dramatic ADVANTAGE. The first thing I do every morning is plug in my 1999 Europiccola, it has a pressurestat, and it heats rapidly. Even when it is completely full the time to get it up to pressure is about six minutes! During that time I grind the coffee, and press it. I also bleed the boiler and group. I may have time to start some other breakfast items. One of the techniques that leads to just the right temperatures and an ideal cup of espresso is to pull the shot immediately after the machine gets up to pressure after the bleed. To do this one must raise the handle so that the space under the group is filled with vapour, and slap on the portafilter with the pressed coffee within instants of the time that the handle is lowered enough to stop the flow of vapour. Now the handle must be rapidly raised to flood the group with water. A brief preinfusion, and it is time to pull the shot. Elapsed time from power on to that delicious cup is always about 7 minutes!

I can get a second cup, but it is a bad idea to fill the group with vapour for this one, or there may already be overheating problems. Still one does not want to pull the handle up with the portafilter in place, this often cracks the puck. Furthermore, the second cup also needs to be pulled soon. (Third cups require cooling, I use ramekins, there are other things that an be done. I have to confess to using, almost always, the MCAL when there will be need for more than two cups.)