Ebay Aurora Europa: Who got it? - Page 3

#21: Post by **the_trystero** » March 28th, 2012, 8:50 pm

claypriley wrote:Just saw this machine this morning, Astoria AL-2 group with gas...

Ay ay ay, I have friends in Austin who I'm seriously considering having buy this for me. $1200 BIN! That machine looks clean!

I'm so lame with my cleaning of my two group, gas ready Astoria, I've had it for months? and have only replaced the pressure gauge. I figure if I didn't have my one group the two group would have been up and running long ago!

#22: Post by **claypriley** » March 28th, 2012, 8:54 pm

Yeah, that's a nice machine, especially if Lance might have used it..... I haven't heard back yet to that question...... I dig those 2 group machines, but I think it might be too big to push around on a rickshaw bike....

March 28th, 2012, 9:24 pm

Out of curiousity, I did some investigation:
Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop has a coffee shop in it called Juan Pelota Cafe which did in fact have a truck as well! I couldn't find any photos of the inside of the truck to maybe see what was being used but look at this...
From Mellow Johnny's bike shop: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GbsOP_qI_Gc/T ... sement.JPG
I feel like I have seen those walls somewhere before...

#24: Post by **drgary** » March 29th, 2012, 2:48 pm

allon wrote:...thanks for telling me it's called a Hotel Group. Can you explain how it's used?

orphanespresso wrote:I have a Gaggia with this big brewer group and the valves etc all look the same. This Astoria is quite modern for such a group and still it seems the same as the very old ones. It is my assumption that one opens the top and spoons in coffee grounds and then opens one valve to allow boiler water to enter the chamber, then decant through one of the lower valves. there is also what appears to be a wand on the bottom as well and this one is a mystery. I don't think anyone has actually used one of these enough to analyze the worthiness of the contraption, but is is very cool looking and it attached to a flange on the boiler just the same way as a regular group.
My Gaggia with this group is in a box so I cannot do more than theorize about it at present...

About the Hoteling Group

I did some asking around. The seller writes that it's a coffee brewer and makes/holds about 1.5l or one air-pot of coffee. Our member lvx tells me it's made for people who want to brew filtered coffee as well as espresso and that Faema made similar machines. Luigi Di Ruocco of Mr. Espresso wrote that they sold just a couple of units of that machine when they were made. He didn't have direct experience with it but remembers being told you need to grind coffee similar to espresso to slow down the extraction sufficiently.

March 29th, 2012, 2:56 pm

If the grounds are restricting water flow like Mr. Espresso says, does that mean it is like a big moka pot?

#26: Post by **drgary** » March 29th, 2012, 3:00 pm

I dunno, Jonny ... unless you want to buy it and let me "borrow" it for about six months.

I actually could do the local pickup.

#27: Post by **kitt** » March 29th, 2012, 3:52 pm

I have one of these hotel groups too, can't say i've ever used it though ;

Doug has the explanation of how its works pretty much spot on, extra pipe at the bottom of mine is for hot water, i presume for topping up/diluting drinks (ie; americano etc) There's a valve on the top to control the water flow, and also a overfill pipe which directs excess coffee back to the drip tray once it gets full

I can't believe that Brugnetti Aurora sold for that! i had one and they are a very cool practical HX lever (also known as Termazona in the US)

#28: Post by **drgary** » March 29th, 2012, 4:42 pm

kitt wrote:I have one of these hotel groups too, can't say i've ever used it though ; Doug has the explanation of how its works pretty much spot on, extra pipe at the bottom of mine is for hot water, i presume for topping up/diluting drinks (ie; americano etc) There's a valve on the top to control the water flow, and also a overfill pipe which directs excess coffee back to the drip tray once it gets full

Great machine, Kitt! Can you give us a better look at that group? Where do you load the coffee into it? How does it brew? Is it a moka pot or do you have to put filters in and water drips through the top part?

March 29th, 2012, 5:03 pm

Ok, here's some quick pics, first shot is the basket, which sits in the top, with the funnel underneath, portafilter shown for scale - the basket is BIIIG!! Next pic - left tap is hot water, middle to dispense brewed coffee, right tap to start water flow thru ground coffee.Excuse the dust, machine has been sitting a while

#30: Post by **claypriley** » March 29th, 2012, 5:41 pm

Hey Trystero, I got an email back for that Astoria AL-2 down in Austin: The machine was used in the official Juan Pelota coffee truck for Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop. Lance did not pull shots from the machine, but the truck/machine followed him and Team RadioShack in the 2010 Tour of California. Pretty cool, I'll bet a lot of famous cyclist had espresso from that machine!

And the machine only runs on gas presently....

I like those pictures of the Hotel Brewer Group..... Thanks for posting them.... Still, how does the coffee taste from that brewer?