Thanks Greg, that's the link we needed. We can copy and paste photos when we need them.

The lever forum is a little less active than it was back in the day. We have the occasional hot topic.

She doesn't have the classic lines of the Carvel, but the machine-age design of the Mini is growing on me. She's quite compact, and possibly the smallest way possible to squeeze a 58-mm group into a home machine. I've got her quite dialed in now, with her own designated Dienes, so whenever I get the chance for some espresso at home (mostly weekends, since weekday AM's are quick cappas and go) I've been using her.

This morning I pulled the shot on the Mini and steamed with my wife's Francis Francis, and I must say the Mini shot really shined through the milk as sweet and balanced.

All that brass in the boiler really hold the temperature super stable, and I've been pulling my Cafe Musetti below 90C.

I've not been using any active preinfusion, only the pressure of the 1 liter of water sitting on the puck when the lever is lowered.

Yeah, this machine is great. I've got my PID'd and my scace device is showing a shot that's stable to about a half degree F. The temp stability combined with the manual pressure profiling make this a really controllable machine.

Wow. I somehow missed this thread when it got going. Don't know if anyone is still checking it. But add me to the club. I love my mini. I occasionally use a stove-top steamer for milk but as a mostly espresso-only drinker, the machine is nearly perfect. It's temp-stable, a lever, a spring-lever, small, easy to disassemble and clean and makes really good espresso. The only real drawbacks I can think of are the fact that it's vintage - a bit hard to get parts/service and the low clearance under the portafilter.

I'm curious what others have found in their basic technique with this machine. Some of that is included above, and of course the coffee matters, but here's here's my general approach.

--18 g dose (I'm using the gaggia standard double basket rather than the original baskets included)
--firm (30 lb) tamp
--I dose/tamp in the basket and drop the basket into the portafilter since the basket is loose and there's no spring
--I slightly depress the level as I'm inserting the portafilter
--I've removed the little twin spout from the portafilter - I can better watch the stream that way - its part way to a naked portafilter
--pre-infuse around 10 seconds
--I shoot for a about 30 seconds with pre-infusion
--No second pull

I haven't had a lot of luck with lower doses/lighter tamps as is sometimes the case with lever machines, but curious what others have done.

Also, it's been a while since I adjusted the thermostat, but I think, I was shooting for a range of just under to just over 200. The challenges as I remember them were: getting a good read on the temperature - different parts of the tank read differently; adjusting the thermostat precisely - the screw mechanism seemed imprecise and not meant for fine tuning; and adjusting for how the machine would retain heat when in operation vs. when adjusting. The last part is tricky since you have to take the font cover off and have the top cap open to adjust and measure. I found that if I got the temperature to where I wanted and then closed things up, it would get hotter - leading to some guess work about the right lower temperature needed when the front panel was open.

I just took mine out again after a couple of weeks off. I alternate with my Caravel manual lever.

The Gaggia double basket I have swallows up a lot of coffee - nearly 20g. I tend to take a 1/2-pull preinfusion, till I get a drop or two in the cup. Then I re-cock the lever and pull the shot. I grind fine enough that I occasionally need to help the lever rise a little, which is another unique feature of the Mini - a coupled lever mechanism that can be manually lifted to increase brew pressure.

In all its a well-thought out little machine, with amazing temperature stability and a very heavy-duty brass boiler. One thing to remember is that there is no heat sink like in traditional brass-group levers. The boiler temperature is the brew temperature straight away. This took a little getting used to, compared to the Caravel, where the kettle temp is a few degrees hotter than the brew temp. Once I got the hang of this, my shots got right into line.

The Mini has the largest volume piston of any home lever I know of, and it yields over 30ml with a pre-infused single pull. It does suck a little coffee back into the boiler, so it needs to be cleaned regularly.

Doug at orphanespresso has the seals available, and a manual I think.

PC

Hi All,

First post here. I recenly acquired a mini gaggia. I believe it is a later model, as it has a steam wand attachment that seals/clips on top of the boiler opening (looks a bit useless, but maybe a macchiato or two?). I was worried that it would be an aluminium boiler, but it is brass.

I will post pictures soon, but in the meantime, has anyone seen a mini gaggia with steam wand before?
Also, any idea how much it would be worth in clean working condition. It has all the original parts so it just needs a good clean.

You can estimate on the high side, because then I will be saying something like "look, look you see..." in justification of my new purchase to the girlfriend.

I have just pulled it apart and will not get around to heating her up until the weekend. Will let you know how it goes.

Thanks,
Dane

Took the Mini out for another spin yesterday. She did quite well, and at the end of the day I discovered a trick. The Mini has quite a long piston stroke, and delivers more volume than other home levers. This can be good, but sometimes the shots seem a little "flat". For my after-dinner shot I wanted a little less caffiene, so I pulled the cup at around 30 ml or less. It turned out to be one of the best ristrettos I can remember, so I'm looking forward to experimenting with this some more.

PC

After a week-long visit to Spain I've really re-connected with the Mini. My first impression of her machine-age looks has really brightened. She looks lovely on the counter, and continually beckons me to fill her double basket during these long summer days here in the north.

It turns out the Spain has a much more espresso-immersed culture than I had imagined. I know they brewed espresso and built machines, but I did not fully realize that in Spain, cafe means espresso. Now I realize what it means to have the Mini sitting on my counter. It is a simple, elegant solution to the problem of how to make great espresso at home, circa 1970. It is completely functional, super easy to operate, but capable of brewing such tasty drinks. Its basically the smallest way to fit a full-sized commerical portafilter into a home espresso machine. But the spring is super powerful, and the brass boiler is rock solid. The coupled lever mechanism means one can experiment with different brew pressures from spring-only to heavily-assisted pulls. I normally dose and grind for a pull that requires just a one-finger assistance. The last shot I pulled is still lingering...

PC

How did you do the shorter shot? Did you just not hold the piston open as long/fully depress the lever as long?

I think he just remove the cup from below the spout when he got the desired shot volume.

Have anybody tried a different approach on the boiler seal? I was thinking about cutting a 1mm EPDM rubber using the boiler as a guide, instead of using silicon. Until now I'm testing it without sealing and taking a lot of care.

Márcio.