Being its Sunday and all, it's almost fitting to talk about a personal coffee revelation.

I finished up my Bosco installation and spent the weekend dialing in the machine and grinder. I'm having issues uploading photos at the moment but will add some tomorrow. Long and the short my results are unbelievable. PHOTO ADDED.. Waiting on short hopper today..


First off I'm not a coffee expert, industry leader or coffee icon by any accounts. I have had and recognize exceptional coffee. Some of my notables are a handful of places Rome, Muddy Waters in Arlington and intelligentsia in Chicago. I've made some great cups on occasion on my own but more of a happened upon than anything really consistent.

I've had several machines over the past 12 years --many commercial hx machines, e61 pour overs and most recently a double boiler machine with temperature control.

In my quest to chase exact temperature swings, micro grinder settings and pre infusion, i found that this overcomplicated approach did not give me the end results I was looking for

Simple lever profile set at 1.25 peak bar, 16 grams of fresh medium tamp grind, 3 sec pre-infusion then release. After two sink shots the results just keep happening over and over. I'm not sure if I was just in the zone or what but for the past two sessions as long as I repeat this, it just keeps happening. Im sure it's not magic but the simple mass design of the Bosco machine makes this seem pretty easy. Their are no real electronic controls other than water level. Simple pressurestat and electric heat element. It should last 100 years.

I didn't want this to come off is a mine is better than everything else piece. Just thought i would share what I found. Instead of going crazy over temps, pressure control etc. Trust the spring and let it happen.
Hope everyone is having a good Sunday



Brian

Bkeef wrote:Trust the spring and let it happen

nominated for quotable quote!

Congrats on the new lever. May it bring you many delicious shots!

Post a pic or two for us when you can.

cheers,
~j

Funny, I just posted this as a reply to another "I-can't-believe-how-good-lever-espresso-is" thread:

Lever vs. pump espresso machines - what am I missing?

Hi Brian,

So glad you are pleased with your choice. They're fantastic machines!

Cheers

Mike

Now this is a post I get.

When the shots are perfect, or nearly, then the world is a happy place again.
Can't wait to see the pictures!
Congratulations on finding your bliss. Money well-spent it sounds like.

Brian,

Beautiful! Congrats! Welcome to the mountain top. Just keep banging out those sweet shots and enjoy. I am still thinking that Mr. Bosco and Mrs. Lambro need a play date.

Jack

Hi Brian

how are you going with your Bosco? I am really close to making a decision to buy one. I, like you have come to this decision after a multitude of machines including a very fancy temp controlled dual boiler one.

How are you finding living with the Bosco? Does it take long to heat up? Do you have to do anything in terms of temp management or is it as simple as walking up to the machine, loading the PF and pulling on the lever?

please let us know are you going as i think these are really great machines

best regards
paul

Guys

Its been a while since I have updated this post. I wanted to give my observations on this machine after about 8-9 months of operation.

In short, so far so good. Its inevitable that we always will tweak and try new things to improve. The end results have been overall good to extremely good regardless of what roast I have been working with.

Since I bought this machine, I have really spent more time enjoying single origin espresso more so than blends. Although, its nice to throw one in the hopper from time to time.

My post earlier sort of still holds true. 16grams. ( I did get one of those expensive VST baskets) 3 sec preinfusion, 25-30 sec extraction. I am running about 1.15 bar right now, but thinking I need to bump back up a little. I find that between 1.1 and 1.15 I get more florals, fruity tastes in most coffees, but surprisingly not the sweets that I like. If any experts want to coach how to get sweeter tastes, let me know. Guessing it could be coffee specific as I have been roasting mostly Guats, Yellow Bourbons, and most recently an El Salvador. (which is sorta sweet to be honest).

Machine wise, I can say its pretty simple. Turn it on and heats in an hour or so. Flush the group and sink two shots. Third one on are all good. Steaming power on the lower setting is OK not crazy good. I had an issue one night entertaining for 10-12 people and doing a ton of milk drinks for the crowd, but still manageable. The only thing I would change about this machine is the steam tip. Its a no burn tip (similar to others --Giotto, Isomac). I have tried the small hole tips and some others but havent really found the one I like the best. I ended up using the adpater from Chris Coffee with an old Conti tip that I had which is a 5 hold (fine) pattern and it works pretty good. Not steam nirvana, but good. If you are pulling for espresso or small caps, never be an issue. Most folks with this machine arent making milkshakes anyway..


Finish is still real good, no mechanical issues whatsoever. So I wipe it down with a microfiber cloth and wipe the screen with a damp cloth post flush and turn it off when Im done.

Coffee has been really good with this machine. If I have to summarize- I would say smooth. Really hard to get a real bright or bitey coffee (although if you really choke it down, thats what you get). This machine really doesnt like to be choked. I used a naked portafilter and keep eyes on the flow patterns. Pretty straight forward.

Its pretty much a daily fixture in our house that has given us no issues. If anyone is on the fence about these machines, maybe this helps. I still really like the machine alot and have not seen anything else that I would rather have from anyone.

Brian

Hi Brian, lovely machine! I have an Izzo Pompeii - so another commercial spring lever machine, so I am familiar with the beauty and ease of coffee making with these glorious, simple machines.

One thing that surprised me was the pressure you are running yours at, that would be way too hot on my Izzo, I am down at about 0.85 bar which seems to be the sweet spot on the Izzo. Also your pre-infusion seems very short in my experience, I aim for about 6-7 seconds on mine.

Obviously its hard to make direct comparisons with 2 people in different locations - even if the machines were the same design, but the differences in your parameters struck me as odd.

I also found dosing a bit lower brought out the best in mine, but that really is a personal preference thing, I have settled on 15g shots for most of my roasts.

Anyway I hope you continue to enjoy your beautiful machine!

Rick