1. Filled boiler until the sight glass reached 3/4, the groove on the boiler.
2. Turned the machine on and started the timer, sans portafilter
3. Green light went off at 6:10, false pressure released for 3 seconds
4. Dosed the portafilter basket with fine ground, (just a hair coarser than choke), 9 grams of Hayes Valley, (distributed a la Weiss, stirred with just a sewing needle, no yogurt cup*). (14 grams of coffee for a double shot).
5. 30 pounds of pressure tamp with a 51mm Reg Barber tamper.
6. At 12 minutes, raised lever and released water for 4 seconds into the espresso cup for warming.
7. Inserted the loaded portafilter with the lever almost all of the way up, (no water coming out).
8. Held the lever all the way up for 12 seconds.**
9. Pulled down the lever slowly and evenly, (other hand on the boiler cap or lever, not the portafilter handle), 20-30 seconds using the weight of my body for leverage, (should be about 40 pounds of resistance). (One and one half pulls are necessary for a double shot***).
10.Stopped an inch or two short of the bottom when the blonding started. (If you get to the end, you probably overextracted).

Enjoyed a great tasting thick espresso that had perfect temp and good crema

A German hand grinder will do wonders to improve the shots with lever machines because lever machines perfrom better with a fluffed grind that only a hand grinder is capable of providing. (controversial)

revised 1/8/08

* 4. Weiss Distribution Technique

**8. The quality of the shot is improved with a 1-2 second preinfusion, instead of the 12 seconds previously recommended.

***9. Lever multiple pull techniques

When you get it right these machines can't be beat! Now if you can do this every day for 30 days I'll nominate you for lever machine sainthood.

bill wrote:When you get it right these machines can't be beat! Now if you can do this every day for 30 days I'll nominate you for lever machine sainthood.

I've made a few refinements to the procedure and am getting consistently good results. The grind is the key.

I couldn't get anything close with the Microcasa a leva, the spring didn't have enough pressure to produce the same results.