Just for fun, here's Gwilym with his own Arduino, debating how to use it best along with Michael Phillips (left) and Stephen Morrissey (partly hidden). They are debating the finer points of coffee making with my nipper.

Sadly, your gain is our loss - we've had coffees made by Gwilym every Sunday for almost exactly 10 years, but now he's moved on from Present, although the Victoria Arduino is still there.

I recently used this machine with Gwilym and I could never get the dosing right (though I had never used a doser) and could never get the drops to come through before lifting the lever. None of my shots were gross, but the shot that was great and passed around was much better. I like the comparison to these machines as an early AeroPress with the column of water pressing down into a puck.

Based on my and other people's experience with other machines using this same CMA/Astoria lever group, there may be a tendency to grind too fine, since the group has more punch than a conventional rotary group. This yields softer than usual shots, and a finer line between normal and choked shots. I found it better to keep the grind settings the same as on regular machines and overdose the baskets.

Ah, I've been using my Astoria for all of 6 days now and I had been going the opposite route because I started with the Don Pachi. I hadn't gotten anywhere close to choking it, though. I'm out of town this weekend but on Monday I think I'll try the whole gamut with some Yirg I currently have roasted.

i just stumbled over this article, haven't checked HB for awhile due to a busy schedule. very interesting!

what was not mentioned (or did just miss it?) is the issue of pre-infusion. there are 2 variables on the lever machine (besides obviously temperature and dose): the grind and the preinfusion time. the symptoms can be similar. a choked off shot can be caused by a grind too fine or a preinfusion too short (remember, the shorter the preinfusion the longer the extraction time!)!

in the near future there will be a coffee bar opening up in san francisco, which will serve espresso from a 1950's lever machine...