Bushrod wrote:Yeah, it's just a La Peppina, but it's mine and she's a beauty. All pictures are before I cleaned it, except the shot.
Not too bad for a first shot. Tasted great (Black Cat roasted 5 days ago.)
I hope it's not too many pics. I'm just really excited!
Rich

Not at all too many photos! We like to have candy to addict the young!
Congratulations on picking a good one at half price. My tough luck, didn't bid high enough. Ive seldom seen one that clean!
Timmo's articles do a great job of instruction as to maintenance and pulling shots.
You might also start a thread asking for shot information, I could use a refresher!
sincerely
richard

Bushrod wrote:Yeah, it's just a La Peppina.

No, IT'S A LA PEPPINA!

A very cult cool machine to own.

Congratulations and welcome.

I didn't spot one like mine in the pics, so here she is;



My new Gaggia Achille. New in concept but retro in design. I think she's lovely!

And She is !- as usual the NZ group is well represented!

Thanks for the welcome! We were very surprised at how clean it was when we opened the box.

My own short story: Saw a flyer for Misha's in Old Town Alexandria (then called Alexandria Coffee Company) and decided to check it out. That must have been 13 or 14 years ago. Instantly fell in love!

December of 1996, we bought the Estro Profi from *$. Five years later replaced with a refurbed *$ Barista. When that finally gave up, my wife researched and said we should get the Silvia/Rocky DL combo from WLL. "Looks good," I say. This was January 2007. Discovered murky and CCC Toscano. Tried Black Cat. Almost every time I make something now, I ask her, "What were we drinking?!?" We just can't believe what we were missing!

I am, of course, ruined for almost any espresso outside of the house. I both blame and thank the community here.

I've been wanting a lever machine for years now. We used to see the La Pavonis at Gloria Jean's at Springfield Mall. Back then, we didn't have a lot of money to "waste" on a machine we didn't need. They sure looked pretty, though! I console myself by remiding myself that I would have just run Lavazza or Starbucks through it anyways and would have been sorely disappointed.

I've been trying the get a La Peppina for a couple months now. I was just really lucky with this one!

Anyways, if anyone has hung in here to get this far, I'd love to get a number. Anything that is available would be great!

Rich

Astoria single group lever.

Fullsack wrote:The new Astoria 1 group lever.

Oooh my gosshh!
And more congratulations accrue to you!
richard

I got some pm inquiries, so I thought I would make a post of the answers:

The new Astoria was $3033. plus frieght, over $150 less than the quoted price of a new Olympia Cremina.

I never pulled a shot on the old Astoria, it was in ugly shape. It looks to be a very long term project, but I don't mind. I enjoy the process.

The plumb-in was pirated off of the 1/4" copper tube that feeds the icemaker in the refrigerator. I used a 1/4" compression tee, to a 1/4" compression stainless braided water connector, to a 1/4" compression needle valve, to another 1/4" braided water connector, to a brass adaptor. The brass adaptor was male 1/4" compression and male 3/8" pipe. A metric to 3/8" male adaptor and a metric to 3/8" female adaptor came with the Astoria.

The drain tube, for now, sits along the back of the kitchen counter and flows into the sink.

It works fine on the 110 volt, 20 amp, GFI outlet in my kitchen.

I think that new Astoria 1 group is the ultimate home lever, if one has the space and $$$. I've never used a commercial lever like that, or a Cremina for that matter, but I doubt there would be much contest head-to-head. Does it come with the gas kit - this seems like a useful addition.

Ah well, I like to console myself that I drink less caffeine because of the small group size of my Ponte Vecchio!

PC

espressme wrote:Oooh my gosshh!
And more congratulations accrue to you!
richard

peacecup wrote:I think that new Astoria 1 group is the ultimate home lever, if one has the space and $$$. I've never used a commercial lever like that, or a Cremina for that matter, but I doubt there would be much contest head-to-head. Does it come with the gas kit - this seems like a useful addition.

Ah well, I like to console myself that I drink less caffeine because of the small group size of my Ponte Vecchio!

PC

Thanks guys. Now you know why you have been seeing all of my old machines on eBay. Although, I couldn't resist bidding on the La Peppina. It's one of the risks eBay surfing.

The seller said the Astoria didn't have gas, but it does. A nice surprise.