I'm one o' the new kids (chortle) on the forum. Here goes.

A sort of middle-aged La Pavoni Professional continues to beguile from the top of my filing cabinet. Cabinet is next to grinder by Mazzer, near the Variac where the Hottop is kept plugged in to save energy (mine). Smallish burlap sacks of you-know-what line up in roll-call order across the floor. Let's see, the next one is, um, El Salvador... This Lady Pavoni is my second. Am giving the first Professional, a nearly-new millennium model, for a wedding present. Best I have to offer to a dear neice.

The above is at work. An Isomac chrome thingie with dials and knobs and such, with adjacent Rancilio Rocky, help define the granite counter at home: my wife pulls a sort of good shot there, when I'm not available to help -- just a hint of chauvinism there: actually she's simply interested in other things, sigh.

Porsches. Sigh again. Had a red, really red, Porsche red, '84 944 some time back. Fun, challenging, irritating, excellent car. Way beyond my budget to maintain, now a delightful memory. The analogy to lever espresso machines is apt: the performance is there, waiting to be released by the loving hands...

Hogfire, those are awesome pics. Crema to boggle the senses.

Have lost track of the numbers. 40's maybe?

Eric

Hi Eric and welcome.

There must be thousands of levers out there so one assumes the roll-call can only grow and grow steadily. I've just enjoyed reading back through the whole thread, there must be some interesting stories from folk who have not posted yet. I also did not appreciate that there are gaps in the numbers to be filled in. For entirely personal reasons I would have preferred no 009, never mind. Would it not be a good idea to fill in those blanks in some way anyway?

Isn't it amazing sometimes when you stop to think that you can go through many years of ignorance before discovering something and then sometimes wonder afterwards how you never knew what you now take in your stride?

For over 10 years I lived with an old Krups machine which would produce filter coffee, espresso or Capps and I would buy tins or packets of (stale) pre-ground or beans that I would then chop up in a £20 blade grinder. I simply had no idea of even the basic principles of pressure, temperature, the 4 'M's or any other aspect of coffee. And yet, I considered myself to be a conniosseur.

I did not bother at all for about 7 years before taking a look at things again early this year. That initial £120 Gaggia purchase led to reading, absorbing, hours on the internet, articles, reviews, chemical explanations, every bit of every process dissected and described. Then the grinder investment, then the seeking out of fresh beans to buy, then the purchase of a home roaster (iRoast), the experimentation with beans, the purchase of a Pavoni and the basic relaxing into it over a couple of months. The frustration of ruining jug after jug of milk, drinking it anyway, making the breakthrough with frothing after about 2 months and then the perfectionist anxiety slooowwwlllyyy calming down.

So, after an amazing 6 months or so I now wonder how on earth I could have gone through 10 years of home coffee and a basic 25 years of adulthood being so blissfully ignorant. How do I now casually take in my stride what looks to 95% of people who visit to be a foreign language or a different world as I casually and skilfully amble through a series of precise steps with strange machinery using strange ingredients as if I have done it for years.

I guess because it is actually all very simple, certainly a lot less demanding than playing a musical instrument. I still find it amazing that a cup, hot water and a jar of granules remains the most common illusion of a cup of coffee.

Whilst I spent many years behind this illusion and many behind a 'superior' one that wasnot actually that much better, I now enjoy my 6-year old daughter sitting on the kitchen counter bossing me around as she tells me which step is next. I guess she will wonder one day why so few understand coffee properly. At least she doesn't have to spend years drinking the rubbish I did, only I did not know it was rubbish of course...

I think I qualify for membership as I've owned several espresso machines over the past 25 years. After using a steam machine for almost eight years, moved to San Francisco area and found out what real espresso tasted like. Bought my first serious machine, a Gaggia Espresso, in '91 when we moved back to Big D and tried, unsuccessfully, to make decent drinks until the machine gave up the ghost after only a couple years. About this time Starbucks came to town so I gave up on trying to make good coffee at home. Either my appreciation for good espresso increased or Starbucks quality was slipping (probably some of both) and I again went looking for a good home machine. I remembered seeing a La Pavoni lever machine at a Williams-Sonoma store in the bay area and decided that was the answer to my craving for good espresso.
After months of searching I found a used La Pavoni Ambassador down in Austin; bought it on the spot. After completely disassembling it (I'm and engineer and have to do these things even though it probably didn't need it!) I completely rebuilt it and then happily used it for several years.
A couple years ago I saw a Riviera lever espresso machine on Ebay. Having seen one of these beauties at the Thomas Cara shop in San Francisco I had to have it. When it arrived in Dallas I was surprised to find the machine hadn't held up well during the long trip via UPS from California. So armed with the insurance money from UPS I sent the machine back west, this time to the Cara shop. Christopher did an outstanding job of repairing the damage, installing a new gasket set, and adjusting it.
The spring-operated group on the Riviera enabled me to make consistently good drinks; something I'd never been able to master with the Ambassador. Although at times the La Pavoni produced really great espresso. I sold the Ambassador on Ebay a couple months ago, using part of the proceeds to buy an old, very old, Elektra Micro Casa a Leva.
It's getting late and I'm using up too much space on your forum. If I promise to finished the rest of the story later can I get a number? I'd like to get no. 43 if it's still available. That's the year I was born so it'll be easy for me to remember. At my age my memory isn't what it used be (other things, too, but we won't go there!).
Bill
Riviera
Elektra Micro Casa a Leva
Enrico of Italy (currently being made into a lamp!)
Futurmat Palanca

Hello again, one and all,

some may remember my story: I had ordered a Micro Casa a Leva in Italy late in August (and already made a bold claim on #20) but somehow the delivery got postponed and when the machine was ready to be shipped the dealer claimed problems with my tax-number. To cut the long story short, I got suspicious and cancelled the order.

Meanwhile I have been giving the issue more thought and eventually decided that a spring-lever machine might not be the right one for me. Last weekend - being again in Italy - I made a spontaneous decision and since Saturday I am the proud owner of a LaPavoni Professional.

After all the talk about the difficulties with lever machines I was quite anxious and expected a serious level of frustration which I simply did not encounter until now. On Saturday after the first two or three sink-shots (maybe due to some residue on the metal surfaces or whatever) the shots were drinkable and getting better with each shot. And yesterday I was up for a big surprise: I had 2 Espressi, 3 Macchiati and one Cappu (steaming takes some more getting used to) which were at par with - or even better than - the best shots I manage with my Butterfly. Mere pot-luck, I think, but still ... I am getting quite enthusiastic about the potential the little thing has...

Today I was on the road again, but throughout the next days (or maybe next weekend) I intend to make some direct comparisons between my Butterfly and the Pavoni. Maybe I can add some images then too...

Paul L wrote:
...I also did not appreciate that there are gaps in the numbers to be filled in. For entirely personal reasons I would have preferred no 009, never mind. Would it not be a good idea to fill in those blanks in some way anyway?

I'm sorry I have not been able to patrol the number assignments and update the list. I have not enjoyed perusing the forums for some time now due to natural occurrances beyond my control. I will try to find some time shortly, line up the posts and update the list.

Safe trips,
Dave

Updated: See the Official list of LMWDP members.

As much as I would like, I cannot claim #11 for I don't have a lever machine...yet.

This may not come as a surprise to many, especially those who followed the thinking of a lever machine... thread, but I was recently made an offer on a three month old La Pavoni Professional Lusso with the Millenium Grouphead (and a 51mm Reg Barber) that I simply could not refuse. I mean this was a sweet deal and the machine is in as new condition (the owner switched to a La Valentina). I had abandoned the idea of going for the Elektra after all and was planning on getting a new Europiccola when I visit my mother in Rome in the spring. When this deal came up and the price was right (despite the machine being the Pro instead of the Europiccola), I saw no point (financially or otherwise) in holding back any longer. Below is the first, slightly out of focus pic. I guess I may now claim my LMWDP number? It'll be #39 then I assume, unless someone wishes to allocate one of the lower ones that also seem to be looking for their owners

Br,
Teme