Hi fellow Home Baristi!
Proud to enter the list of LMWDP members.
Greetings from Denmark

My espresso addiction started during a visit to my brother's home in New York City's Upper Westside. He has a restored older La Pavoni.

Since then I have restored a few La Pavoni machines, a Riviera Eagle, and a Elektra Casa a Leva.

Just found this site while looking for fellow lever lovers. (Wrong time to attempt this)Tried my Gaggia Factory 4 years ago and with no barista skills or training found it is impossible to pull a decent shot. No understanding of the dynamics or variables to be controlled make it a waste of time to the average Joe. It remained in the attic collecting dust for the next 4 years. Since then I have been working hard honing my barista skills and this christmas decided to give it a go. (Right time to try) Wow. After about a half hour of playing and adjusting I can say that I pulled some of the best shots ever. It's not easy, can be bloody frustrating, but when it works out it's a great feeling to be able to get the best from your beans. Who cares if 1 or 2 shots are not the best. When you get it right it is hard to beat.
Going to use in my coffee house next week and see what customers think. Has anyone else used in their cafes? Let you know how it goes

Hello,

first post here and i want to join the gang! I'm an coffee enthusiast from Vienna/Austria and I am really attracted by lever machines.



While my main workhorse is an Izzo Vivi i bought used and restored it I recently stumbled over an LaPavoni Europiccola and restored an Elektra Microcasa i bought at Ebay (the chrome looks very bad, but technically its perfect with the new, longer, spring).



I also made the Elektra-portafilter bottomless (not a beauty, I know) and it is a joy to watch the coffee come out (even with the single basket)....


In the long way I am looking for a single group commercial lever machine for my home to replace the Vivi. But this will take some time to get the money and to find the machine (something like an brugnetti aurora export or the bezzera b2006al I've seen here).

So, I hope u welcome me on board of the LMWDP gang (even with my bad english).

Cheers
Stefan

Stefan,

Welcome to the club, and thanks for posting pictures. Nice setup!

Which is your favorite machine?

yakster wrote:Which is your favorite machine?

hard to tell. Probably the Izzo. It is on all day and just works. The levers are great, but for all day use i would need something with the ability to pull doubles and coffee after coffee without cooling down and refilling of the small boiler (thats why im up for a commercial lever machine).

But I love the unbeatable (is this correct english?) simplicity of construction of the two lever machines and its fun to use them!

Hello to all,
so now it's time to ask for my number: I am qualifying with a 35 year old commercial lever astoria called "Sonia", which is a very useful kind of workhorse lever machine:



With best regards from Munich, Germany

Emil

@emil: great machine. i followed your restoration thread at the kaffee-netz. good work!

Thank you Stefan,

I restored Sonia a year ago and it was a very good introduction in the world of commercial espresso machines as in the world of lever groups. Being a huge machine with lots of room inside, wide and heavy tubing and no(!) electric or electronic features beside the heating elements it is a clearly understandable mechanical concept that cannot have changed much since it was invented in 1948. But the rectangular form has its advantages: You don't pay as much for machines of this kind as for the Faema President, Mercurio or the Gaggia Classica or America - and there is no problem at all with parts, as the group ist still in production and used in actual C.M.A models as the Rapallo aL.

I just completed changing the tube in which the piston is travelling - it was worn out after 35 years of use, 30 of them commercial. When I got the machine, it wasn't working at all, spring corroded and broken, seals down and heating element missing - but you could get every single part in no time directly from Astoria.
So it is not only a possibility to get a machine near the material price (copper is quite expensive these days) but also a chance to get to know your baby from the bottom of the frame to the last seal inside the steam valve.



Since then it is a continuous source of joy to watch the coffee pour in the cup - especially since I am using the bottomless ...

Cheers Emil

sounds good....and i like the rectangular form...if u ever think about selling it

i was thinking about a faema president as well...but its crazy what people pay for these 50 year old machines (even if they are reallllllyyyyy great)

There is greater joy than making what you love with something you have loved.

-Cecil

hi!

i already presented the machine in the "lever espresso machine gallery" thread, but in order to become a LMWDP member, i was supposed to tell my story. so here it is.

i started out about 18 months ago, when a friend of mine, who gave up his bar, wanted to get rid of all the bar-related rubbish in his cellar. part of this "rubbish" was an approx. 10 years old iberital commercial machine (1 group) that he just gave me as a present as long as i took care of transport etc. of course i did. together with a newly purchased ECM Casa this constituted my introduction into the world of homemade espresso:



as you can see, there is still enough space for a Kitchen Aid mixer on the sideboard ...

it took me a while to get acquainted with the machine and the grinder. after a few months i decided to upgrade as the grinding results of the ECM Casa did not seem satisfying. in order to shortcut an endless stream of up-grades i decided to go for an Elektra Nino:



one easily notices the decreasing availability of counterspace. no more Kitchen Aid.

then i started to think about a machine upgrade. initially i was aiming for a used La Marzocco Linea, preferably with 2 groups. i like the massiv aspect of commercial machines, i guess. i tried for 3 machines on ebay but each sold for €2.500,- on ebay (approx. $3.500,-). then a fellow forum user of kaffee-netz.de pointed me towards my current machine: a 2 group IZZO Pompei. it was on sale on ebay in UK. 10 minutes befor the end of the auction i tried to participate in the bidding, but it didn't work. i got in contact with the seller and as nobody else was bidding, found an agreement with him. so a few days later i was sitting in my VW Touareg, driving through Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, the north of France, and across the channel, in order to pick up the machine in the city of Derby, some 150 KM north of London. in spite of all the horror storys one can read about ebay, everything went smoothely and 24 h after my departure i was back in Hannover with the machine. the machine is from 2007 and the seller had her maintained in a mint condition:

a panoramic view:


the close up:


i had to slightly extend counterspace in order to organize the whole equipment, i am afraid. i had a water supply line installed for the IBERITAl, so that was no problem. i just added a Brita Purity filter appliance. the used water is going into a canister under the counter. as i need lots of heating flushs this is really important. i also had a new and independent 16A power line installed.

the IZZO is something completely different from the Linea i was aiming for in the beginning but i wouldn't want anything else but a lever machine now that i have been experiencing this for a few months. using the IZZO is not easy i think, as temperature control is somewhat vague. and i am far away from the standard 7-8 gr/ 25 seconds/25 ml rule. usually i need 18-20 gr. in the double basket. and a really fine grind. but the results are great. especially with the possibility of freely determining the pre infusion. i usually let the PI last between 10-20 seconds.

some technical details for those who care:
2007 model, 2 groups
3400 W
boiler size 12 l
weight 73 kg
automatic and manual water filling
it has a switch for a supplementary cup heater (but no cup heater)

currently i am having new handles made for all levers and the portafilters. i am still not quite sure about the design. my current choice for the wood is olive.

hopefully i didn't bore you to death with this extremely long story. i got carried away.

bis die tage

looseantz

Wow! What a great set-up. I have been drooling all over my keyboard!

Who's making the handles for you?

Cheers

Mike

hi michael!

there is a another user of kaffee-netz.de who does this kind of thing for a hobby. but i have some trouble deciding about the right kind of design. the current design is really very boring, so i would appreciate something more pleasing. so i am still looking for inspiration.

greetings

gregor

Hi Gregor!

You'll get some great ideas in this thread here: Custom Wood for your Espresso Machine

I have some on order from Les of Thor Tamper who is however caught up in a house move at the moment.

Cheers

Mike

My silver Caravel is my second lever, but I actually plan to keep this one, so I need a number! I think I'm going to stick with just 2 machines (elektra and caravel) and 2 grinders (major and zass), that's down from 7 and 4, respectively. I think I'll like having stuff from both ends of the spectra.

Gregor, beautiful setup, and one hell of a kitchen!

Ben, show us some pictures, and we'll get you a number... just kidding.

The head of this thread has the instructions on how to get the number.

Welcome to the club!

I just won a Caravel on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...0541481610

Sorry to anyone I outbid. Hopefully she'll work on plugging her in. I've been fooling around with an old hand grinder, a knife, and a Nespresso machine (my wife's) and capsules. I'm looking forward to learning this machine and the process of pulling a perfect ristretto.

I suppose I need to start thinking about sourcing a seal kit, but I'll have a little bit before it makes it across the pond I'm sure (hopefully my joining isn't premature). I've been reading the various Caravel threads and will likely go back through now that I know what machine I'll have.

I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me soon as I stumble through this process.

Cheers, Jon

Grats! The missing drip tray is a pitty though.
I won this beauty a week ago for 140€. (It was a buy it now offer so I reacted quickly.)
I've been watching the Caravels for months (checking ebay.it multiple times a day) until I found a machine in the condition like this:

It is on the way from Italy, I hope it arrives in one piece.