Hi Everyone,

I've been a long-time reader of this board, but never had anything interesting to post so have been quiet for years. I spent months doing research for a new espresso machine earlier this year, and was always wishing for just one more review from an actual user of what I was looking for, so I figured I'd do a writeup of my upgrade in case someone else is in a similar situation...

Background:

Back in 2007, I stumbled across an Elektra A3, and fell into complete espresso-machine lust phase, and ended up buying it, plus a Mini Mazzer E, which at the time seemed to be the top of the pile as far as home grinders go. I had absolutely no barista knowledge, and spent my first few years basically winging it. Even with crappy technique and no knowledge, I still was able to make some pretty decent lattes with that machine, and things got MUCH better once I started taking things seriously and trying to do it properly.

Anyway, I eventually had to sell the house, and have been moving around a lot (four states in four years, not fun). Given that I've been renting, I haven't been able to plumb the Elektra in, and had to resort to using a FloJet pump, 5gal water jugs, and a drip bucket. Here's what that looked like at the last place:



Eventually it just became too big of a deal to lug that thing around and deal with all the issues of having a plumbed-in machine in a house where plumbed-in machines didn't work, and along with some not-so-subtle prodding from my wife, I sold the Elektra to a local restaurant here, and made the switch to a Londinium I:



No more tubes! Yay!

Price:

If I remember right, the Elektra cost something like $3600, and the Londinium was just under $3000. So they're in the same ballpark, although $600 is nothing to sneeze at. So although I consider this an upgrade, from the perspective of cost alone, you could call it a downgrade. I'll just say I moved sideways into a different category, from a commercial hx machine, to a home lever (with a commercial group).

Care and Feeding:

The Elektra was designed to be plumbed in, so as long as you did that, it was very easy to work with. Regular backflushing was a routine job, as was keeping an eye on the water softener cartridge that I had put in-line. However, once you move to a FloJet, things get pretty crazy. Now you have to worry about changing the 5gal water jugs, and washing out the drip bucket. If you live in an area with really hard water (like I did for a year in TN), then you have to figure out where to source the espresso machine water or risk trashing the boiler. It's a huge pain.

I'm using the Londinium in reservoir mode. I just lift a small cover off the top, pour water in, and replace the cover. It's super easy. There's a built-in water softener in the tank, which is a nice afterthought. Now that I don't have to do the detergent backflush routine anymore, this is actually easier to deal with than my Elektra when it was plumbed in, and 10x easier to deal with when it was on the pump. I'm very happy with how much less fooling around I have to do to keep everything in working order.

Pulling Shots:

This was probably the biggest change in my routine. A lot of it has to do with moving from a HX machine to a lever. I no longer have to do the huge flush in the morning to get the temperature right, and I'm grinding finer and tamping much more lightly. The main difference is that the L1 has a fixed volume of water in the group, and you really are only going to get around a 1oz shot out of it. This is different than the Elektra where I'd get doubles that had around 2oz volume. So you can make a 10oz latte without any trouble, but a 16oz Starbucks-style big gulp is out of the question unless you want to pull multiple shots to get there. The solution we've come up with in my wife's case is that she just has two lattes in a row.

Having said that, although the L1 can't match the shot volume of the Elektra, it more than matches the quality. Now that I'm able to do proper pre-infusion, along with a declining pressure profile and temperature profile, the shots that come out of this thing are amazing. I know that everyone says that it really all comes down to the grinder, but I'm not totally buying that anymore after seeing what you can get out of a good lever.

Frothing Milk:

The Elektra had a huge 6L boiler, and I think it could probably froth a whole gallon of milk in one sitting. Having said that, the L1 is no slouch, and I've never run out of steam or had any issues. The steam arm on the Elektra was a little longer, which made it easier to use with big pitchers, but aside from that, this one is a tie. I have yet to make more than 3-4 drinks in a row though, so we'll see how this works next time guests visit and I have a whole bunch of drinks to make all at once.

This and That:

There are a few areas where the L1 loses to the Elektra, which I wanted to mention:

1) Knobs. The handles on the Elektra were very pretty and very ergonomic. The handles on the L1 are also pretty, but not as ergonomic. They are shorter and fatter, and because of that, they don't feel as nice. Completely minor, and I'll forget about it in time, but it's definitely something that jumped out at me.

2) Cup warmer. I really liked having a heated cup warmer area on the top of the Elektra. Not only would you get nice warm cups automatically, you also had a place to put your portafilters, pitchers, etc, when they weren't being used. I think the L1 ditched the cup warmer in order to make it as easy as it is to refill the reservoir, so I get why this is different, and I think that was the right choice, but I still miss that feature. Now all my stuff lives in a drawer, and I flush hot water into the cups to warm them up.

3) Drip Tray. The L1's drip tray doesn't drain, but it's quite deep. The problem is that it snaps in, which counteracts how deeps it is. If you have any volume of water in there, you have to be really careful to unsnap it or you'll throw that water all over the place, which is annoying. I just try to avoid letting anything go down the drip tray, and catch stray flushes, etc, in a little bowl.

Conclusion

I live within an hour of San Francisco, which means I've got access to some pretty incredible coffee shops, like Ritual, Four Barrel, etc. They employ very experienced baristas, who get to use some seriously awesome equipment. This morning, my little L1 and Mini Mazzer cranked out three lattes that were as good or better than anything I've had at any of those places. It was seriously mind-blowing, at least from a latte-lover's perspective. My latte art is non-existent, so maybe they didn't look as pretty, but taste-wise, honestly I'm not sure how it could have been any better. So although I've tried to be honest about what I don't like, if my coffee beats everything else I've ever had in the last 10 years, I'm not sure if any of those negatives really mean a whole lot. Very excited to see what happens when I get around to moving up the grinder food chain one of these days...!

All for now. Thanks for reading!

Earik

Fantatstic that you are enjoying your Londinium, so many of us love the L1 and in some ways miss mine a little, but I am loving the shots I get from the L1 P as well. Lovely write up.

Welcome to HB earik! Thank you for sharing your impressions.

Thanks, guys. Glad to be here!

I took a look at the L1-P, but the last thing I wanted was another big espresso machine that I had to plumb in. I'm also a big fan of small boilers right now. I literally thought "wow, what a cute boiler" when I saw the L1's 2.3L unit, having come from the Elektra. The Elektra took 75min to get up to temperature, which meant my morning routine usually involved going back to bed for an hour after I turned the espresso machine on...

Having said that, I know that eventually I'll get out of the Honeymoon period with my L1, and I like that there's an upgrade path available for the future. Either the L1-P, or maybe the new in-between model that Reiss is working on. Or maybe an Idrocompresso! Definitely glad I found my way into the lever world though.

Regards,

Earik

Idrocompresso is being discontinued, so you'll just need to go to a Bosco or a classical era museum piece, I'm afraid!

earik wrote:Thanks, guys. Glad to be here!

I took a look at the L1-P, but the last thing I wanted was another big espresso machine that I had to plumb in. I'm also a big fan of small boilers right now. I literally thought "wow, what a cute boiler" when I saw the L1's 2.3L unit, having come from the Elektra. The Elektra took 75min to get up to temperature, which meant my morning routine usually involved going back to bed for an hour after I turned the espresso machine on... :wink

I think the L1 takes about that long to get the group warm enough to pull good shots, but I'm not sure as I have mine on a timer that gives me abut 90 minutes in the morning before I get to the kitchen. It also turns the machine off at the end of the afternoon, which is handy, if I happen to be out.

Matt

I think the L1 takes about that long to get the group warm enough to pull good shots, but I'm not sure as I have mine on a timer that gives me abut 90 minutes in the morning before I get to the kitchen. It also turns the machine off at the end of the afternoon, which is handy, if I happen to be out.

My morning routine is such that mine has been on for about an hour before I pull any shots, but I had assumed it was ready a lot sooner than that due to the smaller boiler... I thought that Reiss had said something in his literature about a 20min heat-up time, which is what I was going off of.

Idrocompresso is being discontinued, so you'll just need to go to a Bosco or a classical era museum piece, I'm afraid!

I didn't know that... Major bummer.

The L1 can be ready in as fast as 12-15min with some warm flushes to help warm up the group. Ideally however, you want 30+min of warm up time for decent shots. The L1-P/L2/L3 need about an hour to be ready mostly because the group is cold fed so you can't do warm flush to help. The boiler size is not that important because the power of the elements are adjusted accordingly. Best thing is to have your machine on a timer!

FWIW, [anonymized] thinks his L1-P takes 90 minutes to reach the ideal temperature, but he's got a timer that activates at (IIRC) 4 am, and he leaves it on all day. Surprisingly, it seems to sip electricity despite the massive tank and powerful heating element, based on some power draw measurements he made.

Earik, there is a craftsman or two who will produce nicer knobs for you, if you really want them. And nicer drip tray grates can be had. FotonDrv can provide some suggestions, I think.

Congrats on a beautiful machine, and better yet, one you're really enjoying!