So, I got my new machine and finally got to play with it a little bit.

Fit and finish is very good, the size of the machine is exactly what i wanted and expected. It will fit nicely in my kitchen.

At first the portafilter was fitting very tight in the group, so much that most of the time the handle could not be turned all the way to the correct position. Now after a couple of weeks, it fits perfectly.

Steam is very powerful, but unfortunately a bit wet too. I haven't taken the time to investigate this, but I hope I can fix that problem. Any clues of what could cause that?

The steam and hot water joysticks are quite nice and work well.

I find it takes about 15-20 minutes for the machine to be completely warmed up. It's pretty fast, I like that.

Now, the espressos:

At first I used the new 17-18g vst baskets I had. I could not make one good espresso even after wasting 1 pound of coffee. Had to leave for work for a month, and when I came back I used the basket that came with the machine, and my first espresso was not too bad. Now after a few days, my espressos are on a scale of 10, at 8. Not bad, and I can see there is the potential to improve when I know the machine better.

By the way I use a baratza vario grinder.


Next I will try to find a naked portafilter (havent found one for this machine yet) and will post more impressions in a little while.

So far I'm pretty happy with the machine, and I don't know of any other machine I'd want more than this one!

Try this basket. Set your grind so on your old pump machine a dose of about 13 grams works well in this basket. Now dose this same basket at 18 grams fro the Strega. On a regular double basket, a grind that works for 14 grams on the pump machine will require 19 to 20 grams in the same basket. A VST-18 basket does not work well. The Strega can punch through a Turkish grind; so you are looking for a basket that doses lower than usual for a given grind, not higher than usual -- a 1.5 basket, not a 2.5 like the VST. Big singles, like the LM single basket, overloaded to 12 to 14 grams, work too.

Hi Jim,

Thanks a lot for the explanation. I'm going to give the basket you recommend a try.

So far very fine grind + as much coffe I can fit in the basket is what worked best for me, so what you tell me makes a lot of sense.

I ran out of coffee beans yesterday, and went to buy some at a new coffee shop around the corner. They had RedLine espresso from Metropolis coffee (I never tried this coffee before). Very mellow -too mellow for me- and lots of crema, my guest really liked it.



As for the wet steam, I checked quickly yesterday and there is more than a teaspoon of water for about 10 seconds of steam. That annoys me...

I have my Strega for about a month and a half now and I too played with a couple of different baskets and found the originals gave me better results. They have a different physical profile in that they are more straight walled than the others I used. I can't say if this plays a role.

With regards to the wet steam, I haven't noticed that, but within a week I had changed to a 2 hole tip because I couldn't control the power. I got the soappy water OK but the milk was always off. With the 2 hole I have better control and excellent microfoam.

I have experimented around with different extractions ie. pump only extraction, full pump pre-infusion, short pump on and wait for pressure bleed before release, OE slap-shot, regular tamp etc. Although I got different shots withdifferent techniques, the real difference I found was between full pump extraction and any kind of lever use (no surprise there I guess). The lever was always a bit sweeter and had more chocolate tones (used the same blend).

All in all, a good machine for me.

Pegassos wrote:I have experimented around with different extractions ie. pump only extraction, full pump pre-infusion, short pump on and wait for pressure bleed before release, OE slap-shot, regular tamp etc. Although I got different shots withdifferent techniques, the real difference I found was between full pump extraction and any kind of lever use (no surprise there I guess). The lever was always a bit sweeter and had more chocolate tones (used the same blend).

I wonder if the big difference on the lever profile is the tail end, where the pressure tails off, versus the pump's constant-to-the-end pressure. It would be interesting to compare:
- full pressure from the beginning to the end
- full pressure from the beginning to lever tailing off at the end
- lever start to finish

Have you guys watched and/or read another_jim's videos and review of the Strega? Very informative so far.

I had not seen Jim's videos and comments. Thanks for the heads-up. Very informative. It shows the machine's versatility and capabilities.

Most of the modern Bezzera machines in my experience are OK with the VST 18g basket, but due to the high shower screens, in Sydney our playing has resulted in doses round about the 20-21g mark for most origins.

We tended to use flat tamper (well-fitting), flat distribution, and large conical grinders (Kony-E, Robur-E, Robur, BNZ, K10) for this testing - not sure how this holds with other grinders.

YMMV

Try this basket. Set your grind so on your old pump machine a dose of about 13 grams works well in this basket. Now dose this same basket at 18 grams fro the Strega. On a regular double basket, a grind that works for 14 grams on the pump machine will require 19 to 20 grams in the same basket. A VST-18 basket does not work well. The Strega can punch through a Turkish grind; so you are looking for a basket that doses lower than usual for a given grind, not higher than usual -- a 1.5 basket, not a 2.5 like the VST. Big singles, like the LM single basket, overloaded to 12 to 14 grams, work too.

A bit OT from the Strega but I recently started using a 15g VST in my Aurora lever, thinking the straight sides and flat bottom might suit. I've found the results encouraging but it does hold 20-21g. Any thoughts on how the 15g VST would compare to the above basket. I use a single pull technique but have had no luck with single baskets so a double seems to be the way to go for me.

Vitriol wrote:As for the wet steam, I checked quickly yesterday and there is more than a teaspoon of water for about 10 seconds of steam. That annoys me...

I have developed & use this steam method
description and video on my blog
http://koffeekosmo.blogspot.com/2010/11...great.html

One other thing you can do is have the boiler probe adjusted to lower the water level just a little
This will create more space for steam at the top of the boiler

KK