About 6 years ago I decided that I wanted to upgrade from my Pasquini Livia 90 to a lever espresso machine. Although I had heard great things about the Olympia Cremina I did not consider it because it was out of my price range. So, after some further research I had it nailed down to either a LaPavoni Europiccola manual lever or an Elektra Mirocasa a Leva spring lever. After reading Mark Prince's reviews of the machines on Coffee Geek I decided on the Elektra.

So I began my ebay search. I was just getting ready to make a bid on an Elektra with 3 days left when I stumbled across a Cremina with a couple of hours left sitting at about $300. So, I placed a bid on it just to see if I might get lucky. I ended up with the Cremina for $660. The Elektra ended up going for a little over $800. I have been extremely happy with my Cremina over the last 5 plus years. I have also owned and used a Europiccola and a Factory to compare against. However, I have always had this nagging desire about using a spring lever. So, I have been keeping an eye out for a spring lever machine. My first choice was the Olympia Club, then the Ponte Veccio, then the Elektra, and then just any of the other spring levers would have been fine. I desperately wanted to have extended use of one at home.



One day I was visiting a local commercial coffee rental, sales, and repair shop and getting the full tour when I noticed an Olympia club sitting in the corner. It was missing the drip tray and upper sheet metal. I asked how much he wanted for it and he said just take it I was getting ready to throw it out anyway. I about fell over dead. I have since reciprocated by giving him some of my favorite coffee brewers. I took it into Orphan espresso to make sure that the upper sheet metal they had from an old Olympia Caffarex would fit and to get seals, steam valve, and a pressure stat. Doug ended up having the machine torn down and reassembled in perfect running condition in a blink of an eye. Plus, Doug and Barb were very gracious with their time and gave my wife and I the complete tour. I was in heaven. I got to see all of the cool stuff at Orphan Espresso, I got to see and taste some shots from Doug's wall mount Faema, and I had a Cremina and a Club.

I am not going to get overly technical but am going to just give a down and dirty comparison of the two machines.

Footprint:
Cremina: 10.5" L X 7.75" W X 11.5" H
Club: 11.5" L X 13.5" W X 10.5 H (13" with cup holder rails)

Wattage:
Cremina: 1000W
Club: 1350W

Drip Tray Capacity:
Cremina: 12 oz or 1 1/2 cups
Club: 16 oz or 2 cups

Features:
Cremina: Steam Wand
Club: Steam Wand, Water Dispenser, Cup Tray, External Drain for the Boiler

Boiler Capacity:
Cremina: approx 20oz or 5 cups 1.1 liters
Club: approx 48oz or 12 cups or 3 liters

Impressions

Points for Club:

1. It holds more that twice as much water.

2. It is more temperature stable. I have left the club on all afternoon and pulled 6 back to back doubles without getting a bitter or burnt tasting shot. The Cremina starts to taste burnt after about an hour.

3. It steams milk 3 times faster. In fact it steams more like a commercial machine.

4. You can technically pull a shot while steaming milk

5. You can store and heat your shot glasses on the cup rack

6. You do not have to empty the drip tray as frequently

7. Boiler has an external drain

8. Wattage 1350W vs 1000W on the Cremina

9. Machine is physically more stable when pulling a shot (it does not move around at all)

10. the cup quality is a bit more complex and has a bit more brightness and clarity (with a loss of depth and sweetness)

Points for Cremina:

1. Smaller foot print

2. Cup quality has better depth, body, texture, sweetness.

3. Crema is more voluminous, dense, and persistent

4. Cup volume is consistently 2oz for a double vs 1.5 to 1.8 for the club (occasionally 2oz). NOTE: this is 2oz of coffee that tastes as good or better than the 1.5 to 1.8 oz of the Club.

Subjective Impressions:

I really wanted and expected to like the Club over the Cremina. The Club absolutely trounces the Cremina in every way except for a few. All of its advantages are really appealing. However, in the end it is really about how the espresso expresses in the cup. Bottom line, the Cremina consistently leaves me craving another cup and the Club does not. The Club makes very good espresso and often leaves me craving another cup--just not as intensely or as often. In fact, the (my) Cremina makes a dramatically superior cup (to my subjective sense of taste) to the (my) Club. In fact, I attempted adjusting the pressure stat up and down to get the best cup results. I experimented with many dosing and pull techniques. I was really pulling for the Club. In the end the Cremina just plain won hands down. {edit: for now}

[EDIT: added 09/15/10] For those who prefer complexity, brightness, and clarity over depth, texture, body, and sweetness the Club is the machine for you. To be clear, the Club does not lack depth, texture, body, or sweetness in the cup. It is just that the coffee expresses in the cup shifted up an octave in that direction. If these characteristics are your preference, the Club is simply an amazing machine and would be a fantastic choice for you. In fact, I love the features and performance of the Club so much that I would simply be in heaven if I could put my Cremina group on the Club.

[EDIT: added 03/01/11] This thread is a work in progress. All opinions by its author have been and are provisional as he gains proficiency with the machines. As you read through it do not take any opinion or conclusions during the course of this thread as final. Getting to know the machines and tweaking them to get each machines best for comparison is a process and takes time. Any later posts represent the fine tuning of that process and a better familiarity with the machines hopefully leading to a better comparison. Hopefully reading through this process along with the feedback from HB members will help some through the process of understanding the machines they are using as much as it has the author of this post.

Lance,

Great review! I've always wondered.

joat

Lance,

Thanks for posting this and a few videos on YouTube. I think I saw every one when looking at pulling techniques when I got my first lever and then again when I got my Cremina.

And I have to say, you are one lucky guy to stuble onto a FREE Club.

Well, it was not entirely free. I have about $400 into getting it up and running, plus the Chemex brewer, and the Cory gasketless vacuum pot in like new condition with original scoop, instructions, glass filter rod in original box that I gave the guy at the shop as a thank you. Still, you are right. I am pretty lucky

Remarkably similar to how i got my Club, except I had to pay some money. Mine was missing the drip tray and grill so I had them made up by a local sheet metal worker. New seals etc from Barb & Doug, got rid of the asbestos, had a new spring made as the old one was rusted badly, descaled it and fired it up.
Frustration !!! As my profile says I have other lever machines which I have restored and do make great coffee from them. I could not make a good coffee from the Club no matter what I tried. It was obvious that the spring was not exerting enough pressure as to get a pour in appropriate time as I had to have a really coarse grind.
The short story is that after looking at the drawings on Olympia's website I measured the old spring (and the new one I had made up). Both were 29mm shorter than the size from the website. Another new spring is currently being made. Fingers are crossed.
I asked an engineer friend who told me that if a spring is held in compression for a long time it can reset itself to the compressed length. As many of these older machines have been sitting, unused, for a long time this is something I will be very wary of from now on.

John

How much did the drip tray and grid cost you to have made. I was quoted locally $440. I had one made from plastic for $30 to tide me over until I can either find an original or find someone to make one for a reasonable price.

Combined, they cost me $200 AUD and have come up very well.

John

jmc wrote:The short story is that after looking at the drawings on Olympia's website I measured the old spring (and the new one I had made up). Both were 29mm shorter than the size from the website. Another new spring is currently being made. Fingers are crossed.
I asked an engineer friend who told me that if a spring is held in compression for a long time it can reset itself to the compressed length. As many of these older machines have been sitting, unused, for a long time this is something I will be very wary of from now on.John

I keep thinking that if my Club had a little more spring pressure the shots would be a lot better. On a typical shot my lever stalls a little over half way up requiring multiple pulls to keep the spring at the peak of its power curve into order to complete a shot. I have wondered about my spring as well. However, I saw how much work Doug had to go through to put my piston back in. It certainly did not look weak. I am also using an Elektra 16 gram basket. The spring may not be designed to overcome the extra resistance of an 4 gram updose. It really does seem to do better with the factory 12 gram basket.

Please let me know how things turn out when your new spring arrives. I may look into a new spring as well if yours works out. If it does, would you please post the specs so both myself and anyone else interested can replicate it? Thanks

Great contribution.

No way the spring on the Ponte Vecchio stalls unless I've ground too fine. If you get a shot on which the spring stalls, try backing off just a little on the grind and trying again. The espresso should still taste great, with plenty of crema. I know this is obvious, but with good beans there is no need to grind so fine as to stall, at least not on the PV. Of course, this does not mean your spring hasn't lost its umph.

There are other things to consider though. With the PV, I typically pull and hold the lever down a few seconds, then control the rise until a full, active preinfusion is complete (i.e. a drop falls into the cup). Then I pull again, wait a second, and let the lever go (under control). NOW,

If the lever starts, then stalls 1/2 way, I simply pull again. This often works just right to save the shot, and in fact these shots can be great. Worth a try anyway.

Lastly, I've gone back to the manual lever periodically after using the PV and miniGaggia spring levers, and I've actually found that I become a little annoyed at having to manually pull the shot. There is a lot to be said for springs! Give that Club a chance....

Great write-up and pictures!

From my experience with the Elektra, I agree with Jack 100% (except that I still love my manual levers, too )

In addition, considering you are in the lucky position of being able to choose, you can select your machine to play to its strengths with different types of beans. The layering of a lever is stunning on Ethiopian single origins, for example, especially a good Sidamo or Yirgacheffe.

Cheers

Mike