I saw that one also and while I was waiting to get a ship estimate- you grabbed it!! good job, always glad to know it is in the family

When I saw the buy it now option I knew it would not be long so I just grabbed it. Sorry you missed out Mogogear but there is another one now for sale in the states.
I think it is costing me more in shipping, customs.... then what the machine cost, but how can we put a price on our coffee passions. I saw a few caravels for sale also but they will have to wait until after my next exhibition in Toronto in June. If it goes well that is. If you manage to go to the movies and see Slevin (good movie) there is a absolutely amazing machine in the background of one of the characters apartments. You will see it behind the mesmerising Lucy Lu so if you aren't into lever machines it will probably be missed. Don't even know what kind it is but I would love to find out.

happytamper wrote:When I saw the buy it now option I knew it would not be long so I just grabbed it. Sorry you missed out Mogogear but there is another one now for sale in the states.

No worries- I got the Caravel that was listed weird( no mention of espresso in the title or descrpition- got it for $75 Euros!! And I think the shipping will finish out at another $65 Euros. The La Peppina I got was also a buy it now- paid $90 Euros for it+ $50 Euros to ship.Viva Italia!!- a good place to shop- so far....Sorry you guys get hit with that duty so hard!!
Anyway, I look forward to taking them apart and seeing what makes them tick.
FYI- Peacecup has seals and washers for the La Peppina if you need them.


Later

Just received my La peppina today and was happy to see that it was in fine condition with the exception of a replaced cover. It is the 220 volt unit and I plugged it into a small converter and promptly burned out the converter, I then read on the side of the converter that it was for 50 watts max and noticed the machine was 700 watts. . So i removed the burnt converter and plugged it directly into the wall with an adapter and waited, and waited, and waited. When finally (after about 1/2 hour) The temp was up to 190, I pulled my first shot. It seems you have to pull twice to get the unit going and with the second pull I saw a slow beautiful extrusion of coffee and crema that lasted about 30 seconds. And the taste was wonderful. 1/3 harrar, 1/3 yirg and 1/3 sumatra. A blend I roasted which was suggested by a great coffee shop in Toronto called idealcoffees in the Kensington market.

Seems this machine is a bit more automatic then the eurpicola due to the spring, though you can slow the lever down or speed it up if you like. And I like the use of gravity for water that enters the chamber, More control over temperature. I gues I could incorporate a steam arm into the lid I build but this would only create more temperature instability so I may leave it as purely a shot machine.

The La Peppina is so simple. However the possibility of scalding yourself is very real. Not to be used when you are not fully awake and aware. I will be making a lid that fastens so in the event of a peppina flip I will not cook my .... .

Here is a picture of the new addition to my counter. I had another old brass La Pavoni ambassador on the counter as well but that has made its way to my studio. And my students are very happy.


Note to Timo. I would be interested in getting some of the gaskets, o rings set etc from you if they are still available. It is great that you did all the research and came up with a set.

I also have to either solve the 220 issue, be late in arriving at the studio, or only use the peppina when I have alot of time. Any suggestions?

another_jim wrote:The Peppina has a steaming attachment which works for the 1100 watt models, but is too anemic for the 700 watt ones. I don't use mine.

I think the machine is pretty perfect as a very portable straight shot maker; for a portable cappa maker, I think the europiccolo with millenium group might be the ticket. I recently scored one on ebay for a good price; but it's still in the clutches of the USPS parcel service, so it looks like it'll be after Charlotte before I can take it through its paces.

Well, Jim, Charlotte has come and gone, and I wanted to give you a chance to spend some time alone with your Europiccolo before asking you about it. Is the temperature-stability angel perched on your right shoulder happy with the little Pavoni? Or is the cappa devil the only one smiling?

I like the form factor of the Mini Gaggia for a small gravity-fed open boiler machine with a small pressurized boiler snuck in on the right dedicated to steam. With slightly more depth we could fit a pour-over reservoir in the rear and a small fill pump to replenish the open boiler when it was 80% depleted. Need to incorporate one-way valves too.

Regards
Timo

happytamper wrote:Just received my La peppina today and was happy to see that it was in fine condition with the exception of a replaced cover. It is the 220 volt unit and I plugged it into a small converter and promptly burned out the converter, I then read on the side of the converter that it was for 50 watts max and noticed the machine was 700 watts. . So i removed the burnt converter and plugged it directly into the wall with an adapter and waited, and waited, and waited. When finally (after about 1/2 hour) The temp was up to 190, I pulled my first shot.

Happy,
So you have 110v in your house that you plugged the machine into?? Is that What I heard?? The la Peppina and Caravel I have coming are both 220v machines. Hmmmmm. just slower warm up ...... I am tempted to not buy the step up transformer -1000w- and just rewire the plug- unless someone more electrically inclined talks me out of it...

Was the Caravel 550W? I think you should spring for the voltage transformer.

Definitely go for the transformer. The heat up time is very, very long. I began to make an espresso in the morning and drank it in the afternoon.


And for an extra bit of cash your will have what you need for all your european models and the many more you may find.

A quick search on Ebay found this one that should work for you. Item #7612987864. Also, you probably already have 220v. in your home. An electrician can install a 220v. outlet for you. That's what I did for my Palanca.

timo888 wrote:Well, Jim, Charlotte has come and gone, and I wanted to give you a chance to spend some time alone with your Europiccolo before asking you about it. Is the temperature-stability angel perched on your right shoulder happy with the little Pavoni? Or is the cappa devil the only one smiling?

Regards
Timo

It actually came in time for Charlotte, and has had three road trips now. The machine is indeed very nice for travelling, since it'll make a couple of cappas or three shots, no fuss, with one tankful of water. I find, for milk drinks, the configuration is more convenient than a single boiler, since no waiting is required (although I've not quite mastered the one hand for the lever, one hand for steaming yet). One can half unscrew the boiler cap, depressurize and refill fairly quickly, and the pstat allows it to stay on indefinitely once it's filled. There's no vacuum breaker, but false pressure is neve a problem, not sure how that works.

The steam tip is waaay too noisy wherever it's set into the milk; and the resulting foam tends to separate easily. Lots of swirling and banging required. However, it does 4 ounces in 10 seconds flat, which is sweet and has me tapping my fingers when I get back to steaming with the Tea. Since the boiler isn't any larger than the Tea's. I'm guessing upright boilers steam better than horizontal ones of the same size.

The millenium group requires about a 2 ounce flush for roughly the right temperature shot, otherwise it's sour city. This does nicely to preheat the cup and PF. The shot taste is nothing like the Peppina or Elektra, but rather more like a conventional machine, with all the harsher edges. I asume I'm getting a sharply declining shot temperature profile, boiling to start, dropping down at the end as the group sinks the heat.

The body and crema are slightly better than the spring levers, but, so far with me, not as good as on pump machines. I assume this is because I can manually womp up the pressure in the middle of the shot, then drop it only at the end, to keep the crema more copious and dense. This group has a lot of trapped air in it, and the first half of the stroke is air compression. I've experimented with mulitple pumps (press down immediately till there's a dribble, then up again). But I'm not sure if this is an improvement or not. Oddly, pf sneeze is only a problem when the grind is too coarse.

There's a trick screw blocking access to the base. The requiired bit has just arrived, so I'll be able to check out how the pstat is set up, and see if I can shoehorn in an electronic control.

These are only observations from making a few shots while travelling. So it's all subject to revision once I figure out how to test it more thoroughly here.