I'm the proud owner of a new Ponte Vecchio Export, their most basic model (also sold as Gensaco). I'll plan to post a review of it here or on coffeegeek once I feel qualified. I wanted to start this topic to give some first impressions, and to get advice from some of you more experienced with lever machines in general, so I can improve my skills more rapidly.

The Export is a beautiful, albeit quirky, piece of art. I ordered the enameled white version because it was the last one left on sale, but I actually prefer paint to chrome (sorry La Pavoni and Elektra fans!). The Export has a nice, heavy cast base, and a powder coated white metal box around the boiler. Kind of a tall, narrow, Cremina-type (I saw a photo of a white Cremina from Germany that I thought looked very nice). I'll post some photos of it soon (I could not find one photo of a white or black Export anywhere on the web). The chrome group is highly-polished and lovely. Among the quirks are imperfections in the finish of the metal base, a drip tray that is almost totally useless, and a steam wand that cannot be rotated. These are the types of things that I imagine a Cremina would have few of.

The Export is a spring-lever machine, and it has the same 45-mm group as the more expensive Lusso, which I've seen compared to the old Olympia Club. To date I've pulled about a dozen shots on it (the first time I've ever used a lever). I'm glad to say that the majority were quite drinkable, in comparison to about three years of straight shots pulled on Saeco pump machines. I'm not much of a taste expert, but I did seem to discern the "depth" of flavor that I've seen described for levers. A very promising start.

Now for the questions:

Pulling the lever down appears to fill the group, and allowing it to rise pushes the water through the puck. I can get about 1.5 oz with three pulls, which seems to be as much as the small basket will support. How long should this take? Should I pull and lift the lever at the same rate throughout the shot? Should I stop at any time, top or bottom? How about half-pulls? I've noticed on some shots that the puck seems to have been cracked - should I pull the lever down with the portafilter partly engaged, as I've read some Cremina users do.

Thanks to all in advance for any impressions,

"I have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me"
Peacecup, are you a fellow Sherlockian? Or, did you just read The Hound of the Baskervilles.

I've pulled a fair number of shots with our PV Lusso, which has essentially the same group, but a larger boiler than the 'Export' version, and it's a pretty forgiving device compared to a Pavoni or our hot-rod Isomac.

The single biggest improvement I found was to become pretty critical about making sure that you've completely purged the boiler of the 'false pressure' bubble which forms as the machine comes up to temperature. For the life of me, I cannot clearly recall if the 'Export' has a boiler pressure gauge like the 'Lusso' does, but I fear it doesn't, so you'll be on your own to determine when the purge is complete.

On trick is to pay careful attention to the thermostat light and do a 10-15 second purge via the steam wand as soon as it goes out for the first time - the steam sound will have a characteristically 'coarse' or 'spluttery' note, and will trail off as the false pressure is bled.

Now do two more 5 second bleeds about 2 to 3 minutes apart, noting the steam character - the last bleed should have a pretty consistent hiss and not trail off towards the end.

Once you've bled the boiler, lock in the portafilter with a blank basket and do a 10-15 second flush to bring the grouphead, portafilter, and basket up to temperature and to ensure you've got fresh, hot water throughout the system with any nasty steam bubbles bled from the group.

Now, moving quickly, you should prep your shot, tamp, load the portafilter, and just before locking it in place give a 2-3 second spritz with the lever which should be just enough to turn on the heating element. I like to work with the element on for the first couple of shots, and off for any subsequent shots.

Once the PF is locked in place bring the lever down smoothly, and hold it down until the first dark-brown drips appear in the glass or for at least for 10 seconds. Once your pre-infusion is complete, gently guide the lever until the spring takes over - don't just release the lever, this is a good way to 'shock' the puck and potentially separate it from the walls or cause channeling or cracking.

Once the lever is moving smoothly, keep your damn meathooks off of it - resist the temptation to jockey or nurse the lever unless your shot is obviously stalled and you need to throw everything away and start over again.

If you want more than 1.5oz of espresso, you can take another pull - just remember to hold the lever down for 2-3 seconds to ensure that the grouphead is at full pressure before releasing it. You really shouldn't take more than a half pull on the second shot, I like to remove the glass as soon as the stream turns blonde, and let the rest of the pull just go into the catch tray.

Because the PV baskets are relatively tall and narrow, you may want to experiment with using less tamping pressure than the normal 30Lbs that the wide, shallow 58mm baskets seem to want - I've found that 20-25Lbs with a slightly finer than normal grind works best in my machine.

Cheers

Jim

Peacecup,
I've taken some photos of my Riviera which I think has the same or similar group to your machine. If I can figure out how to post them I'll do that.
Some items that may be of help to you:
1)The 'double' basket is really not; it holds almost exactly the same volume coffee as the 'single' basket on my 58mm Futurmat. The largest shot I pull on the Riviera is about 1.5 oz. and that's for a latte and usually has a lot of blonding. If I just use the lever once it pulls a little less then 1 oz. and makes a pretty darn good espresso.
2)The steam wand on my machine is fixed, too. In fact it is on my Elektra and on the Pavoni Ambassador I used to have. I never thought it was an issue and I think you'll get used to it without any problem.
3)My drip pan is also very small but it holds enough to make two drinks. I then put a small sponge in to soak up the liquid and wring it out in the sink. That seems to work for me.
4)Tampers are hard to find in the 45mm size. I replaced the wood tamper that came with it by buying one from Williams-Sonoma. It cost about $10, but was approximately 47mm. I filed it down and them polished it with an emory cloth. Works great and the price was right! Brian at espressoparts.com will custom make one, too, for $5 more then his stock tampers.
5)Just read the post from Dr. Jim and he's got a good point about the small basket not needing a lot of tamping pressure. It took me a long time to figure that out!
You're going to really enjoy your new machine. I'm looking forward to seeing some photos!

Gentlemen,

I want to thank you both for your prompt responses! I expect day four with the PV will be a good one thanks to your help.

Vanelis had special 45 mm tampers made for them, so I'm set there - but I suspect I've been tamping a bit too hard.

RE: releasing false pressure: I'd given some thought to just leaving the steam valve open while it heats, like an old open boiler. Its a pain to keep steaming up the place three times before pulling a shot.

I only seem to get about 1/2 oz per pull, but I expect this is because I was not filling the group properly - I'm anxious to try Dr. Jim's advice on this and other tips tomorrow AM. Any idea on how to remove the dispersion screen for cleaning? it looks to me like its pressed on. Also, do you have a schematic - I plan to send a request to Vanelis and the Company if I can't find one elsewhere. I must say I REALLY liked the hand-drawn diagram of the machine in the short instruction booklet!

Its interesting, but these things have been around some 30 years, and Dr. Jim's comments are really the only I've come across re: how to use them. I also want to note that these comments helped to decide me in favor of the PV, and that I have not been disappointed.

Bill, I am certainly a true fan of the Canon, but have never gone any further than reading and re-reading and re-reading it.

bill wrote:I've taken some photos of my Riviera which I think has the same or similar group to your machine. If I can figure out how to post them I'll do that.

See Posting images on HB.

peacecup wrote:{snip!}

Vanelis had special 45 mm tampers made for them, so I'm set there - but I suspect I've been tamping a bit too hard.

The Vaneli's tamper is very decent, although after using a 58mm RB - it's a bit like tamping with a shrunken head .... Also, I think that Vaneli's is one of the class vendors, my experiences with them have been first rate.

RE: releasing false pressure: I'd given some thought to just leaving the steam valve open while it heats, like an old open boiler. Its a pain to keep steaming up the place three times before pulling a shot.

Sadly, this will just slow down the boiler getting up to temperature, you'll still have to bleed off the false pressure. Chris's Coffee sells a steam breaker valve, but it would have to be teed off the steam wand fitting on your machine.

{snip!}

Any idea on how to remove the dispersion screen for cleaning? it looks to me like its pressed on. Also, do you have a schematic - I plan to send a request to Vanelis and the Company if I can't find one elsewhere.

In a word, DON'T - unlike E61 machines, the lever machines do not suck great gulps of coffee gorp back up through the group head and the screen won't foul unless you grossly overpack the portafilter - just a weekly with a stiff brush should keep it like new for years. OTOH, that dainty little 45mm gasket between the portafilter and grouphead does need constant attention to make sure that coffee bits do not get ground into it. I like to keep a bar towel handy, and use it to give the group gasket a 360 degree swipe after every shot as well as brushing off the dispersion screen.

Schematic? you want a Schematic - fine ... "From the wall, power goes to da Switch. Da Switch has a Neon light. From the Switch, power goes to da Pressurestat which turns the boiler on and off. From the Pressurestat, power goes to the boiler heating element. From the boiler, power goes back to the Wall and returns to God..."

Cheers

Jim

Peacecup,
Thanks to Dan I've got some photos for you as promised:


Does this group look similar to yours?


Note rather small drip tray.


This is how I empty drip tray since it's not removable.


'Double' basket is deeper then the Elektras and hold almost as much coffee. Actually more because the Elektra's dispersion screen sticks further down inside the basket then the Riviera's.


Tamper bought from Williams-Sonoma for about $10 and modified from 47mm to 45mm. It has a flat bottom and weighs a little over 1/2 pound.

bill wrote:
1)The 'double' basket is really not; it holds almost exactly the same volume coffee as the 'single' basket on my 58mm Futurmat. The largest shot I pull on the Riviera is about 1.5 oz. and that's for a latte and usually has a lot of blonding. If I just use the lever once it pulls a little less then 1 oz. and makes a pretty darn good espresso.

Bill -

Have you got one of these monsters?



It's a 58mm 'Futurema' that I'm in the midst of restoring, and would like to swap notes, pictures, info etc....

Cheers

Jim

Peacecup,
Again Jim is right on! I've never removed the dispersion screen on my lever groups except to replace gaskets, etc. I do use one of the small angle brushes to clean the gasket every day and always wipe down the screen and gasket daily, too.