I'm fascinated by this marvelous little machine, but I've never owned a lever. Is this a machine for me to learn on, or would I be better off starting elsewhere?

I really don't particularly want to restore a vintage machine. I drink only espresso, and I'm the only coffee drinker routinely, and it would be coming alongside a BDB, which I've had for nearly four years. Steaming occasionally still possible with that. I had been thinking about the LMLM (I KNOW, completely different animals), but the fact that so much of that machine is wasted on me with its great steaming and my lack of need for same, the CT-1 seems like it could be the perfect "addition".

If you are an espresso only person then the answer is probably yes. If you can't afford it just yet: you won't go too wrong by getting yourself a caravel.

spressomon wrote:Erik,

Just dovetailing on the comments posted by others: Very nice write up; thank you for making the effort and taking the time to do so! iWant.

Dan

Yes, Erik, very nicely done! I've had several opportunities to trade emails with Wouter. He is a gentleman of the first order, and a his devotion to his craft is evident in his evolutionary design, while honoring the past. Glad you're enjoying your lovely new machine.
Lots of envy here!

mfortin wrote:One thing I would appreciate from a lever machine would be a pressure gauge to monitor the applied force to the lever.

Well, as a long time Olympia cremina owner, I would say that the "Zen" with your lever, as described by our own drgary is real. Once the feel is learned, you can control your shot in ways a gauge would only be disruptive. YMMV.

I never find myself wanting a gauge on my Caravel either other than for curiosity's sake. I watch the flow and adjust my force based on that, rather than pressure applied. I can say that it rarely makes a bad shot, and usually excellent ones. I think an Acaia scale to learn to make a smooth profile and graph the result with may be a more useful training wheel than a pressure gauge.

I'm expecting great things from my CT-1 when it arrives.

Congrats!

There seems to be fairly universal consensus on this list that the Aeropress doesn't make espresso. But for the life of me, I can't see any real difference between it and what the CT1 or the Caravel do. They all seem to be pretty much in the same scheme of making coffee. Can someone enlighten me on this score?

I've had shots from both the Caravel and the Aeropress, and I don't recall any appreciable difference, but it's been awhile since I compared the two, so maybe my memory fails...yet again...

The difference is pressure. You just can't develop the necessary pressure to do rip the crema from the beans for espresso with the Aeropress. But, while the Caravel is capable of making espresso you can pull coffee shots with it too that taste like an Aeropress. I've had that happen with my La Peppina when the grind and pull were off.

Thanks for all the positive posts about my review. Always good to help others here on HB where a lot of members have helped me and still help me.

@SAB: The Strietman is a very easy lever to start with. I've owned/worked with a lot of levers, both manual and spring. Of the manual levers the new Cremina and Strietman are very easy to pull great shots with although I like the Strietman even better tastewise. Once you get the hang of it it's pretty easy and you can adjust on the fly.

erik82 wrote:
@SAB: The Strietman is a very easy lever to start with. I've owned/worked with a lot of levers, both manual and spring. Of the manual levers the new Cremina and Strietman are very easy to pull great shots with although I like the Strietman even better tastewise. Once you get the hang of it it's pretty easy and you can adjust on the fly.

Thanks for the feedback, Eric. The Cremina doesn't seem to have the same draw to me...it has a steam boiler and is more expensive to boot. Certainly looks like a well-built and designed machine. But the beauty and simplicity of the CT-1 is striking.

How does the temp control work? I'm assuming you need a separate thermometer to see how the dial calibrates?