What is happening to the price of levers on eBay?

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walt_in_hawaii
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Joined: 9 years ago

#1: Post by walt_in_hawaii »

Hello, all. newbie here.
Just when I decide to get back into coffee and clean out the old Pavoni 2 group monster in my kitchen, prospective acquisitions of levers (always wanted to try one) are going absolutely nuts on the bay. I figured a nice, perfectly functional used unit perhaps a decade or two old would be a couple hundred bucks? But lately that figure seems to have doubled. What is going on? Is that the general consensus here too?

I gave up trying to snipe a good deal in the USA and just purchased a used Pro from overseas, wired for 220v. I figured, even with buying a new 110v heating element or the 220v-110v converter, it was still a pretty good deal at $300 plus $65 shipping from Italy for a Professional. I just ordered a 3 kW converter from amazon for about $89.

Nice site you guys have here, I've never contemplated roasting my own beans but have decided (after reading some posts here) to give it a go along with the new (to me) machine once it arrives here. I will have to find a suitable roaster or make one. Now I've got to clean out the decade of crud in my old commercial Pavoni grinder... which I left beans in when I lost interest in the coffee a decade ago :( once the kids and the responsibilities of parenthood came.

I love putting the cart before the horse and am the proud owner of a couple of very large baskets which I think will hold something on the order of 21g of coffee and had plans to try one of them eventually. I might also take one of the 2 group's 58mm portafilters and machine it to fit into the Professional. Aside from the obvious mismatch in diameter between portafilter and piston, has anyone tried this yet and does it yield any sort of taste benefit? I have access to a modest machine shop/man cave so producing pistons of increased diameter and sleeves to run them in is not out of the question, although my lathe cannot cut metric threads, only imperial. In the long standing tradition of jumping out of the plane and then checking to see if you have a parachute, I've also purchased a couple of those nifty looking heat sink collars simply because they are so damn beautiful. They have already arrived and are very anxious to find a hot group to cool off. Who cares that I have no machine and have no idea if the group temp is stable? But I do have a couple gorgeous heat sinks baby. I have yet to locate a suitable thermometer to use, but I do have a Fluke IR unit that will do in the meantime I think.

aloha,
Walt

PS: anyone in Hawaii know a great place to get green beans here? that you can go into and smell or buy tiny quantities first? I went to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf but everything they had appeared to be a few months old (from roast)...

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sorrentinacoffee
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Joined: 16 years ago

#2: Post by sorrentinacoffee »

I have seen some pretty high prices for levers. Though a Pavoni from Italy is still a bargain. We are lucky in Oz: 240 Volts! I have also noticed that these days taiwan has become a hub for Lever lovers. Many lever aficionados on that Island... and China follows Taiwan... so lever demand could go up more.

Roast you own Beans! Do it. Only way to have consistently excellent beans on hand. I roast my own every few weeks. Have around 12 KG's of green beans- never any worry about running low. My home roasts seem to compete favorably with commercial roasts. For a US roaster I can recommend the Behmor- it can be a little tricky to master and use (especially like how I like to roast: removing the beans for rapid external cooling) but roasts very well when mastered- and up to 400 grams if needed.

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drgary
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#3: Post by drgary »

Aloha, Walt, and welcome to H-B.

A La Pavoni Pro's a great choice. However I believe by the time you machine a 58 mm portafilter to fit a group for a home lever you're going to be turning the air at the end of the handle. If your purchase is missing a portafilter you can easily buy them separately.

Also aiming for huge basket size is often a beginner's mistake. You can fine tune excellent shots within the design specs of the group. Try about 14 gm of coffee in a double basket for starters and try and maximize flavor balance, not quantity.
Gary
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What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

walt_in_hawaii (original poster)
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#4: Post by walt_in_hawaii (original poster) »

Thanks Gary! I have read some of your excellent posts with great interest. Almost pulled the trigger on a Microcasa because of a comparison you did, I believe, but figured I wanted to cover the basics first and learn the Pavoni lever's quirks first before diving into another $800 commitment. One thing at a time :)
I have started to collect the other implements; the oversized baskets and heat sinks only because in reading posts from here and other places there is so much info flying past my tiny brain that the only thing I can bet on for sure is that I'll remember I read something somewhere that was significant... but eventually I know if I got a pavoni lever, I'd want to experiment with the heat sink and bottomless portafilter with oversized basket. And thermometry. But yes, your suggestion is well taken and I intend to start out with the 14g double as a place to start and see if I can't strike a good balance there first. A friend has just (literally 2 days ago) ordered the Behmor, I'll go over and watch his in action and decide if that's for me.

Again, wonderful site guys, keep up the good work.

aloha,
walt

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drgary
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#5: Post by drgary »

Walt,

Since you're handy you might cobble together a heat gun/bread machine, which might give you better control than a Behmor and be a fun project. Then maybe consider a Huky or Quest if you decide you're all in.
Gary
LMWDP#308

What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

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RioCruz
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#6: Post by RioCruz »

walt_in_hawaii wrote:A friend has just (literally 2 days ago) ordered the Behmor, I'll go over and watch his in action and decide if that's for me.
Sweet Maria's did a comparison roast a few years ago between the Behmor and a popcorn popper. The popcorn popper did a better job than the Behmor. Could save yourself a ton of money and still get good results.

I have been using the Freshroast for about 15 years (had an iRoast before that)...which is just a glorified popcorn popper and have never seen any reason to change. The roast batches are small, which helps keep the coffee fresh, so I roast every 3 or 4 days. I'm not a heavy coffee drinker...so that helps. :)
"Nobody loves your coffee more than you do."
~James Freeman, Blue Bottle

donn
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Joined: 16 years ago

#7: Post by donn »

If the Freshroast will last 15 years, that's a great deal. I managed OK with popcorn poppers, but time to failure was much shorter, and I think it's getting much harder to find the usable old models around here. At this point I'd rather roast larger batch sizes in a propane grill, but even so there are times when I could use one for a backup or when I want a smaller batch.

It sounds like we need to think of something for Walt to make for his La Pavoni. Does anyone still connect a bicycle pump to the boiler, am I remembering that right? It seems to me it must have had something to do with running the boiler at a lower temperature, closer to brew temperature, and using the pump to compensate for the consequently lower boiler pressure ... maybe. So that would take some modification to the cap, and I guess a one way valve of some sort.

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RioCruz
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#8: Post by RioCruz »

donn wrote:...I think it's getting much harder to find the usable old models around here.
Check out your local thrift shops. I got one that I use from time to time for $5. It's a Poppery II, which are supposed to work the best. If that fails, Sweet Maria's has new ones for $20.
See: https://www.sweetmarias.com/product/nos ... orn-popper
"Nobody loves your coffee more than you do."
~James Freeman, Blue Bottle

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yakster
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#9: Post by yakster »

donn wrote:If the Freshroast will last 15 years, that's a great deal. I managed OK with popcorn poppers, but time to failure was much shorter, and I think it's getting much harder to find the usable old models around here.
I never had a popper failure but I took a tip from my days of using a heat gun all the time at work and stuck my shop vac wand down the throat of the popper through a plastic lid and drew out the heat after using them and cooling the beans. Most heat guns have cool settings that you use for a minute or two after using them to draw out the excess heat and prevent premature failures.

I upgraded to my Behmor out of frustration with the batch size, I wouldn't say that the popper always beat the Behmor, they're different and Behmor roasts have won competitions on here and other places.

Getting this back on topic, the price of levers on eBay, I think it's normal to see the prices swing up as the year wears on and starts to approach the holidays. There's probably a best time to buy levers.
-Chris

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Marcelnl
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#10: Post by Marcelnl »

Not sure how transportation cost will affect a far away buy adn I don't know if sellers will be happy to ship abroad but I recall a chap from spain reporting some absolute steals lately as the economy in Spain tanked too in the crisis.
LMWDP #483

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