Which espresso tastes better? From an old Faema with a Zodiaco group (President, Lambro) or from a new Fiorenzato Piazza San Marco?
Henk from ESW and Doug from Orphan both convinced me of the unique results the Zodiaco can give, so I'm trying to find a nice President or Lambro, but that's not simple. An alternative could be a Fiorenzato. But can this machine compete with the Faema's?

Thanks,

Cheers Niels

Basically i think there can be two main differences: temperature and pressure...not sure how the Fiorenzato handles this compared with the Faema. And the Faema lever group was produced with different spring lengths as well (had some troubles with that) so hard to compare....

Probably they all deliver great coffee! U will most likely just taste the difference in a direct comparison. I would suggest that u also take other parameters into account: boiler size (The Lambro has a nice 3,5liter boiler thats perfect for home use...my President boiler has 8 liter), optics, spare parts availability, u prefer something new/used (restore for yourself) and so on....

NelisB wrote:Which espresso tastes better? From an old Faema with a Zodiaco group (President, Lambro) or from a new Fiorenzato Piazza San Marco?
Henk from ESW and Doug from Orphan both convinced me of the unique results the Zodiaco can give, so I'm trying to find a nice President or Lambro, but that's not simple. An alternative could be a Fiorenzato. But can this machine compete with the Faema's?

Thanks,

Cheers Niels

I've had occasion to play with a Lambro for a couple of days and was very impressed. Temperature can be brought up to a level appropriate to todays coffees and it pulled very good shots. Having used a machine from the "golden age" of levers for some period of time, I'm convinced that they were very much in touch with the technology at that point and I personally would prefer to buy something in good condition from that period of time.

Thanks guys,

@Stefan: I prefer the looks of an old Faema, especially the President! I think the Fiorenzato is a little bombastic. The 3,5 liter boiler is another good point. The Fiorenzato has 4,75. On the internet I found lots of parts for the Zodiaco- group, I thought about that.

@Hal: You have a nice set of machines! Also a Dutch Speedster . How would you compare the results from the Lambro with the espresso's from your machines?

The Lambro / Zodiac is the sleeper of the vintage lever world. A brilliant machine and you can bag one for good money. The thermosyphon group is brilliant and yes parts are plenty.

However as I think I explained by email restored ones are high in price because of the crappy boilers faema used. Ever wonder why you see so many vintage Faemas that have been "restored" and they just paint the entire boiler and end plates silver? It's because they couldn't tackle the nightmare of the corroded aluminium/brass/copper mess and rusty studs. It is a nightmare and takes ages.

So unrestored ones are a bargain, properly restored ones are much higher.

No idea on the Fiorenzato.

yeah..the lambro is great, and perfect for home use (small boiler), but very rare to find unfortunately (if anyone has an unrestored at home and is willing to sell it send me an email!)

for the group: gaskets are everywhere available, just take care of the spring lenght (different alloy tops of the groups), in the worst cas (like with my president) u can have a custom made spring for it...so it should be no problem!

@paul: not sure if i would call the faema boilers crappy.....mine is in really good condition after over 50 years...not exactly what i would expect from crap.....

NelisB wrote:@Hal: You have a nice set of machines! Also a Dutch Speedster . How would you compare the results from the Lambro with the espresso's from your machines?

As both machines are now constituted the Lambro is better because it easily reaches the temperatures that today's coffees require. The Termazona (Aurora, Brugnetti) is brewing a little cold and thus slightly sour at this point (I should have the fixed shortly). I am not good at all at the "coffee descriptive" language, but the Lambro easily equals the best shots I have had from lever machines.

13thfloorelevators wrote:yeah..the lambro is great, and perfect for home use (small boiler), but very rare to find unfortunately (if anyone has an unrestored at home and is willing to sell it send me an email!)

I note that Orphan Espresso has what appears to be a really nice, fully restored one. Not cheap, but would be a "lifetime" machine I suspect.

Thanks guys! You're very helpfull!

Paul_Pratt wrote:Restored ones are high in price because of the crappy boilers faema used.

I also saw stainless boilers, like this one:



That should be better, right?

@Hal: How would you compare the Lambro with the Speedster, in the cup?

Cheers, Niels

hperry wrote:I note that Orphan Espresso has what appears to be a really nice, fully restored one. Not cheap, but would be a "lifetime" machine I suspect.

yeah...its not difficult to buy one at THAT price ... im searching for one in good condition which is worth to do some restoration for a GOOD price (not a bargain, but unrestored and affordable)....