Cyncra vs Vesuvius vs Levers shootout: Saturday January 24, 2015 (Vancouver, WA) - Page 3

Talk about your favorite cafes, local barista events, or plan your own get-together.
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Balthazar_B
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#21: Post by Balthazar_B »

Compass Coffee wrote:Interesting fun afternoon. Four of us Gary, Jon, Laron and myself versus five espresso machines Cyncra, Vesuvius, and Gary's Conti, Cremina & (1st-Line review) Elektra. No great revelations except strange seemingly laws of physics defying results putting the Scace to the Conti and then observing same behavior other 2 levers. What behavior? I'll leave it to the lever Master Gary to post including videos he took. Suffice it to say what was observed did not translate to what would be expected in the cup!
Silly human. Espresso machines get perverse enjoyment defying the laws of physics. :P
- John

LMWDP # 577

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drgary
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#22: Post by drgary »

We had a great time playing with several coffees on different machines. The anomaly Mike refers to is we attached the Scace to the Conti Prestina and temperature shot way up to the point the coffee should be burned and stayed there awhile before declining to expected brew range. We had three levers on the counter and observed that the Conti, the Elektra MCAL and the Cremina all flash boil from the group. We agreed the coffee didn't taste burnt. The manometer readings on the Elektra and the Conti were within the expected range. All three levers use dipper tubes and have their groups bolted directly to the boiler. All machines were fully warmed up. We tested the Scace on Mike's Synesso Cyncra and his Vesuvius, and it was well calibrated. Neither pump machine flash boils out of the group. This left us scratching our heads. As I write this I'm searching for the 58mm double basket I've hole punched to insert a thermocouple so I can measure the Conti group temperature with the probe on top of the coffee cake. I'm also going to search the site, because I know Greg Scace has used his device in lever machine reviews.

I'm going to post all of this with videos in another thread where I'll quote the paragraph above. I'll link that to this thread.

Jonathan aka roadman blessed us with his chef's skills from a prior career and brought an amazing chocolate mousse. We were surprised that no one else showed up but also enjoyed a relaxed and informal gathering. So, did we do a blind shootout between the Conti and the Vesuvius? No. At the end of the day Mike volunteered that the Conti was pulling equivalent shots to the Vesuvius, and I thought so too. The flash boil question intrigued us so much that it became a much more interesting question. I'll post photos in a bit.
Gary
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What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

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doubleOsoul
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#23: Post by doubleOsoul »

I can't wait to watch the video. As Gary knows, if I could have I would have come running (and packing gear).

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erics
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#24: Post by erics »

As I write this I'm searching for the 58mm double basket I've hole punched to insert a thermocouple so I can measure the Conti group temperature with the probe on top of the coffee cake. I'm also going to search the site, because I know Greg Scace has used his device in lever machine reviews.
Let me know if you want one - see below pic.



I have observed the same high temps when testing a Rancilio lever several years back. You need an adjustable check/relief valve on the thermofilter to duplicate the levers flow.
Skål,

Eric S.
http://users.rcn.com/erics/
E-mail: erics at rcn dot com

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LDT
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#25: Post by LDT »

I would like to thank Mike for hosting, Gary for lugging all his levers and grinders, etc. and Jonathan for great tasting and much appreciated chocolate mousse. I am anxiously awaiting the responses to the video of our mysterious Scace test of the Conti lever. :shock:
Thanks to all!

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drgary
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#26: Post by drgary »

Here's a photo of the levers and grinders I brought to the party. On the opposite wall to this was Mike's wonderful Vesuvius and to the left was his three group Synesso Cyncra. I'm glad to now have a small SUV to better carry this stuff and the help of everyone to load and unload. In the background is Mike's USRC roaster, the source of the beans we tried today. Mike was generous in offering them.



I didn't get a good whole machine photo of the Vesuvius, so I grabbed this image from another thread of Mike's. This is an elegant piece of gear. It's a bit eerie to watch the e61 lever move in response to the pre-set pressure profiling of the shot.

Gary
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What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

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drgary
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#27: Post by drgary »

I've posted a new thread on our odd Scace readings here:

Apparent Overheating of Lever Machines Measured with Scace Thermofilter
Gary
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What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

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Balthazar_B
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#28: Post by Balthazar_B »

drgary wrote:Here's a photo of the levers and grinders I brought to the party. On the opposite wall to this was Mike's wonderful Vesuvius and to the left was his three group Synesso Cyncra. I'm glad to now have a small SUV to better carry this stuff and the help of everyone to load and unload. In the background is Mike's USRC roaster, the source of the beans we tried today. Mike was generous in offering them.
It looks like the set for a coffee porn film! :P
- John

LMWDP # 577

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