Double boiler espresso machines continue to garner great interest from the home barista communities as more choices become available and the prices of commercial-quality units drift closer to more home enthusiasts' budget. Technology continues to improve, offering buyers more compact machines with precise temperature control and lots of steam... oh yes, lots of steam! One model that is well known to home baristas overseas but new to the United States is the Dalla Corte Mini and now carried by WholeLatteLove. At only 14 inches tall and 10 inches wide, it can easily fit into the most compact of spaces.

Join me and co-reviewers Dan Kehn and Ian Stewart for a fresh look at one of the smallest double boiler espresso machines to hit the market.

I picked up the machine from Dan at our regular Friday morning Counter Culture Coffee get together. I took home a bag of Aficionado to give her a test run on. As usual, everything was well packed. The mini is a heavy a machine for it size. Hauling it up and down the stairs to my studio definitely worked up a taste for some good espresso.

I have a bit of work to do to really setup the machine but I did do a quick temperature measurement (over the lip thermo probe), dialed in my Macap M4 and pulled a couple of shots.

I do have a rotary in my kitchen so the vibe was a bit noisier. That said, after a couple of attempts I did get some respectable shots from her. I like the temperature pot on the front, engineers do have to twiddle.

The carbon fiber group enclosure sure makes her stand out. It will take me some time to decide whether or it appeals to me or not.



The material used in the group head is P6AV, a carbon composite for those interested.

I did spend time today cleaning the machine. It was pretty gummed up from its demo days. Easy enough to clean. The filter and dispersion disk are screwed into the group with a single bolt similar to the La Spaziale S1. I also refilled the water tank. It took a few tries for the machine to start pulling in water again. I guess there was some air in the hose. Not sure how to get around this other than clip the tube somehow when removing it from the tank or fill the tank while it's in place.

Coffee wise I am converging. I find the machine needs a bit finer grind than my current machine. About 3/4 of a turn on the M4. This may be due to a difference in brew pressure as much as anything. I haven't measured weights yet just filled to a nice round level, tamped and pulled. Lots of steam from the double boiler. No problem with an 8 oz pitcher. The steam arm is articulated but it would be nice if you could raise it up a bit higher than it currently goes.

Taste wise the temperature seems pretty stable. I have just done a quick flush to heat the group up and pulled the shot. I'll do some more detailed measurements as we get further down the road.

I don't have a bottomless for this machine so I am going mostly on taste so far. I did find the finer grind helped with some early blonding I was getting and taste has definitely improved.

Looking forward to testing what looks to be a great machine.

Cheers

Ian

I'm really looking forward to reading this review. Thanks for doing it.

Antonella at Dalla Corte was kind enough to shoot me a users manual so played around with some of the settings today.

First off was pre infusion. I think the pre infusion works by allowing hot water (slightly more pressure) through the group before the pump kicks in. Taste wise the 4 seconds seemed better to me. I also setup the volumetric dosing buttons for 1oz and 2oz. - my singles and doubles. The steam boiler pressure is running a bit high so I'll tune that down tomorrow and take some pictures when I have the shell off.

The baskets on the Dalla Corte are 54mm. Bummer because all my other stuff is 53mm. Back to NESW/Staub until I can find a 54mm tamper. The La Spaziale pf I have seems to fit but the baskets are 1mm too small. Too bad, I miss the bottomless. Anyone have a 54mm bottomless pf they want to lend me

Shots are pulling well. I'm used to slightly soggy pucks from the La Spaziale and the Dalla Corte's are no different. I think it might have something to do with the deeper puck geometry compared to the wider but shallower 58mm E61s.



The vibe pump is noisy. I have learned to love the rotary so this is a small con for me. Taste wise I don't think there is a whole lot of difference between vibes or rotaries. But it is noisier. Perhaps some more damping would help.

Will post some more pics later when I open her up.

Cheers

Ian

Thanks for getting started. Unfortunately, I won't be able to start my reviewing until after the New Year.

I still think the machine is lacking designwise. So, happening to have a totally legal copy of photoshop, I photoshopped some ideas for the dallacorte peoples.

I don't much like the wings but the lever ... yes
(quieter than the vibe pump)

Jim, no problem. I'll just putts along until you get up and running.

Cheers

Ian

I too am really looking forward to this review. This diminutive dual boiler category really seems to be gaining momentum.

However, try as I might, I just can't warm up to the carbon group enclosure. It's not that I'm infatuated with the exposed E-61 look. I can even live with some plastic on an expensive machine (though it's hard to beat shiny stainless). But carbon? To my eye, that's just taking plastic and making it gaudy. I guess it's keeping the weight down, as WLL says the machine tips the scale at 48.5 oz.

3 LBS?? Wow, I need to swap out some of my stainless for carbon fiber!

And, I'd love to get ahold of some of those 49th parallel cups.. I love how they look, but I hate paying 50 bucks for shipping!

Networkcrasher, my wife was up in Vancouver awhile ago so picked some of these up at the 49th Parallel shop - no shipping charges They do have a nice look and I like to serve my SOs in them. Weight wise I think WLL just posted it wrong. The machine weighs about 37lbs empty and about 48lbs full. Just swap out the oz for lbs and you'll be close.

Cheers

Ian

Looking forward to this review also, guys.
Many thanks for the time and effort

woodchuck wrote:Weight wise I think WLL just posted it wrong.

I hear ya Ian - that was just my horrible attempt at being sarcastic

I was looking for a DB pourover and was considering the Dalla Corte Mini but for some reason the price is about 30% higher than the Mini Vivaldi in Canada (at Creative Cookware), so I ended up going for the Vivaldi.

For some weird reason, when you check the price in the UK (at Bella Barista), the Dalla Corte Mini is actually 10% lower than the Mini Vivaldi.

What's up with the big price tag for the Dalla Corte in Canada? Is it the rise in price of Carbon Fibre??

My own problems with the Dalla Corte are purely aesthetic, and purely hypothetical. I do have a hard time with that carbon fiber "shower cap" cover . . . and I'm not crazy about the (analog) dial for temperature control in a digital age.

Silly, I know, but when you have to live with one in your kitchen for years to come --

Cheers,
Jason

Sad but true. I too find the Dalla Corte styling not to my taste.

Too bad. It seems if they simply used a better head cover and more modern knobs they would attract a lot more customers. Looks like a classic case of great engineering (ahead of its time) but bad taste in styling (Edsel syndrome). It's especially sad because it's all cosmetic and so easy to fix.

In my modest opinion, for all their rich cultural history, the Italians have rarely hit the mark with design other than clothing the last 40 years (some would say furniture as well). To my eyes espresso machine design since about 1970 has been quite stagnant. Functionalism at its worst, sort of like French architecture of the last 50 years. Dalla Cortes trying and I agree- yikes, throw a lever on there and it would be one sweet looking little machine.
-Ian

No, it won't win any styling prizes, but be aware that the pictures in the top two posts are out of date. They show the pre-2008 graphics that I called "pachinko" in my review. The current models are much more subdued.

The cowl serves a safety function. Unlike an E-61, it will not burn anyone who accidentally touches it. I collected a couple of nasty ones in my early days with the Zaffiro and always used to shut it down on cleaning day, so our cleaning woman wouldn't burn herself. Now I can leave it on without worry.

This isn't to say I would turn my nose up at a Kees redesign of the shell, but I have my doubts he could fit it into the same space.

Reliability update: no problems in five months of daily use, except for the old-design inline hose filter that was discarded.

wildbwilson wrote:In my modest opinion, for all their rich cultural history, the Italians have rarely hit the mark with design other than clothing the last 40 years (some would say furniture as well). To my eyes espresso machine design since about 1970 has been quite stagnant. Functionalism at its worst, sort of like French architecture of the last 50 years. Dalla Cortes trying and I agree- yikes, throw a lever on there and it would be one sweet looking little machine.
-Ian

Yes, their cars are just hideous.

Pulled the covers off the mini today. Easy enough done, just four bolts on each side to pull the wrap around cover off.



Nice clean layout. The steam boiler is the larger 1.5 L boiler in the front and the small 0.5 L group boiler is located behind the front panel. Pretty compact!

Some nice design touches as well - notice the catch caps for the vacuum breaker and over pressure valves.

Getting to the pressurestat is easy once the cover is off. A quick tweak of the steam boiler pressurestat and I was off to the races.

Here a closer view of the steam boiler.



I also pulled a goodly amount of coffee out of Dalla Corte today. I had picked up a batch of Finca Mauritania pulp natural roasted for espresso from Counter Culture Coffee the other day (Tim and Nathan mighty thanks!). The coffee has some very vibrant notes of orange and spice with a wonderful syrupy mouth feel. Peter G tells me that the pulp natural process tends to lower the acidity. Well, it's still bright enough but I had to lower the temperature down a bit to keep the spice from disappearing - easy enough to do with a pot on the front panel. My best shots ended up coming from 16grams of coffee and pulling at about 91°C (as measured by a Fluke over the lip). Much more coffee and the puck gets jammed up against the shower screen leading to some channeling for me. Much less and I lose some of the body. I do like the ability to quickly change temperatures. Especially since I having been pulling more SOs these days.



Also Marshall does your machine have the new graphics? Was there much change from the unit I have?

Cheers

Ian