I've been doing this espresso hobby for ten years now, and the fairy tale we always told each other was that while the Italians may have invented espresso, they haven't had a clue about it for the last twenty five years. But the better I get, and the more I know about the nuts and bolts of machine and grinder designs, the more I realize the Italian manufacturers know a whole lot about espresso, but they have no clue about how to talk to hobbyists.

The extra spring is only on the Strega, and not on the 2006AL or not on any other CMA based lever machine. We got a cryptic email from the Bezzera factory that the design is based on creating the "high nine bar preinfusion of a pump machine, since this creates a better taste." My guess is that this cryptic phrase refers to the E61 style machines that ramp up to 9 bar, rather than most pump machines, that will preinfuse at line pressure, same as most lever machines. I'm speculating that this machine went through some fine tuning, and they decided to create a very high pressure design.

According to my rough measurement, the lever runs from 10 to 6 bar, rather than the usual 8 to 5. In any case, there's always enough pressure to maintain flow, but also enough of a drop off to prevent the gush. This machine makes good shots with no special temperature and pressure management, and great shots with a short flushes, and keeping a hand on the lever to keep the flow steady. So all in all, I think whatever hot rod mods they did on the regular lever are a big success.

Jim this is all great stuff, I am a Strega owner and have found the detail in your review very helpful. I just purchased a set of steam wand tips, and they did not come with the "O" rings, do know off hand what size they should be?

Part 20, page 14, PDF Bezzera Strega Manual (6th mention that it's downloadable from their website -- may whatever ahole invented the url-less flash crap with which Italian companies destroy their websites spend an eternity in hell writing instructions on how to get to individual pages)

Here is the link to the pdf:

http://www.bezzera.it/pdf/50-en-STREGA_ ... _rev00.pdf

Thanks; I guess I need to upgrade my computer literacy.

I've been doing this espresso hobby for ten years now, and the fairy tale we always told each other was that while the Italians may have invented espresso, they haven't had a clue about it for the last twenty five years. But the better I get, and the more I know about the nuts and bolts of machine and grinder designs, the more I realize the Italian manufacturers know a whole lot about espresso, but they have no clue about how to talk to hobbyists.

Perhaps you were underestimating the Italians?

I just spent a few days in Calabria and in some respects it resembles the Middle East - albeit with much better coffee (they love huge La Cimbali lever machines over there).

But the North (more specifically Lombardia) is another story. Much of the economy there is based on a network of modern, flexible and competitive small enterprises (often family-owned and sometimes more than a century old), not unlike that famous German Mittelstand. They know what they are doing and they live in 2011, not in 1991.

I also disagree that "they have no clue about how to talk to hobbyists". I can't generalise, but my contacts as a humble hobbyist with one Italian espresso maker were as good as it gets.

As to Bezzera, I wouldn't surprised if mr. Luca Bezzera knows very well what's written about his machines on the www and knows very well what's happening on home-barista.com.

I just purchased a set of steam wand tips, and they did not come with the "O" rings . . .

Item 20, P/N 7496083, OR GASKET D4,5X1,5 NBR70

The thread size on steam wand tips is simply a "whole new world". The Bezzera tips (on the Strega and BZ07 and maybe others) have a male M8.50 x 0.75 mm thread, same as the Alex Duetto and possibly some other machines. In the event you cannot obtain several o-rings from the same dealer who sold you the Strega, McMaster-Carr P/N's 9262K627 (Buna-N) or 9263K565 (Viton) would be my choices.

I switch on a regular base from 4 to 2 hole tip.
I just put some white teflon tape on the threads.Works as good as a o ring.

erics wrote:The Bezzera tips ... have a male M8.50 x 0.75 mm thread, same as the Alex Duetto and possibly some other machines.

Just fyi: the steam tip threads of the Rocket Giotto - Cellini line steam tips have a diameter of about 8.5mm (8.4+mm, my plastic Swiss caliper is pretty decent but not super precision), so may well use the same o-rings. The McMaster-Carr P/Ns may be possibly useful data to file away for potential future use for any machine's steam tips which have this thread size.

I am continually amazed at the useful information that pops out of many of these threads. It sure pays to read everything here. Many thanks for this info and the references.

While this thread is on steam tips, Jim or other users of the Strega, could you comment on the steam valve? I don't like the valve that I work with on my commercial lever because the small amount milk I steam for small milk drinks can heat up too much or bubble while I am turning the valve off. The few times I've used a toggle type steam valve on a commercial lever, it seems to work better.