Having apparently mastered my local guy's main espresso blend, I tried his other espresso blend. I also purchased Guatemala light roast for my morning coffee.

So I decided to try that light roast this afternoon, just out of curiosity. Turned out pretty good! Not lacking crema at all, had a fruitiness about it. A very slight sour note, so next time I'll let the ViaVenezia's temperature come up a bit more before pre-infusion. That said, for a first time with a light roast I'm happy with what I got.

And I just had the non-Robustica espresso blend after dinner. I did exactly that, let the temperature of the machine come up a bit more and then began pre-infusion. I also kept the flow slightly lower than usual for the entire shot. Not perfect, but quite tasty! I'll be experimenting a bit with this, see what I get.

In any event, the ViaVenezia modified with flow control is definitely up to the task.

Do you have a PID on that? I have one for sale from Auber specifically for this machine. You could raise the temperature up for those lighter roasts.

You helped me determine that I didn't have an OPV on mine, so I sold it in an OEM stock, no mods where sold.

No PID, but I did just today install a digital thermometer. So I can temperature-surf, and know exactly the point at which to pull a shot.