Documenting my first impression of the Rocket Cellini PP V1 (and buying experience) -

In the course of my research I happened to speak with Chris at Clive Coffee (Portland, OR) and found him to be very patient and eager to help. Appreciative of Chris's responsiveness I bought my Cellini & Vario from Clive Coffee. Ordered it on 06/28 and the machine itself was drop shipped by ChrisCoffee (who are the wholesalers for Rocket) located in NY by UPS Ground service and arrived today.

First impressions:
It was well packaged - double boxed, corners were padded with molded Styrofoam and the actual machine itself was in its original package. Except for a small scratch on the E61 group head and the bottom of the drip tray the machine as a whole, looked & felt a nice solid new .


The machine comes with included single and double PFs, a cheaply made plastic tamper (shame for something that originally retailed at $1799), a group head brush and a blank basket for back-flushing.


Unpacked, it looks and feels awesome !


The machine heated up to 1 bar boiler pressure (may have to tweak this) within 10 mins of switching on and the E61 group head was hot within 15 mins. Surprisingly the side panels of the machine became almost too hot to touch (need to explore adding insulation to the boiler). I pulled my first shot using Illy medium roasted coffee (until I receive my beans & Vario next week )


Wish I could include a pic of micro-foamed milk but guess it will be another week or more before I get the hang of it.

Congrats on your purchase of a Rocket! You're going to love it. I have a Vario as well and it works wonderfully with my Giotto. I had thought about playing with my boiler pressure as well but decided to hold off and I've been very happy with the factory setup.

jgirl125 - Thanks for your wishes. My shots have become successively better and so has my ability to create foam (still no silky micro-foam).

Through several trials I've found that 2% milk (commonly used at SBUX) seems to foam more easily than whole milk. Currently, I'm experimenting with the depth to which I insert the foaming wand and the number of turns I need to open the steamer to create foam. Lower steam power seems to work for me.

My first attempt at Latte Art (after many many... many trials).

one good thing with all of the trials, is you get to drink all of the mistakes..........

Eric was over today and did some pressure & temp tests. Sharing the readings as noted by Eric -

Model: Rocket Cellini V1
Boiler pressure (Fully warmed up machine) : 0.81 Bar to 1.03 Bar
GH Temp: 204.5 degrees F as read (204.1 degrees F as corrected)

Brew pressure with thermofilter: 128 PSI

Rocket Cellini now fitted with Eric's GH thermometer.

Congrats on your recent purchase! I recently purchased the Cellini PP v2 and am enjoying it as well. I decided to upgrade my grinder after purchasing the machine because it became clear that Rocky was not up to the job. I just got a Compak k10 fresh and it is awesome!

I have thought about getting Erik's thermometer but after investigating on the net and talking with folks at SCG, they convinced me that it wasn't as necessary for the v2 as the temperature variance was not as bad as a lot of other E61s and that the actual flavor difference in my cup wouldn't really be noticeable by me. I am definitely interested to know how you find yours and what your cool flush procedure is after playing with the thermometer.

Thanks and congrats to you too! Compak K10 appears to be an awesome companion for Cellini - I'm eager to see one in action.

I'm a newbie at espresso and have pulled less than 100 shots since I've had my Cellini. Also, I've yet to acquire the expertise to identify nuances in espresso taste.... let this temper the tone of my further comments.

The folks at SCG are right. As I've noted earlier at a boiler pressure setting of about 1.03 bar, fully warmed up, the Cellini is quite stable and displays a tight band of GH temperature varying between 210 to 212.5 degrees F. That said, even after a timed but temperature blind flush you could end up brewing at 206/208/ 210/212 F? Even as a novice I've noticed significant difference in the tastes of shots brewed at higher temperatures vs those brewed at "ideal" temperatures of around 198 -200 F. So I definitely would want to place my shot in ideal temperature band.

Before Eric's thermometer I would flush about 1 oz before starting to pull a shot. With this routine I used to end up with a brew temperature of about 207 to 209 F and my wife would consistently complain about bitter coffee and I would end up defending the machine, the coffee beans, myself the whole coffee world...

After installation and monitoring of GH temperature vs actual brew temperature - my flush routine, guided by the GH thermometer has increased to about 2.4 oz when machine has fully warmed up which in my case takes about 18-20 mins from startup. This allows me to place my shots in the ideal temperature band of 198-200 F which has been resulting in some of the "sweetest" espresso shots I've pulled.

My NO-BURN steam wand is becoming burning hot within 5-10 secs . Any ideas on why this could be happening?

Amit -- please check your PM inbox.