On the La Marzocco website it clearly states that the water reserve tank for the Linea Mini is 2 liters. But I see other retail sites that list it as 3.5 liters. Did it used to be larger in its earlier production days?

It's always been the same, but it's often misreported as being bigger than it is, it's fairly small.

Turbo Ron wrote:I drink milk based drinks. A two liter reservoir is one of the main reasons I do not own this machine. My Bezzera Magica pid has a four liter reservoir, and produces powerful steam.

What does the reservoir have to do with the steam power?

linuxAndJavaScript wrote:On the La Marzocco website it clearly states that the water reserve tank for the Linea Mini is 2 liters. But I see other retail sites that list it as 3.5 liters. Did it used to be larger in its earlier production days?

The mini's steam boiler is the same one used in their commercial Linea's. You won't beat it. And the BOILER is 3.5 liters. The water reservoir is 2.

If you're looking at SCG they have it mislabeled under Features and Functionality.

I never worry about the reservoir volume, It's snap to pull out and fill. Steaming uses very little amounts of water, so no idea what Turbo Ron is referencing. You'll use more water making espresso.

I think you should just bite the bullet and get one at this point

Turbo Ron wrote:I drink milk based drinks. A two liter reservoir is one of the main reasons I do not own this machine. My Bezzera Magica pid has a four liter reservoir, and produces powerful steam.

The Bezzera Magica has a 2 Liter boiler - so it's not going to out perform a mini by any stretch if you are making milk based drinks. You're limited by the HX so your steam pressure can't get that high either. Maybe I'm missing your logic in comparing the Magica to the mini?

Turbo Ron wrote:I drink milk based drinks. A two liter reservoir is one of the main reasons I do not own this machine. My Bezzera Magica pid has a four liter reservoir, and produces powerful steam.

My wife and I drink mostly latte's and find the Linea Mini to be much more than enough. It may only have a 2 liter water reservoir but has a 3.5 liter steam boiler and a dedicated 0.17 L brew boiler. Water supply and steam has not been an issue.

Bezzera Magica PID has a 4 liter water reservoir with a 2 liter boiler. Heat exchanger machines have faster water turnover from what I gather.

FWIW, I owned a Bezzera Matrix for a few weeks before my LMLM. It has a 3L (3.5L?) reservoir and I had to refill it much more than I refill the 2L reservoir on my LMLM. Don't know exactly why, but I don't use near as much water on the LMLM, even with flushing, using hot water tap for cleaning portafilter, etc. The LMLM seems much more efficient with its water use.

Yes, the internal reservoir in the mini is annoyingly small if you rinse and backflush after brewing. And also whats not practical is that you cannot see the water level. So I modded my Mini with an external tank. I put a t-split on the line to the internal reservoir so the water level sensor remains operational. This only works when both reservoirs are at the same height, hence the support under the external tank. I've been using this for over a year now, it works well!