I have a QM Carola (E61 machine without steamer) as I like espresso. My wife likes a cappuccino, and truth be told, sometimes I do. I have a Bellman stovetop steamer which works fine but it's a PITA. So I was looking at DBs and then I saw that QM makes a companion steamer for the Carola -- available at least in Italy. Has anyone seen this in the USA?

The Quickmill Mod. 0961 steamer looks like a nice device, but its insanely expensive for what it is (about €650 in Europe). I think a much better buy would be a La Pavoni lever machine such as the Europiccola. You'll be able to steam with it while you brew with your Carola, it'll only be an inch wider than the 0961 steamer, it's cheaper, and last but not least - you can actually use it to brew a different kind of espresso, good to both make things interesting and as a kind of second grouphead if you're hosting and need higher throughput. I have a similar combo (Quickmill Alexia EVO and Elektra MCaL lever machine) and I love it.

You may be right -- I just got a quote of $850 (US) for the steamer! Makes me like my Bellman steamer (currently selling at $89) even more. What to do?

jgood wrote:What to do?

Get a lever machine and don't look back

boren wrote: last but not least - you can actually use it to brew a different kind of espresso, good to both make things interesting and as a kind of second grouphead if you're hosting and need higher throughput

As good as that sounds in theory do you really think the grind setting would be the same for an e61 machine as a lever? Just throwing it out there..

I don't think, I know. I have both and E61 machine and a lever, and I can easily get very good extraction by just dialing in the grind for one machine and then modifying the dosage for the other. Currently I'm using 10.5 gram with the QuickMill Alexia EVO, and 7 gram with the Elektra Microcasa Leva. Both with the same grinder (Sette 270Wi) and the same grind setting.

So that means No, it is not remotely the same, you are cheating it by changing dose.

Nice little trick though.

I'm free to use whatever dose produces the espresso I want. There's no cheating here. Just like the fact that 99.9% of users of E61 machines use way higher dosage than the official standard of 7 gram. They're not cheating either. They're just doing what they need to get good espresso, even if the Espresso Brewing Ethics Committee doesn't approve

Thanks for the suggestions! I think for now I'll stick with the Bellman steamer. In future I'll get a QM double boiler machine and keep the Carola for the vacation house or keep it alongside as a 2nd group!