Looks really good, love the coffee bar layout...so neat as well

Ramp/soak PID controllers are fairly inexpensive now, and using them on inlet temperature is a lot more robust in control terms than on bean (outlet) temperature, due to the faster feedback. The ramp/soak allows you to program separate ramp up and straight line times. You can also use several segments of faster, then slower ramp up rates, if you want;

I bought a manual Reg Barber tamper 20 plus years ago. I still use it and haven't felt the need to change to any self leveling design etc. It's kind of like being able to use a waiters cork to open a bottle of wine. It doesn't take much practice to learn to use one and once you do

Your technique and results are getting a lot better. It looks like you initially pulled the pitcher back as a good pace, but after you passed the halfway point you slowed down causing the pattern to get a bit squashed and leaving a lot of empty space at the top of the cup. Next time don't slow down

Edit: The suggestion to reach out to Chris' Coffee only makes sense if you are in the US. I would reach out to Chris' Coffee if you are genuinely interested. I believe they are the presumptive importers if either were to be brought into the US. The discussions I've had with them over the years have seemed reasonably

I pull out my decades old "58" from time to time, just to confirm that it ain't the tamper but the hand that is guiding it that is likely the problem. Or it is just poorly designed and executed tampers that have misleading marketing, suggesting that they are "calibrated". Yet another reason marketers shouldn't be the ones designing espresso gear

One has to keep in mind history - the traditional espresso parameters are optimized for maximum extraction of caffeine from coffee to keep the Italian workforce energized with 7g singles. If one doesn't have a preference, then lower temperatures extract less caffeine (all other things being equal, etc.). As caffeine is bitter, a lower extraction temperature will reduce bitterness in

Welcome to H-B! What grinder are you using? I'm going to make suggestions based on something with traditional burrs. Your soak times seem exceptionally long to me. At least as I think of it, the soak is primarily to evenly wet the coffee so that the puck has better integrity. While the grind you will probably

Very interested in the dose by rotations and how accurate it can be on a weight basis. I assumed LM chose this method because it's better than timed but was shot down in another thread. Is the ion ring different than what's implemented in various Chinese grinders with ion "beams"?

Neither machine seems to have been imported into North America so there isn't much discussion. There seems to be more information on European boards like kaffee-netz.de