OK, I chickened out and just ordered the Ethiopia from HappyMug - I'm pretty sure it will just be another OK-meh roast, but it won't hurt so bad due to the price. I did also add their new limited supply Columbia passionfruit co-fermentation bean (4oz only bags), so will let everyone know what happens with this one. I'll let

What distinguishes a lever to me from other means of extraction is using a piston in a cylinder to compress a volume of water to espresso extraction pressure. Traditionally the piston is physically controlled by a leverage arm which identifies the machine as a lever but it's not the lever but the piston that defines a lever. It's

exp.... The grooming bar only protrudes from the flat base 1-2mm. It is enough to even the top of the coffee and tends to fill any small surface voids left after WDT. The bar floats and there is no impression left after the tamp is complete as the bar retracts and is flush with the surface during the tamp

I agree with you. As a next phase of improvement in my recently built double boiler lever, I'm going to experiment with and eventually move to a heat exchanger / cold water mixing approach. I'm currently not using the heat exchanger that's built into the steam boiler but will be able to experiment while keeping the lever working in its

Have you experimented with lower pressure shots? For example can you do a long pre-infusion followed by max 6-7 bar shot? Hope you are enjoying your new machine!

Did you try it while in Mexico to know it was good to begin with?

You could get a cheap chest/deep freezer. I've found significant degradation in less than a year if not frozen even in HVAC controlled environment in a plastic bag

What will you define the meticulous as? it fundamentally works as an open boiler lever, yes could theoretically use other technologies and achieve same end goal, but it doesn't so what dos it make it. It's clearly not a pump machine and the user have no direct control over the process as it's automated. I think the progress

Possibly a less expensive version of the R91, with smaller boilers so warm up is quicker?

Thank you. I'm going to re-examine puck prep, grinding & freshness until it gets there. It may very well be one of those sometime things (certain beans/freshness) because I was hitting 8-9 Bars. Recently, I replaced the pressurestat with the new type to resolve an issue but that shouldn't be the cause