I reckon that it's both - the increasing interest in levers is both due to their performance which is thought by its adherents to be superior to pump machines as well as to the tactility of a lever vs a pump. The latter point goes beyond a collectors love of tradition and the arcane particularity of trivia.

Glad to see I'm not alone in this matter . Also, thank you for the detailed response! I will try to test both orientations today and see if I can see any differences. One thing that helped since yesterday was re-installing the teflon tube. That gives more consistent steam, even though the power is a little less

I seek out dry process Brazilian offerings often and absolutely by far the best I've found to roast for my taste/texture preference is the Pedra Branca Sweet Maria's offers periodically. I find most SOs to be boring, one-dimensional, but the DP Pedra Branca is killer on its own and my only regret is only getting 5 lbs of it the

You may be out of luck. Seattle loves darker roasts, much to my disappointment as someone who likes what you're looking for. All that said, there is (only?) one place I've found that hits this spot and it's Milstead & Co in Fremont. Bonus: it's a block from the Troll a popular/usual tourist stop. Good luck

Vivace is about as far from "Light roasts, funky processes, anything speciality" as you can get. Classic, second-wave offering, worth experiencing

Here in Switzerland, the magic treshold is 1200 swiss francs: auctioned with a starting bid below that, and people jump at it immediately. starting above, nobody bids (but everybody encircles it like a vulture). Selling price is usually roughly 1000 francs, maybe more if the machine has new gaskets. i think this price for an old cremina is

No, because the lever provides the force to compress the spring and move the piston. I don't really consider this as much of a philosophical question as the OP. The point is that lever machines are a sub-class of piston-driven machines. Where you draw the exact line is a matter for more technical discussion, but if every piston-driven machine is

I am in a house, and we have 20A, three different ones for the kitchen so we should be safe

But isn't that actually the answer? Which is why I proposed the looking through the door test. Ira

With your roasting style do already have great grinders without anything signifcant to improve. One grinder you could add to the list is the Niche Duo wth the Mazzer burrs which are also more suited towards medium/darker roasts. Then you can try the difference between conical and flat. For conical grinders there's not much to upgrade for you