I'm thinking of trading out my e61 machine and getting a lever. I'm most interested in the Nurri with the Vostok a close second. Other than the Flair 58, it appears that the group heads are all 54mm. I'm curious as to why?

Do you fully dry the basket between shots?
I am just wondering if a wet basket could affect puck preparation

I am coming from the perspective of a Robot owner, but I guess this is a generic question

Thanks

This evening Paul Pratt announced on Kickstarter that 50 Robots have shipped and that 15 more are being shipped every day. It's time to open a User Experience thread so we can learn from each other. This is also the thread for initial comments on the Cafelat Robot Review that we...

A few contacted IMS to make competition baskets for the Cremina but nothing came of it at the time however some adopted other baskets made by IMS.
Competition baskets for Olympia Cremina
Finally a 49mm distribution tool (Cremina, La Pavoni) is available again.

In one of...

All -

A newbie here - just registered. Have two questions for the esteemed experts here.

For those with any experience with the VA Athena Leva, how would you characterize espressos pulled on that machine?

Follow up question - what are the best espresso beans on the market...

I bought my first lever machine, a La Pavoni Ambassador, about 20 years ago. Since then I've bought and restored many espresso machines, mostly all levers. In November, 2021, I made a decision to sell my Conti Prestina and get another machine. At that time my thinking was I...

The factory-supplied gauge bracket faces my gut when pulling a shot, so it is relatively useless.

I am aware of gauge brackets by these individuals/companies that all aim to mount the gauge near the top of the machine:

The bracket I am offering:

The bracket:

The...

Hello,

I finally got my Vesuvius recently. Absolutely love it. The first shot I pull was great. Now it is just a matter of tuning in. Questions:

Tamper: the goal is to get a tamper that fits in the basket perfectly:
The included tamper seems to have a reasonable, but not...

Hi,

Our Strega is my everlasting hobby project and I made some mods recently.
Added:
- 2 PID's (boiler & group)
- A manometer on the group head
- A flushing switch (without activating the lever)
- A pressure release switch.

So far it's working ok, time will tell how useful...

Hello,

I always wanted to get a WAFO basket for my LSM group head after watching Brian Quan's YouTube Video:

So I reached out to WAFO and was told they only make 58.5mm basket. When asked about customizing a 54mm basket, the answer was:

Not sure what that suppose to mean, but...