Bezzera Strega - new spring lever for home use - Page 11

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orphanespresso
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#101: Post by orphanespresso »

In the West, where we live, the wells are insanely deep....ours is 320 feet down and another half mile up the hill so it takes a pretty big pump. I once lived in Indiana and the well was 30 feet deep, of course people were croaking right and left from various cancers, likely not caused by all of the agricultural chemicals, of course. But agribusiness was king there, as it is here. We also have a turd pond, which is what most folks hereabouts call their cesspool...it is all duly grandfathered in so we are up on zoning. We have no hand pump though and got rid of the chickens...we did not get rid of them the coyotes got rid of them, and a very nasty weasel with a homicidal streak actually got rid of them. Actually the way it happened was that the homicidal weasel went to work in the henhouse and all the chickens took to roosting in a tree and then the coyotes decided that all they had to do was wait until the sun came up and it was chicken for breakfast. Clever critters.

That said, I think that the Strega pump idea is a brilliant marketing idea and most responsive on the part of Bezzera. One of the most simple of acts is to plumb in an espresso machine but there is so much resistance to this simple act of plumbing that of course a self contained tank fed stand alone hx plug and play lever machine is on the other side of brilliant. No pipe wrenches, no trip to the hardware store, or two or three...just fill it up and plug it in and you are good to go! Pour in the water and the thing just goes automatic! I am not being one bit snarky here so don't get me wrong...but I still think that a 3 bar preinfusion is on the high side....the whole concept goes back to the original dipper fed group from a boiler running at 1 or 1.2 bar and an hx lever just does not work right on a 3 bar line.

hperry
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#102: Post by hperry »

Poor Bezzera. Be one of the first espresso manufacturers and operate continuously for 110 years. Come up with a lot of nice contemporary designs at good prices and build quality. Offer a lever at a competetive price with a couple of new twists that are different from previous levers. And then get 10 pages of (substantial) critique of the design before one person has had their hands on it to experience whether it brews a great cup of coffee or not. Must be discouraging.
Hal Perry

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orphanespresso
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#103: Post by orphanespresso »

They are not discouraged at all...they don't read HB!!!! Good to see you Hal.....let's see, you have a plumbed in hx lever machine with NO pump...would you consider a trade for the new Strega????

hperry
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#104: Post by hperry »

I love the Termazona too much to trade it. But a new, shiny add on...............?
Hal Perry

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orphanespresso
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#105: Post by orphanespresso »

But really....you have a Speedster which makes less noise than the Red October on silent running and likely the most temperature stable lever machines known to man....I just can't grasp the sound of a vibe pump in your brew chamber. The Versalab cranks out, what, 5 decibels?

I think the argument here is that if they can come to market with an hx lever for 1800 bucks, why not just drop a few elements such as the pump and bring out a plumbed in hx lever for about 15? The hell with the pourover, but keep the heated group and give us simplicity not complexity. After all, it is this group and the vast population of lurkers that will pony up for the thing. It is what the world, or at least the world as seen by coffee nutz is waiting for.

Bright shiny objects....tops really. We should get together sooner than later Hal...but we might just have to wait until you get your new Strega up and running!!!

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Carneiro
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#106: Post by Carneiro »

Hi, Doug.

I think I've spotted an OPV right after the pump, so one could drop the max pressure to 2 bar or even less (no less than the boiler pressure, right? :mrgreen:).

Kudos to Bezzera, I think the machine will be a winner. I would buy the tank version, if the direct uses the pump too, and make myself an plumb-in installation if I could - as today I can't, no space or water line near my tiny coffee station :twisted:

But who knows! I'm almost getting a Lambro and then I'll have to find somewhere to plumb-in or use some flo-jet and a external water tank!

Márcio.

hperry
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#107: Post by hperry »

orphanespresso wrote:I think the argument here is that if they can come to market with an hx lever for 1800 bucks, why not just drop a few elements such as the pump and bring out a plumbed in hx lever for about 15? The hell with the pourover, but keep the heated group and give us simplicity not complexity. After all, it is this group and the vast population of lurkers that will pony up for the thing. It is what the world, or at least the world as seen by coffee nutz is waiting for.

Bright shiny objects....tops really. We should get together sooner than later Hal...but we might just have to wait until you get your new Strega up and running!!!
Let's not wait until the Strega! In the meantime what if the pump is there not just to allow it to be a standalone, but instead, to serve specific design purpose in the machine? We are now getting beyond my technical expertise - but, for example, possibly they have worked out a way to handle pre-infusion better than it has been handled before. Maybe a possibility?
Hal Perry

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michaelbenis
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#108: Post by michaelbenis »

Well there's no doubt that mains pressure can fluctuate, whereas the pump should deliver the same pressure all the time, and Bezzera can choose it to deliver the water as they best think is required....
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galumay
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#109: Post by galumay »

Fluctuating mains pressure is not an issue, you always need a pressure reducer for plumbed in machines anyway so the actual supply pressure is set and doesnt fluctuate. I very much doubt that had anything to do with Bezzera deciding to use a vibrating pump for pre-infusion.
LMWDP #322 i started with nothing.........i still have most of it.

Beezer
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#110: Post by Beezer »

I actually don't have a problem with their using a pump for preinfusion on the tank model, since that's probably the only way to accomplish preinfusion with a tank, and it would allow me to set up the machine without plumbing it in. In my kitchen plumbing in is likely to be real hassle, since it's an older house with some odd plumbing issues.

Kudos to Bezzerra for taking the time and money to make a small commercial lever machine for the tiny group of people who would actually pay nearly $2,000 for a commercial lever machine in their homes. I've been wondering for years why no one made a prosumer class lever with a real commercial group instead of the dinky groups on most consumer lever machines, and now Bezzerra actually went out and did it. Very cool of them, if you ask me.

Now, if only some retailer in the U.S. would agree to carry it, I would be very tempted to get one. I even have the right configuration of counters and cabinets to fit a tall lever machine in my kitchen.

One question though: since this is an HX design, would it need one or more cooling flushes to bring the temp down to brew levels? I recall that the Gaggia Achille, which was also an HX design, needed to be flushed. But that was a much smaller machine with a relatively small group. The massive commercial group on the Strega should act as a heat sink to mitigate the brew temp to some extent, right?
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