Is there a lever guide?

#1: Post by **mgrayson** » July 24th, 2022, 1:15 pm

Greetings lever fans,

I'm a long time electric pump espresso user (I joined here in 2007) and I have a very good idea about what features are important to me, why different machines have different price points, and what the tradeoffs are of different designs. But I have long wanted a lever - I like what I've had from big spring groups, but know nothing.

It's easy to find information about individual machines. Any review or dealer will tell you a lot. What's a lot harder to find is "Here are the different kinds of groups (e.g., LSM) and here are the machines that use them. These have rotary pumps. These have vibe (or gear) pumps. These are plumb-in only. This is what separates home (examples) from prosumer (other examples) from commercial (probably more than you want if you're asking this question). This is what you pay for in this type over that type." And which features matter (ok, that's personal opinion). This pump is louder, but only runs for a few seconds...

Is there a resource for this? I'm not asking for advice. I'm looking for education. The answer may be "read the entire HB site"...

Thank you,

Matt

#2: Post by **Jeff** » July 24th, 2022, 1:20 pm

For classic European domestic machines (typically compact levers), http://www.francescoceccarelli.eu/ is a treasure trove of information.

July 24th, 2022, 1:24 pm

Wow. That will keep me busy. And I already have a new term to understand - "compact lever"!

#4: Post by **Jeff** » July 24th, 2022, 1:35 pm

I don't know that "compact lever" is a common term. I use it to describe a machine that is small enough and light enough that you can easily take it out and put it away.

July 24th, 2022, 1:47 pm

Ah. Got it. Thanks!

#6: Post by **baldheadracing** » July 24th, 2022, 3:24 pm

There are a few lever wikis around.

There's a German lever wiki that is/was pretty good, but I can't find it at the moment, sorry.

As an aside, "compact lever" has also been used to refer to machine height. In that context, a "compact lever" had a chassis that fits under domestic kitchen cabinets, whereas a typical commercial lever would have been taller. Currently-available examples include Salvatore, where the low-profile chassis is called a "compact lever." Izzo/MyWay does something similar with the Alex Leva vs. the Pompeii, as does Londinium with the Compressa/R24 vs. the I/II/III. (Offhand, I can't think of any other manufacturer making two different height versions of lever machines now, although it was more common in the past.)

#7: Post by **Sansibar99** » July 24th, 2022, 8:44 pm

baldheadracing wrote: There's a German lever wiki that is/was pretty good, but I can't find it at the moment, sorry.

My pleasure:
https://www.kaffeewiki.de/wiki/Handhebelmachinen

#8: Post by **yakster** » July 25th, 2022, 1:32 am

Here's some sources closer to home, some of them more dated than others, threads in the Lever forum. Mostly compact home machines, IIRC.

List of manual (direct) lever espresso machines

Newbie question: different types of spring levers?

Incomplete list of Gravity-fed lever machines

#9: Post by **DonFelipe** » July 25th, 2022, 2:48 am

If I understood the request you are aiming for technical data of differences between machines.
Actually I learned a lot from the specific type/model threads and comparing or those were people ask for advises

#10: Post by **espressotime** » July 25th, 2022, 4:45 am

Levers can be a little quirky sometimes.Be prepared for this.Relax and don't act on impuls like I did.
My Pompei ended up in my fishpond .