James Hoffmann Review: The Olympia Cremina - Page 7

#61: Post by **drH** » June 8th, 2020, 12:21 pm

Ah I see. It's essentially a cremina with a spring lever group attached.
What is interesting here is that it should be possible to convert an older cremina to spring lever just by swapping in the new group.
This will be the direct competition to the Londinium Compact.

Honestly I'd love to see a larger size machine along the lines of the original club that also had a hot water wand.

#62: Post by **acg** » June 8th, 2020, 12:21 pm

Google translate copied below.

A spring lever Cremina!

Perfection and innovation The Cremina SL is the perfect hand lever espresso machine with a strong plus. - Classic Swiss design - Only the highest quality materials - Extraction with spring force The Cremina SL combines the tranquility of a hand lever machine with the simplicity of a semi-automatic machine. If you have a soft spot for purely mechanical extraction, but don't want to leave constant quality to chance, choose the Cremina SL. The correctly brewed group, newly constructed according to the traditional model, paired with the solid base of the Cremina, give it a unique appearance and the strong plus: a brew group with compression spring was used on such a compact machine. With each extraction, you can experience again how the lever moves upwards and slowly as if by magic and a perfect espresso flows into your cup. Over 90 years of experience in the production of first-class espresso machines are reflected in the processing and ready for you every day to enjoy coffee again. OLMPA Cremina SL Technical data: ----------- Cremina width 20 cm depth 27 cm height 38 cm weight 13 kg power supply cable length power consumption 230-240V / 50 Hz '160 cm 1000 Watt ------ - --- available with 120V / 601HZ / 1000W

#63: Post by **davidhunternyc** » June 8th, 2020, 1:58 pm

Wow oh wow !!! Gabor pulls a rabbit out of his hat! Thanks for the news about the Cremina SL. I guess that means the SEP isn't necessary here. Btw, I just got off the phone with John at Cerini Coffee. It I installed the Smart Espresso Profiler on the Cremina, it would void the warranty.

On a humorous note, I'm not so sure how a single lever espresso machine is innovative, but then again, I'm not Elon Musk.

June 8th, 2020, 3:56 pm

drH wrote:Wait! You can't just leave it there??! Where can we find more information?

Thomas Schätti, owner of Olympia Express said two years ago that they consider offering a spring lever again. I've already forgotten about this

and received a newsletter today. Production will start presumably in August and it will have a 15% stronger spring than the Club.

June 8th, 2020, 4:09 pm

Not sure whether we would need to open a new thread for the Cremina SL...but that is very exiting news! I am thrilled!

So you say a 15 % stronger spring than the Club, that would be then at around 5-6 bars?

I wonder what the temperature management will be like with the spring. The group being bigger I guess that it will be more temperature stable.

I also wonder whether they will sell the spring group separately for Cremina owners looking for an 'uprade'

June 8th, 2020, 4:30 pm

CoffeeCoffeeCoffee wrote:Not sure whether we would need to open a new thread for the Cremina SL...

Sure. This news should be separated. I got excited and wanted to share it asap. I think the pressure peak will be somewhere between 6-7 bar. But we will find out soon enough

. Nobody has any information about the original (as new) pressure peak of the Club. Surely different temp management.

#67: Post by HB » June 8th, 2020, 5:16 pm

See follow-on discussion in Olympia Cremina SL - Announcement.

#68: Post by **Stanford55** » June 25th, 2020, 3:48 pm

Virtually every Cremina thread-this one included-seems to have a discussion about its value. With this in mind, I found a refurbished 1981 brown model for $1850 at Cerini. 6 month warranty, free shipping. Looks really nice and Cerini is a reputable shop.

#69: Post by **barneyfife** » June 25th, 2020, 5:45 pm

The suggestion that the machine is overpriced is ridiculous. I suspect they can't make them fast enough.
The growth of the global rich and super rich over the past 30 to 40 years has been huge. They spend $3K a week tipping waiters. You won't go broke building and selling quality/distinctive luxury/fetish products in the modern world.

#70: Post by **mborkow** » June 28th, 2020, 8:21 pm

I have both a vintage Cremina, 1983, and a vintage Europiccola, 1973, and I find the shots, and build quality, to be about the same -but the La Pavoni is a lot prettier so the Cremina is sitting in a box in the garage at the moment (even though it was a *lot* more expensive).