CoffeeBar wrote:what a beautiful little gem

Thanks. My first lever machine and it's taking a bit of practice.

The portafilter and baskets seem tiny compared to the La Marzocco.

mjbelcher wrote:The portafilter and baskets seem tiny compared to the La Marzocco.

I felt the same way when I purchased my Europiccola, the baskets are small compared to my LaCimbalis. You're going to love your new machine once you get it all dialed in!

Wait until you see Caravel baskets. They seem tiny even compared to other home lever baskets. They still produce amazing espresso though!

Two more from camp this morning...



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My first lever was a La Peppina with a 45 mm aluminum portafilter. I was at a H-B coffee event and after a cupping of some fantastic coffees from around the world the host did some espresso shot training and asked for a volunteer to pull a shot. I went first and the 58 mm portafilter was so so big and heavy that I was really out of my depth but did ok. I've still never owned a 58 mm machine after all these years.

spressomon wrote:Two more from camp this morning...

Beautiful Land Cruiser, May I know it is in solid axle at the front? or IFS?

Here's my "Ultimate" La Pavoni Europiccola, repainted and tuned. This is a 1968 Europiccola rewired with a modern heating element, Jaeger pressurestat, with a sightglass manometer added and brass lever pins where the rear one turns inside sealed roller bearings. Running it continuously on a 1000W heating element transmits significant heat through the cast aluminum base, so I coated it with high heat primer and engine paint. I've changed the steam tip to a single hole version and also added a modern drip tray that holds the vintage drip grate. Pressure is set at 0.8 bar. I've shimmed the spring in the pressure release valve so it's not always steaming when cruising at standard pressure.

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Very nice drgary. The best of both old and new world amalgamation.

Gorgeous and well thought through, Gary! That really is an excellent balance of old and new features. And the color is perfect.

Fantastic rebuild, drgary! The best of all ages - and gorgeous, as well!