I am sorely tempted to replace my little europiccola with a spring lever or a pump machine for this reason. Just ease of use for my partner who doesn't use it all the often - something that can be a bit more forgiving of workflow.

Any particular machine that you're looking at?
Price/performance, from what I've read, the Strega should be really good. But most of the info is quite old already and I'm not sure if it's still applicable or if there are already better machines out there, from a price/performance perspective.

Your situation is the same as mine...except I get seasick so no way am I making a living on a boat...no matter how big it is.
At my parters house we have a Profitec 800 spring lever and a Eureka 75 timed dose grinder.
I picked both of these for the same reason you listed....I'm the only one that will "play". Everyone else just wants easy and repeatable
coffee.
And for the most part it has worked. My gf and her daughter have both learned to pull shots. As well as me? Sometimes. Every once in a while something goes awry...usually its the grinder that gets bumped and the dose gets messed up or the coffee changes and no one will dial it in until I get there the next week.
My gf has even learned to do preinfusions once she tasted the results.
So is it perfect? No...I don't think there is such a thing, but the spring is so much more forgiving and even an off shot is pretty decent.
For us it has been the perfect choice and I have no buyers remorse.
I wish they would clean the dang thing more, but we can't have it all can we?

Hi Ben,
I didn't see whether you and your wife like milk drinks or just drink straight espresso. If you just do espresso, a Robot might be the ticket. You boil water, pour it into the Robot and pull your shot. I've seen one in action and they're easy to use and the espresso is great! They're relatively inexpensive, but they don't steam milk. You can then also afford a good grinder.
Regarding other levers, if your wife is not extremely tiny or a fragile senior, I doubt if she would have trouble with any of the levers. My wife wouldn't touch my Londinium, but she has never touched ANY of my coffee equipment. But I happily make her morning cappuccino for her.

Hi Steve,

That's good to hear.
I'm hoping that for us it will work like that as well.

I'm hoping to be home sometime next month, still some time left to decide on a machine. The more I read, the more I start looking at other, usually more expensive machines, and the more difficult it becomes.
But I do feel like I/we should give a spring loaded lever machine a try.

Cheers!

mgwolf wrote:Hi Ben,
I didn't see whether you and your wife like milk drinks or just drink straight espresso. If you just do espresso, a Robot might be the ticket. You boil water, pour it into the Robot and pull your shot. I've seen one in action and they're easy to use and the espresso is great! They're relatively inexpensive, but they don't steam milk. You can then also afford a good grinder.
Regarding other levers, if your wife is not extremely tiny or a fragile senior, I doubt if she would have trouble with any of the levers. My wife wouldn't touch my Londinium, but she has never touched ANY of my coffee equipment. But I happily make her morning cappuccino for her.

Hi Michael,

It will be used mostly for espresso, but also quite frequently for milk drinks.
At the moment we have a Eureka Specialita which is hopefully a bit better for espresso as it is for pour over. Plan to use that one if I can and otherwise I'll be getting something better.

My wife is not tiny nor a fragile senior, so I hope the levers will be ok. It's just that I get the feeling looking at the videos that the Strega has a particular strong lever, but that's just the impression I have.

I'll also happily make her morning cappuccino, would just be nice if she manages to do the same for the other 180 days I'm not there..

Hi Craig,

Thanks for your reply.
As a one only device I am also strongly considering the Strega.
But, I just found what I think is a good deal on a secondhand Pro 800 for €600 less than a new Strega..
Would this change things? I'm quite tempted, and the €600 could be a nice way towards a new grinder should that be necessary...

Wish I was home now...

You don't need a lot of force to pull a commercial lever. Once you learn how/when to safely let go of the lever, it's very intuitive. It's not a long process, you pull a few shots and you're good to go.

If you have the option to set the machine on a bar or table that is lower than a regular kitchen, it's even easier. But unless she's very short, a kitchen counter works just fine.

I would still pick a commercial spring lever (58mm) over a Cremina SL, Elektra Mcal or other small spring levers. Here's why:
1. Bad things can happen when you forget to fill the boiler on a Mcal or a Cremina. A prosumer machine will simply beep and turn off the heating element.

2. A 58mm spring lever locks in preinfusion position (lever down). You have to hold the lever down with a smaller spring lever. It's a small difference but it makes the process a bit easier imo.

3. From my experience, a commercial 58mm lever group is just more forgiving. Easier to prep the shot and results are more consistent.

That being said, we owned an Olympia Club, a Ponte Vecchio Lusso, a Bezzera B3000AL and now the Londinium (and Europiccola). My wife learned to use all of these. I must say though that she looks very comfortable with the Londinium.

Prosumer levers that are around the same price as the Strega (a little pricier but similar bracket): Profitec Pro800, Londinium Compressa (no reservoir), Izzo Alex Leva, Quickmill Veloce/Rapida/Achille (used).

There's also the Odyssey Argo project but it's hard to say what the workflow is going to be like. Definitely closer to a La Pavoni than a Strega.

*Just saw your post about the Pro800. Solid machine with a PID and a very quiet rotary pump to fill the boiler. Very reliable.