Chert wrote:When I first saw OE-1, I thought Doug and Barb had cooked up something exciting other than grinders.

I thought the same thing!

The more I look at this, the more I retract my initial response to seeing it.

I am cooking up some delicious crow right now...

This looks like a great little machine and agree on it as a potential threat to the Cremina market.

My only nit is the size of the base. My counter top can take splatterings, but not all can.

I just hope the group heats up without flushing. There are probably details I've missed.

This does look interesting, quite unique in this class in allowing spring and manual lever actions in one machine.

Another interesting point: " For those that want complete control over their shot, this machine is designed to allow the user to remove the spring, rotate the lever clevis 180 degrees, and pull in a traditional manual fashion"

Wasting water, don't like it Other than that nothing really. Well, I would need to have a container of some sorts always handy to flush to, also something I don't like and wouldn't be convenient for me.

pcrussell50 wrote:Pavoni has not been much of a threat to the Cremina market despite being functionally identical. Something besides function/taste in the cup is driving the Cremina frenzy. Who's to say that whatever that is, will translate directly to this new machine? Predicting must-have fashion in advance is the holy grail of marketing.

-Peter

What's driving that frenzy is the same as what keeps La Marzocco and other major brands in business: the irrational desire for exorbitantly expensive, functionally equivalent (or inferior: see Linea Mini), aesthetically beautiful machines with a long pedigree. Oddly enough, price and function have little bearing on these decisions. In fact, raise the price and people might want and value it more-it's the ethos of senselessness. Nothing about it makes sense to me but I'm taken-hook, line, and sinker.

...I did subscribe to the updates on this new machine and will be watching closely.

Both my lever machines have wedge-shaped seals, which work well. I see the Odyssey photos with relatively small seals that look like standard O-rings. Any lever experts care to comment on the longevity of such small seals and on the ability of O-rings to produce ~9 bar of pressure without leaking? I do know that V3 Caravels went for O-rings, but have no idea how well they work. I also know that later Zacconis used one O-ring, but two wedge-seals. Are there other lever machines that use only O-rings?

As for price, I don't see how they can possibly come in at $800 and still produce legendary Olympia quality. For example, the Ponte Vecchio looks like a Zacconi and even some of the parts are interchangeable. While they both make an excellent shot according to the reviews, by all reports, the fit and finish are light years apart. But, if they really do this and if the initial reviews are positive, I'll be getting one to add to my small collection of coffee makers. I just love the look of it.