Olympia Cremina SL - Announcement

#1: Post by **davidhunternyc** » June 8th, 2020, 5:11 pm

naked-portafilter wrote:Thomas Schätti, owner of Olympia Express said two years ago that they consider offering a spring lever again. Production will start presumably in August and it will have a 15% stronger spring than the Club.

Recently, the Olympia Cremina SL (Spring Lever) was announced. Production is slated to begin August, 2020. The Olympia Cremina direct lever espresso machine has been a favorite for decades so the SL is welcome surprise. What are your thoughts? Will the SL tempt direct lever Cremina owners to make the switch? What other spring lever espresso machines with the SL compete with?

Thank you, Gabor, for bringing this news to Home-Barista.

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.

Technical Data:
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Cremina

Width 20 cm
Depth 27 cm
Height 38 cm
Weight 13 kg
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Power supply 230-240V / 50 Hz
Cable length 160 cm
Power consumption 1000 Watt
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Also available with 120V / 60HZ / 1000W

#2: Post by **spressomon** » June 8th, 2020, 5:32 pm

Well, one of the good things about a spring lever: Its easier to simultaneously steam milk while making espresso which in turn speeds up making multiple shots/milk based drinks for guests. Personally, I like this news Olympia is bringing a new product, a spring lever, to the marketplace!

#3: Post by **acg** » June 8th, 2020, 5:49 pm

Is the lever really protruding so much when not in use? Looks a bit odd to me and might be a house safety risk.

#4: Post by **Nunas** » June 8th, 2020, 6:03 pm

Is the lever really protruding so much when not in use? Looks a bit odd to me and might be a house safety risk.

The body isn't very deep, so it should be able to sit well back on the bench, precluding accidental collisions with the lever. One would hope that the relatively long lever is to enable the easier working of a fairly beefy spring. I wonder what the design pressure is; I changed the spring in my Riviera over to a PV spring and the difference in the espresso is noticeable. The beefier PV spring allows the Riviera to take grind nearly as fine as my Synchronika. Let's hope the Cremina SL is similar. If so, it's a winner in my books. Too bad they cost so much

June 8th, 2020, 9:06 pm

Well, one of the questions I have is if Olympia is going to use the same 49mm portafilter? I would prefer Olympia to modernize and use a standard 58mm portafilter. In their advertisement they did say "Innovate" so let's see if Olympia innovates.

#6: Post by **jwCrema** » June 8th, 2020, 10:13 pm

This is a great move by Olympia. My family liked the Cremina, but all greatly prefer the simplicity of the spring lever machines.

#7: Post by **chopinhauer** » June 9th, 2020, 12:10 am

jwCrema wrote:This is a great move by Olympia.

I agree and I can't wait for the eventual show-down between this and the current Cremina (and maybe the Londinium Compact if/when it gets released). Personally, I hope the Cremina SL will offer closer to 9 bar pressure than the current batch of small levers (PV, Elektra MCal et al). If it doesn't then it will just be a more expensive, high quality version of these machines in the same way the current Cremina is a better version of the Pavoni: viz.same functionality just improved and refined.

#8: Post by **TomC** » June 9th, 2020, 12:34 am

I'd love to see this as an add-on that can be swapped in. I wonder about stability though, if it's a strong spring...

June 9th, 2020, 12:50 am

No doubt (for me at least, I haven't asked) that it has the same dimension (49mm) for the portafilter as the Cremina. To reach pressure in the range of 7-8 bar with the greater surface (53-58mm basket diameter) would mean the usage of a very strong spring which would make the cocking phase with the small machine (seemingly the same frame/body as the Cremina) problematical.

#10: Post by **truemagellen** » June 9th, 2020, 11:25 am

davidhunternyc wrote:Well, one of the questions I have is if Olympia is going to use the same 49mm portafilter? I would prefer Olympia to modernize and use a standard 58mm portafilter. In their advertisement they did say "Innovate" so let's see if Olympia innovates.

58mm may be common but it is not modern. Popularized by the E61 and likely determined by the E61's group mass calculations only.

There are some limitations to the 49mm basket size but they only relate to large double or triple dosing but 49 works great on the Strietman for a full shot volume.

I personally prefer 51-54 for best balance of crema/mouthfeel and output. 58mm is much more difficult to prep the puck and level due to the larger surface area.

There is more mass to the portafilter on58mm and this would lead to longer warm up stability times for the small Cremina which suggests to me they will keep it at 49mm or perhaps go to 54mm like on the Maximatic. Looking at the photos I see a proportions close to the Olympia Club 49mm group with a slightly taller group for more shot volume.