gonzo13sam wrote:ciao Davide,

I like this machine !!

lei è molto bella!!

Bonjour,
Yes, it is wonderful!!!

Merci,
Davide

orphanespresso wrote:SCORE for Drgary!!!!!! Oh man, green with envy of course but also curious as to how it will all turn out when pulling a shot.....some people have all the luck! Congrats on the great score!

The short of it, the Lady Duchessa pulls wonderfully soft, layered shots. It's what Lvx calls "a zen machine." The espresso style is similar to an Elektra Microcasa a Leva (MCAL). It's wonderful for taming stronger coffees and darker roasts, but it's also a revelation for tasting many otherwise hidden flavors in fine coffee.

I'm writing after much time has passed and I got to know the MCAL well. I dialed in that machine with its standard spring and was amazed by its shot quality, which is that way because of a soft, declining pressure profile. Soon I learned to coarsen the grind for more crema. Then for a more standard shot I joined others in adding booster springs to the MCAL, and I like that style of espresso too. But to get that I now need to hold back the lever. This turned my gaze back to Lady Duchessa.



This morning I started with Stumptown Hairbender, 14 gm in the double basket. So that's the complex flavor in there! Then I tried a Mr. Espresso Rwanda SO, which is usually prepared as pourover. This was done in the single basket loaded with 10 gm and was a revelation. The harsh, turpentine flavor I'd experienced in a Pavoni was completely gone and replaced by molasses blending into zinfandel wine. Probably it was designed to soften traditional dark, Italian espresso roasts of the 1950s and 60s, and it can still tame dark roasts. But its soft pressure profiling lends itself to showcasing subtle flavors and eliminating harshness in general. I'm going to spend some more time with this machine.

Now that I've gotten acquainted with a number of levers, with and without springs and pressurestat heat regulation, I understand better the Duchessa's design. It heats by pressing a telegraph key once. Pressure climbs until it reaches 3 bar. The heating element then turns off and won't reactivate until the temperature declines to a bit over 1 bar. As temperature gradually declines I'm starting to gauge the brew temperature beyond the manometer (pressure gauge) with a temperature strip attached to the group. This machine is obviously meant to heat up quickly and pull a few shots at home instead of remaining always on. Of course once it's up to temperature, getting back into range is easy by pressing the On key. In that sense it's similar to the older La Pavonis and the vintage Microcimbali that are meant to heat quickly, steam vigorously, and aren't meant to be powered on continuously. Unlike those machines one can't just toggle off the power, which will climb to the top of its heat cycle -- except for mine where an On/Off switch was added to the power cord, a mod I now appreciate. It could be similar to a Faemina with which it shares some design features, but I haven't had a chance to try a Faemina. I still wonder whether Lady Duchessa's designer(s) originally worked for Faema.

Perhaps it's engineered to balance temperature regulation between the hotter-than-needed boiler water and the group exposed to air all around so it functions well as a heat sink. Maybe I'm seeing more there than was in the original design that may mimic the commercial Faema lever machines of its day. Unlike the Microcimbali, the aluminum alloy boiler doesn't corrode, and I wonder how its engineers accomplished that. Perhaps it's anodized. I don't know.

Gary that poor Amica looks lonely way back in the corner! Glad to see the Duchessa getting more pulls though! I wish someone would start making those again, they look so beautiful and seem to function so wonderfully.

Gary, since expanding our minds with your Lady D, I've yet to see any on auction sites or CL. Still shaking my head at your pirate's booty. I look forward to more shots in the future from that feisty redhead.

Cher:

With your mojo, keep looking! They come up about once or twice a year on auction sites. I don't know of any others that are working. To other owners out there, these are worth reviving because they make wonderful coffee!

A post today of a gorgeous Faema Mercurio brought to mind something I've been thinking about for awhile. I wonder where the designer(s) of the Lady Duchessa line started out? The group looks like a miniature version of the group on the Mercurio. At the least the designer appreciated those classic Faema groups. And what's not to like, given the looks of this Orphan Espresso restored specimen owned by Rick aka apolune of Sausalito, CA?

@ brooklynshot: You sent a PM and I responded twice but the PMs haven't been picked up. Will remove this post when you confirm getting them.

Looking through this thread I realize I forgot to post a photo of the tamper that came with my Lady Duchessa. It has two ends, one for the single basket, the other for the double. It is also roughly cast with the Duchessa name in the handle joining them. The basket size is 51mm. Here it is:

drgary wrote:Looking through this thread I realize I forgot to post a photo of the tamper that came with my Lady Duchessa. It has two ends, one for the single basket, the other for the double. It is also roughly cast with the Duchessa name in the handle joining them. The basket size is 51mm.
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Glad to see it added on here. For me, the accessories are half the excitement of these old beauties.