User Experience: Flair Espresso Manual Lever - Page 92

#911: Post by **happycat** » May 30th, 2019, 7:17 am

schneckerl wrote:Hi. Haven't been here in a while. Which mustn't be a bad thing. Being a Flair user/lover for more than 1,5 years and enjoying at least 1 espresso every single day, I guess the "never change a winning team"-approach combined with general lack of time made me forget about those forums i spent lots of time with/in. Moreover - is that allowed to say here? - "thanks" to my frequent presence in these very forums I was one of the "lucky" ones who could buy a Cafelat Robot at the very beginning. "lucky", because it never really worked, ......

Long story short: should I go through the "hassle" (import taxes..) of having some accessoires shipped to Europe from the US (extra brew head+bottomless PF-set, because that would include also a new piston and shower screen apart from the PF; temperature strip (I just discovered that one, and while not crucial, it seems to be a non-brainer given the price and ease of use); PF base; maybe 2 O-rings while I'm at it) or just get a new Flair Pro? I don't travel much, but spend about 3 months a year in another country, the Flair always accompanies me, and the weight is just fine.

As I said, I am happy with the set-up and results as they are and my appetite for "experiments" greatly decreaed after the Cafelat Robot.

Thanks and big kudos to the Flair Team! I have already recommended the device to several people, almost all of them were perplexed (in the sense of amazed), and almost everybody loves the shots i am pulling.

If you're happy with Flair Classic, why buy anything? It's completely fine to describe yourself as not having an appetite for experimenting. With that perspective, if you're buying something without any specific reason to do so, you'll probably be disappointed.

If you have a robot, it's worth persisting to resolve the issue. If nothing else, persisting despite frustration is a great way to learn about ourselves and how we see the world

#912: Post by **vit** » May 30th, 2019, 8:21 am

schneckerl wrote:Also, as I'm living overseas, getting ahold of certain accessoires isn't that easy, ie impossible (new PF base for my 1st gen Flair Classic for example.. Nowhere to be found in Europe!).

I got bottomless PF and base from german distributor and plastic piston (version 2) form UK distributor

#913: Post by **Paul_Pratt** » May 31st, 2019, 1:11 am

schneckerl wrote:in these very forums I was one of the "lucky" ones who could buy a Cafelat Robot at the very beginning. "lucky", because it never really worked, there must be something wrong with it (the pressure tube connecting the gauge to the brew chamber, which gets stuck between the lever arms no matter what I do), and after being in touch with the initially helpful team, aforementionned lack of time and "winning team" made the Robot an overpriced eyecatcher at home.

I just want to follow up because these posts stay up forever. If my colleague's detective work is correct we sent 2 new spare tubes to you 1 day after your comment and the tubes were successfully delivered. We also said worse case you use the included plug in the Robot box so you can convert it to a regular Robot whenever you want.

#914: Post by **schneckerl** » May 31st, 2019, 12:38 pm

Paul_Pratt wrote:I just want to follow up because these posts stay up forever. If my colleague's detective work is correct we sent 2 new spare tubes to you 1 day after your comment and the tubes were successfully delivered. We also said worse case you use the included plug in the Robot box so you can convert it to a regular Robot whenever you want.

I'm sorry. I know you're doing fantastic work and I followed - almost real-time - your arduous and passionate high-quality work, so sorry for just "dumping" the comment here in the forum of a "competitor".

Yes, I recieved the tubes, but then sent another message on kickstarter (incl a video on how the tube gets inevitably stuck in between the lever and the body, no matter how I twisted it). I didn't have time to follow-up on it and as I haven't received another answer and didn't have the timeressources to enter forum discussions, I just forgot and only occasionally got reminded of it when looking at the beauty. Using the barista version WITHOUT the pressure gauge would have been depressing and frustrating, to be very honnest.

vit wrote:I got bottomless PF and base from german distributor and plastic piston (version 2) form UK distributor

I couldn't find anything, and I'm a german native speaker. Maybe they had in on stock at some point. I can remember having pointed out to Andrew on Instagram that the PF base was nowhere to be found in Europe at the beginning, while the easy2clean-upgrade was...

#915: Post by **vit** » May 31st, 2019, 1:11 pm

schneckerl wrote: I couldn't find anything, and I'm a german native speaker. Maybe they had in on stock at some point. I can remember having pointed out to Andrew on Instagram that the PF base was nowhere to be found in Europe at the beginning, while the easy2clean-upgrade was...

Yes, I checked both sites now (.de and .co.uk) and ATM both offer bottomless PF but no base for it. It looks like I was lucky. But I didn't notice a difference in the taste, and bottomless PF has sharp upper edge, which cut through the silicone of the screen after I pressed the piston to the end a few times ... It's just easier to clean though. Anyway, you can ask - guy at UK site was very responsive, I asked him whether the plastic piston is a new type and got a confirmation (didn't get an answer from DE site), so maybe you can ask can they order a PF base for you

#916: Post by **happycat** » June 1st, 2019, 10:23 pm

pootoogoo wrote:Here comes the Flair Witch Project.

It starts with a Silicon Bung (used in chemistry or home brewing equipment, size 8 with 42mm top diameter, very cheap):

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Straight cut to make a ~5mm slice and block the outer holes of the PF:

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And this makes a clean "single" Flair basket.

It allows me to get the right lever resistance for a ~10g dose (exactly same grind setting as the 14g used on the genuine basket).

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The result is pretty light in taste but with an interesting balance, not as the diluted extracts I obtained before (with 14g to 17g coffee and the strange coffee).

I keep thinking about this and want to try it. Today was 8pm and was tired and needed to work a couple hours but didn't want a lot of caffeine. Anyone else tried this? My typical dose is 16.5gm or so. Would like to be able to do half.

June 2nd, 2019, 9:17 am

I have no comment if that mod works or not, but I will say I was pulling 10g shots just fine on my Flair Signature. Grinding finer and lower water temp were the only adjustments I remember needing. The lower water temp was with the old piston set because you can't underfill, so there's so much more thermal mass heating the coffee up; if you have the pressure piston kit, you can set the height to fill with less water and avoid going lower temp. You may want to push the screen down on top of the puck to make sure there isn't a lot of air in the much larger head space.

June 2nd, 2019, 11:31 am

Thanks for the tips. I'll give that a try

#919: Post by **wachuko** » June 22nd, 2019, 8:30 am

Camping with it...

#920: Post by **happycat** » June 22nd, 2019, 8:47 pm

wachuko wrote:Camping with it...

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Awesome

And you could roast your own greens too

I see your roast date is June 6.