Recently i got myself a beautiful Zacconi Riviera. This is my first experience with a lever machine, before i owned a Vibiemme Domobar. I also use the Ascaso I-Steel grinder. On various forums I read different stories about the lever machines. After some experimenting with the Zacconi I came across some problems / questions.

- Warming up
With my Vibiemme I was used to a warm-up time for at least 40 minutes. Now the Zacconi has obviously a completely different group head. But is it correct that the Zacconi is ready for use within 10 minutes (when full boiler pressure is reached)?

- Lever technique
The lever use is still not 100% clear to me. I pull the lever down, wait 3-5 seconds and then let the lever go. The coffee starts dripping during the preinfusion, after releasing the coffee runs / drips further. On YouTube, however, I also noticed examples where the lever was taken down for a 2nd time. What is the proper technique?

- Espresso
With the Zacconi i won't get decent crema yet. I have tried various things like fresh beans, finer / coarser grind, harder / lighter tamp. Crema remains moderate. Now I have to mention here that I don't have a decent tamper. I now use around wooden block which fits well. But is my crema problem such related to a decent tamper?

- Maintenance
With the E-61 group head I was used to backflush. Is this also necessary with the Zacconi? What's are the important maintenance things for the Zacconi besides descaling?

A lot of questions, but I can't find much about the Zacconi. Hopefully there is someone around with knowledge / experience for this machine.

There's no 3 way valve, so back flushing isn't possible. Basically using a few lever purges with hot flush water thru the group as well as a stiff brush to clean the group screen is sufficient for daily maintenance. Periodic cleaning by lubing the cylinder and checking your seals will help ensure smooth and trouble free performance.

A properly sized tamper will possibly help with the crema problem, try also updosing and grinding a bit coarser.

If the group feels very hot to the touch and the pressure gauge is at its highest, it should be ready to go. These things heat up very quickly. If you have an instant read thermometer that is accurate and fast, it can help you get your basic temp/times established.

Some people do the double pump to bring more water into the group for a larger volume shot. But the method you described should be fine to start with, and is standard operating procedure.

Have fun with it. It looks like it's in good shape.

extamira wrote:Recently i got myself a beautiful Zacconi Riviera. This is my first experience with a lever machine, before i owned a Vibiemme Domobar. I also use the Ascaso I-Steel grinder. On various forums I read different stories about the lever machines. After some experimenting with the Zacconi I came across some problems / questions.

That's a beautiful machine and will give you great espresso! I have a Riviera I purchased over 30 years ago and it is my favorite machine (I now prefer it over the Pavoni) but I almost gave up on it because it was too high tech for me--spring-loaded lever, as opposed to the all-manual Europiccola. But after talking to the good folks here and checking out OE's slapshot method I now MUCH PREFER the Riviera to the Pavoni.

Warming Up:
With my Vibiemme I was used to a warm-up time for at least 40 minutes. Now the Zacconi has obviously a completely different group head. But is it correct that the Zacconi is ready for use within 10 minutes (when full boiler pressure is reached)?

Yes. It only takes about 10 minutes to be ready...including bleeding off the false pressure once it gets up to speed

Lever Technique:
The lever use is still not 100% clear to me. I pull the lever down, wait 3-5 seconds and then let the lever go. The coffee starts dripping during the preinfusion, after releasing the coffee runs / drips further. On YouTube, however, I also noticed examples where the lever was taken down for a 2nd time. What is the proper technique?

Give the pre-infusion about 8-10 seconds. After about 5 seconds the first drops will appear if the grind and tamp are right. The extra few seconds will insure total saturation of the whole puck.

My machine naturally produces a very nice ristretto just with one pull of the lever. However, if I want a bit more volume, then I do a second pull after waiting about 5 seconds into the first pull. I seem to get more crema this way, too...plus it's just fun to pull the lever!

Crema:
With the Zacconi i won't get decent crema. I have tried various things like fresh beans, finer / coarser grind, harder / lighter tamp. Crema remains very moderate to no crema. Now I have to mention here that I don't have a decent tamper yet (i'm still waiting for my 45mm tamper order). I now use around wooden block which fits well. But is my crema problem such related to a decent tamper?

If you use OE's "slap shot" method there is little or no tamping. The tamper is used mainly to make room for the group head to fit the basket and puck and to smooth out the top of the puck. The key is to eliminate the variables...which is one reason the spring-loaded levers are good...and why the slap shot method works so well. The only variable left to deal with is the grind.

I use the double basket for one shot, load it with 12 gms of beans, grind fine, level the heap with a credit card by sort of chopping at it, then tap, tap, tappity tap the basket on a hard surface to settle the puck, tamp hardly at all...just press the 5 mm thick tamper into the coffee with my thumbs...then twist the finish, load the basket into the portafilter and group...and pull the shot. The shot will take from 20 to 30 seconds to pull...or a bit longer if you do the double pull thing (Fellini pull).

If the grind is right, you should get a nice ristretto.

OE makes really nice tampers for their slap shot method. I made my own cuz I have a wood and metal lathe and like to mess around with them.


The two tampers on the left are for the Riviera; the two on the right for the Pavoni.

Maintenance:
With the E-61 group head I was used to backflush. Is this also necessary with the Zacconi? What's are the important maintenance things for the Zacconi besides descaling?

That's about it. From time to time you will have to replace the seals in the group head, but in over 30 years of use, nothing more has ever come up.

Beautiful wood Rio Cruz. Did you make the metal part of the tampers yourself? Aluminum?

Thanks, SAS! For the metal part I started with a cheap, two-headed aluminum tamper I got at Peet's for about $6...then cut it in two and turned everything down to size on the lathe.



The tamper heads were just the right thickness for the slap shot method and were easy to turn and polish.