In with the new, out with the old

[zix]

Hi guys! I am still making espresso, both at home and at work, but apparently I am getting lazier, since mostly my hand grinders are sitting on the shelf, the motorised HG-1 ruling at work and the Niche Zero grinding everything but filter brews at home.
Still a lever head. How ‘bout you others?

[zix]

BTW, old Bezzie, that I got because of a post here on the forum, is now in her third month in the repair shop. There are all sorts of faults with her, but now the repair guy has decided that it is a matter of pride for him that he can get Bezzie running again. He is now trying to get his friend to solder the hx tubing, since they found another leak…

[CakeBoy]

Hey Zix. Sorry to hear about Bezzie. I hope he gets it sorted for you. We have a Niche here these days too. I’m getting old and a bit infirm so I expect we won’t upgrade here again.

All the old gear is still about, including ‘Anna’ the Iberital L’Anna, though she has a minor issue after breaking and being rebuilt. It may be as little as a spring over tensioned. I’ll get round to checking one of these days!

Our main gear is now an ECM Synchronika and a Eureka 75E with Mythos burrs and the slow rpm motor. Unfortunately the Synchronika is currently ‘off the road’ too. Having developed a leak it went in for a service and repair but came back still leaking, albeit beautifully serviced. I don’t think it’s serious, just an oversight so we’ll soon have it back. I could easily have fixed it in the past but not with my hands anymore.

So, in the meantime we picked up a Sage (Breville) The Bambino fairly cheaply to tide us over. I use espresso to accelerate my meds so it’s fairly crucial for me. It’s a decent little machine. I wonder if we would all have ever bought any of the machines we all did back in the day if these instant on and ready PID units had been available back then! It looks a bit like an old single boiler temperature surf nightmare but it is as stable as you like.

I still yearn for a lever and nearly bought a Londinium at the time we got the ECM but there was a delay issue and my meds were calling. I really do love the ECM though, lovely machine.

It’s great to see a few old faces popping in here.

[zix]

The Synchronica is beautiful. I wish I could have an E61 as well as a lever, but one big machine more just would not fit in... like, anywhere. Possibly if I got one for my oldest kid, who just moved into a flat of his own. But he would most likely be better off with something like an Odyssey Argos. Most people would, I guess... time has moved on and sometimes way past the big ole boilers.

Bambino is still a smart choice, too. I loved my Arrarex Caravel gravity lever, but honestly, if a machine is already 40 years old when you get it, you can't expect it to work flawlessly for more than maybe 5-6 years before something or several things break, and you end up googling 6 hours a day for spares, and waiting 6 months for delivery of said spares. Just to make it work. So, it was a good idea, I wish they still made them just like that, but they don't. Today a full fledged programmable PID circuit board is about as expensive as a thermal strip and a microswitch, and we end up with 5 meters+ of copper wire inside the machine. Will it be just as long-life as the old Caravels? We will see... the old boy is standing unused and defunct in a shelf at the office now, and it makes me sad to see it. Something like a Bambino I could happily recycle if it went belly up. I just can't do that to mr Caravel!

Bezzie is running again though She got a new portafilter from the repair guy. As a Christmas gift, I guess He was complaining that he could never repair machines like mine all day what with the time it took, he would have been run out of his business... but you could see the pride shining in his eyes when we took it away from him. He really loves Bezzie. And he made her work

[CakeBoy]

So sorry, been offline a bit. The long winter and my health didn’t play well together.

I am so pleased Bezzie is back up and running! It’s such a relief isn’t it when our beloved machines are back working again. It always amazes me how distressing I find it when ours goes down.

The good news is the ECM came back in late-ish January and with a cursory switch on appears to be working now. Sadly, that’s as far as we got with me not being so good. I am hopeful things will be back up and running in place this week. That said, with energy prices currently it being off over the winter is probably a good thing!

Meanwhile, the Bambino has been doing fine, though I haven’t had a coffee now since February. Not through choice but the Bambino does struggle if you like tight ristretto shots from medium roasts on the lighter side. Before buying it, I watched James’ (Hoffman) YouTube video review and he mentioned the thermal stability of the head made it difficult to get it hot enough for lighter brews. He was bang on of course. It’s not impossible but the best shots remain 10% or so under an E61’s average capability. It’s fine with darker roasts, and to be fair is really decent in any case, just not where it can be on a bigger machine. An added bonus is the instant on steaming capability is handy for hot chocolate and similar.

I feel your pain looking at old machines that you have a history with going back years. I look at our old machines and gadgets with a heavy heart, remembering better times with them, on this forum and with the people from here, often on the very machines. Many of the old crowd local to me have moved far away spread literally across the world. I’m in touch of sorts with a few but I struggle and it’s intermittent at best. I manage to drop in here sometimes, but incredibly sadly it’s hard to keep up with people a lot of the time. Happy memories though, and I think of them a lot.

Right, time for a rest. Take care old friend. Catch you again soon hopefully.

[dr.chris]

Hello

Long time no see. Seems a very long time from the heyday of this place. We still have the lovely Anna. I think we went through a pump and 3 controllers over the years but she's still there, although we do wonder if we'd be better off with something with a smaller footprint given how much use she gets.

The wife still makes regular caps with her, but probably only every other day. I kind of stopped using her, mainly because we were using different beans for my espressos and her caps and switching between them with one grinder made for bad espressos. In contrast I can make a cafetiere or a pourover reliably every time so thats what I do. I was getting excellent beans from hasbean and making bad espresso with them, which is just sad.

For getting out and about we have a newish roastary called Kickback coffee not so far away. I am also buying Darkwoods when I can get it. We (very recently) when on a home barrista course at Darkwoods and it made for a wonderful morning and a good reminder of a few basics.