Izzo Alex Leva

[shortblackman]

yep. All teeth present and accounted for!

[Dimal]

2 weeks ago I was cleaning the group/ flushing Alex. Wet hand holding the lever against the spring pressure.

it slipped.

One of the reasons I had to think long and hard about acquiring an Alex Leva at the time I went with the DJE DB we now own...
Given how useless my hands are these days and really serious short-term memory problems (result of several strokes), I could just imagine this happening to me on a more or less regular basis. It was a battle to eventually decide to play it safe and go with the DJE...

Mal.

[TC]

Assume all teeth still in your mouth? Those snap backs can be nasty

Yes- Spring leva machines must be used with a healthy dose of respect and if let fly can cause serious injury.

We are very relieved that neither sbm nor his machine suffered any significant damage....

Mal- I think you made a very wise decision...

That said, I gain much pleasure from using ours and we benefit from AMAZING coffee. There really is something about them but they are not toys!

Chris

[pip]

Hi there fellow Leva owners , my Alex leva sits in a corner where I can only use it with my left hand ,and my right hand is braced against the right hand top corner , and the cardinal rule is "do not stick anything in the path of the lever ". There have been a few spats with group handles over the 2 years I've had it , ( me being careless ) , and after 2 years of too too much hanging out in hospitals with intestinal malabsorbtion , and sometimes being unable to pull shots due to muscle strength , it's still the only machine I want to use , and a good reason to run harder into (um, middle age ) for the glorious shot quality . But treat them with care and respect , and you will be greatly rewarded.
regards, pip.

[Sink_cut]

Hi guys,
I am now playing with one of these at home - lovely machine and is very enjoyable to use. - a few quick questions for seasoned time Alex lever owners:

1. Boiler refill on mine only happens about every 900-1000ml. When this happens it takes about 3-4 mins to come back up to temp / pressure. Is this normal?

2. I had to grind significantly courser than my old machine (about 6 points courser on the Mazzer SJ using the same batch of roasted beans). Normal?

3. Included tamper is nice but not a super snug fit and leaves grinds up the edges of the basket. Are people sticking with the stock tamper or getting custom ones? Any recommendations?

4. People talk about 3 bar pre infusion.. Surely this can only happen if the refill valve is open? Doesn't that mean pre infusion max is whatever the boiler pressure is - 1.2 bar?, or am I missing somthing?


THanks
DAvid

[shortblackman]

3. I've a fitted Pullman arriving any day now. I'll let you know.

2. Yes. Coarser than my Pavoni.

[Dr_Dave]

Hi David,
Good decision, you wont regret it
1. Yes quite normal
2. About the same as my Duetto 2 for me
3. I have a Pullman which was sized to the naked basket and is great
4. Don't know as I never really look at the pressure - just the taste in the cup. Chris at Talk Coffee may be the best to answer technical questions on the Leva
Cheers
Dave

[TC]

Hi guys,
I am now playing with one of these at home - lovely machine and is very enjoyable to use. - a few quick questions for seasoned time Alex lever owners:

1. Boiler refill on mine only happens about every 900-1000ml. When this happens it takes about 3-4 mins to come back up to temp / pressure. Is this normal?

Yes- new ones have double boiler probes to avoid any during shot fill boiler fill- enhancing thermostability. They're also wired to maintain PID illumination during fill events. All normal...

2. I had to grind significantly courser than my old machine (about 6 points courser on the Mazzer SJ using the same batch of roasted beans). Normal?

Yes- you may well be dosing at up to 25g depending on dose. You can however go lower and finer...

3. Included tamper is nice but not a super snug fit and leaves grinds up the edges of the basket. Are people sticking with the stock tamper or getting custom ones? Any recommendations?

It is the best included tamper I have ever seen with a machine. We can do a custom Bogav Assassin: Bogav Assassin Tamper | Talk Coffee

4. People talk about 3 bar pre infusion.. Surely this can only happen if the refill valve is open? Doesn't that mean pre infusion max is whatever the boiler pressure is - 1.2 bar?, or am I missing somthing?

No- preinfusion happens with water from the boiler- so it will occur at approx. whatever your boiler pressure is...


Congrats on the new machine and thanks for supporting us. Welcome to the leva club. For the overwhelming majority, it's a one way trip! Enjoy...

Chris

[Sink_cut]

Thanks chris, I really appreciate your speedy service - could not believe it when it turned up on Monday

Still don't quite understand point no.4
PRe infusion is the time when the handle is down - right?

If I pull t he handle down when there is no pressure in the boiler (water < 100c) then nothing comes out, so this can't be mains pressure? - my understanding is that the water came from the Boiler into the group - pushed out by pressure in the boiler.... Or have I got it completely wrong? Can you point me to a diagram of how it works?

[thebookfreak58]

Yep, if it's a dipper group, PI is at boiler level (1-1.3bar).

If it's a cold fed HX, then it's at line pressure (or as per the Strega, pump pressure). If it's a hot fed HX (L1, Quickmille etc) then it's also at boiler level

[Sink_cut]

Makes sense.. So if you really did want a higher pressure of pre infusion I guess you Could lift the handle up a bit to raise the pressure but then hold it still for a few seconds of pre infusion before letting it keep on going.

[pip]

Hi Sink_cut , remember that when it's cold , there's an anti vac(uum) valve and a boiler fill valve in the hydraulic circuit ; so even if the boiler was refilling there would still be no line pressure in the boiler, becuse the valve is open to atmosphere . However , when the boiler is hot , and the antiVac valve is closed (hence the boiler is sealed and pressurised - and you can see the boiler pressure on the gauge ), open the ports- by pulling the lever down, and preinfusion is active .
Pre infusion I say is flying by the seat of your taste buds , but the coffee gods smiled on me this morning.

[TC]

Another reminder that you do need to be careful with these as we are now at 2 with damage in a couple of weeks. If things go in threes, another owner is in the firing line of fate...

This time a commercial client. Group handle (likely) removed part way through the shot and the leva flew back. There was damage and it will lead to their 3 group being out of commission while one of the groups is pulled down and repaired = $$$$. Even worse, they're interstate, so will have to either send us the group or hopefully find a tech local to them who can do it. They broke GL65 (GL4 + GL41)

[RichardC]

Hey Fellow Snobs

We're looking to upgrade our old but yet incredibly faithful em6910 (yes, slightly (very) embarrassed to mention this on this thread but it has served us faithfully for 9 years pulling close to 10,000 shots with minimal maintenance). It's still going strong but I've known for some time it's hasn't the ability to extract full flavour and I know there's a better world of classy machines there!

We're tossing up between an Alex Leva, a Duetto III (is there a IV on the horizon?), Profitec 700 and ECM Synchronika (and maybe and the Evoluzione 2 as an outsider)

I love the romance of the retro Leva but my concern is practicality particularly when entertaining.

We presently in a rental but that will change so I do want the convenience of both tank and mains and also happy to look at a flojet.

First and foremost on my wishlist is flavour and of course great steaming capability.

So my questions are:

1. Compared to a semi auto, say Profitec 700 which seems to produce 2 flat whites in well under 2 mins, how does the Leva compare timewise?

2. Holding the lever down for 10 seconds, how long does it take to brew?

3. What is its recovery?

4. Which is best suited for an entertainer?

5. PID – how do the PID’s on the Leva machines compare?

The problem we have in Brisbane is we can't just stroll into a showroom and "play" as can snobers in Sydney and Melbourne.

Thanks
R

[chokkidog]

But you can stroll into your local airport..... about $210 return Brisbane/Melbourne. Less to Sydney .....if you want to go there.

Not a huge outlay when you're considering a circa 5k spend on something sight unseen and taking recommendations from the internet! ;-D

Good luck in your search, the Leva will do all you are asking.... with a bit of coffee theatre as well (question 4)!