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Upgrading my Expobar Office Leva

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  • Upgrading my Expobar Office Leva

    Hi forum goers. As the subject suggests, I’m looking for a replacement coffee machine for my Expobar Office Leva. I’m actually taking my Leva to work and buying a new one for home. The Leva was around $2K when I bought it. I may be wrong about this but my understanding is they’re good bang for buck and on par with a $3K machine. Happy to be corrected. I want to take the quality to the next level and was hoping to upgrade to an GS3 but the better half has thrown the hammer down on spending that sort of money on a home machine so I’m looking for something with a noticeable quality difference that’s somewhere in between the Leva and GS3 price wise.

    Any advice on what machines are an upgrade to the Leva primarily in coffee extraction quality but also parts and boiler size. The budget is $3K-$5K. I wasn’t sure whether to post this in the up to $3K section or the $3K+ section.

    I would also be looking to upgrade my grinder which is a Compak K3 Touch.

    I did my best to research the internet and YouTube for reviews but there is so much misleading information out there that I thought I’d come to the brains trust. And you’re aussies. Haha.

    Thanks in Advance.

  • #2
    What type of group/head would you prefer? Apart from the shot quality, are you looking at having flow control, pressure profiling, etc?

    What about a Linea Mini, if you still want a La Marzocco Product? Otherwise a lever machine, as Profitech Pro 800 / Bezzera Strega / Londinium.
    I'm sure others will chime in with more info.

    Cheers, and happy upgrading!
    Charlie


    Edit:

    I forgot to mention: Your choice might be also skewed for reasons of location (i.e.: availability/ after-purchase support), so depending on where you are you could decide to go for a brand which has a techical and commercial presence on the territory, rather than another one.

    Comment


    • athoslor
      athoslor commented
      Editing a comment
      Thanks Charlie. The Leva is an E61 group head. I'm not necessarily tied to it apart from it being the one we're used to. In terms of other options:

      Definitely a PID.
      Flow control and pressure profiling would be cool but not a must.
      Able to be plumbed in but has a decent size reservoir as well. We use a lot of hot water and the Leva has a 1.5litre tank and it's forever needing to be filled up. The reason for it having plumbing capabilities is when we move we'll get it plumbed in.
      Dual boiler.
      I'm unsure if this is an option but a pump that isn't noisy would be nice. We have a timer on our machine that turns it on automatically to heat it up. When the machine starts it echo's throughout the house.
      Fully manual is my preference.
      A steam wand that is actually cool to the touch would be nice.
      I like the Leva style but am impartial to it over say a paddle style.
      I'm in a rural area in central Queensland so any option is as good as the other generally.

      I imagine more things will come to mind. In the mean time I'll do more research on the suggestions you made.

      Thanks for the assistance.

    • athoslor
      athoslor commented
      Editing a comment
      Any thoughts on the Izzo Alex Leva?

    • trentski
      trentski commented
      Editing a comment
      Alex Leva is a great machine, plumbed in, truly silent, it doesn't have a pump. It's on my wish list

  • #3
    I'd love to get a GS3 as well, but it's very expensive. Have you considered the Decent Espresso DE1? It seems like an interesting machine.

    Comment


    • athoslor
      athoslor commented
      Editing a comment
      Haha. Wow. That is something else. No I hadn't. The screen is huge on that thing.

  • #4
    Any thoughts on the Izzo Alex Leva? I've been doing more research on the Lever style machines and they seem impressive. What are peoples thoughts on them making nicer coffee than the standard espresso machines?

    Comment


    • WhatEverBeansNecessary
      WhatEverBeansNecessary commented
      Editing a comment
      Don't have an Alex but a Profitec Pro 800 which uses the same grouphead I believe.
      I love lever machines but they aren't for everyone. There is a bit of a learning curve and it requires more work than just pushing a button.

      Having said that the coffee I find superior and there is an element of old school cool to them. But it's horses for courses.

      Keep in mind the Alex doesn't have a water reservoir (I believe) so you need to use a bottle/flowjet setup. No big deal, it's just not as 'neat' as the reservoir.

    • amberale
      amberale commented
      Editing a comment
      I don’t have one either but I would consider the Valexia.
      Same machine but all Stainless different styling and a couple minor differences iirc.
      One of the Site Sponsers had a deal on a demo one I think.

    • Mono
      Mono commented
      Editing a comment
      Sorry to correct you WEBN , but the Izzo and the Pro 800 groups are definitely different. From memory when I was shopping the Izzo is 53mm San Marco group and the 800 is a 58mm CMA group..... these details may not be 100% accurate but they definite thing is the machines run a different brand/diameter group assembly........

  • #5
    Short list for consideration.

    Eagle One Prima
    Electra Verve
    Linea Mini

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