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Having never used a ROK I can't compare pressure but you do want to feel like you're trying to push down with some pressure (yeah that's pretty vague too!). I have a similar machine, the Romantica GRL. Did you get drips during pre-infusion? I find if I get drips (using a spouted portafilter, if naked then I believe you'll start to see small drips) then I know the grind is too coarse and I'll go finer next time. In any case, the beauty is that you can apply whatever pressure you like and time it however you like to get whatever taste you like best! Just requires some trial and error
I have just graduated from my ROK Espresso/Bellman Steamer combination to a La Pavoni Romantica Stradivari.
The unit is a 2013 model, purchased in 2015 from everyone's best friends at newcafeitalia, and I purchased it on gumtree for what I think is a fair price (would love for people to guess how much I paid).
There are probably not too many people out there who have found a lever based machine be easier and more convenient than than their current setup.
I made the puck as I would for the ROK, albeit slightly less coffee. 15.5g on grind fineness 14 on my Breville Smart grinder, with a 'decent' tamp.
Pre-infused for 10s, then pulled the shot, which was so much easier than I had expected, and 15s later had about 28g of espresso with decent amount of crema.
If the shot was that easy to pull on my ROK, it would have been hot brown liquid and straight in the sink, but the shot was quite tasty.
Compared to my ROK, significantly stronger flavour, after adding milk, much darker.
I wonder if the pressure of the boiler allows for hotter water and more extraction?
So super happy with that result for shot1, will try a finer grind next time to get a bit more extraction time.
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