Over the last few months Ive been trying to get a machine to replace the Silvia, without spending thousands of dollars. As a result of my shopping around Ive now got a 2 group Faema Express, an ECM Veneziano_ A2 (2 group) and a La Pavoni Europiccola, in addition to the Silvia, the Presso and a plunger. Unfortunately while these are excellent machines in their own right, none of these provide the ideal domestic solution of a moderately sized device with excellent thermostability qualities, able to churn out the drinks in quick succession when required, and with the easily adjustable qualities of the Silvias PID.
Thursday just gone I walked into The Coffee Barun to deliver some tampers and Mark had two of the latest Expobar Minore IIIs on the shelf. And then there was one.
Initial results are excellent - shots have been more persistent than with the Silvia and milk performance is definitely a step up. Warm-up time is surprisingly short, though considering each boiler is fed by a 2000w element its not unexpected. Quality control isnt brilliant - one of the pressure gauges wasnt oriented correctly in the cutout, the hot water wand fouls with the group lever when over the drip tray (and its not cool-touch either!) and some unseen panels have all sorts of straight line markings to line up where to drill / punch holes in the panels. But none of that affects the shot quality which is excellent. Hopefully this will permanently inoculate me against the upgrade monster!
Now I just have to get rid of the other four machines!

Thursday just gone I walked into The Coffee Barun to deliver some tampers and Mark had two of the latest Expobar Minore IIIs on the shelf. And then there was one.

Initial results are excellent - shots have been more persistent than with the Silvia and milk performance is definitely a step up. Warm-up time is surprisingly short, though considering each boiler is fed by a 2000w element its not unexpected. Quality control isnt brilliant - one of the pressure gauges wasnt oriented correctly in the cutout, the hot water wand fouls with the group lever when over the drip tray (and its not cool-touch either!) and some unseen panels have all sorts of straight line markings to line up where to drill / punch holes in the panels. But none of that affects the shot quality which is excellent. Hopefully this will permanently inoculate me against the upgrade monster!
Now I just have to get rid of the other four machines!



Eventually discovered the water level in the tank was a bit too low! :-[ :
Shots are definitely more persistent and blonding takes longer to onset, Im guessing the preinfusion has something to do with that.
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