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It'd be interesting to get the opinion of someone new to espresso brewing on lever machines.
I'd always written them off due to pressure being an additional variable to manage. Though you do generally get constrained on the volume of water put through so maybe there's a balance there.
Maybe the more hands-on nature is actually a benefit.
Maintenance definitely improved over pump-driven machines at least.
mmccarthy-
My first proper espresso machine was a manual lever, a Gaggia Achille HX lever. This was before I worked in coffee. I absolutely loved it and I think it shortened the learning curve by being able to rescue a channeling shot by modulating pressure. Gave me an intuitive sense of temp management too as flushing the machine by different volumes allowed fine tuning of brew temp. It’s a shame those machines were fatally flawed by an unsolvable hx leak as they made incredible coffee. The relationship between texture and pressure made me fall in love with lever machines. I’ve owned and restored a whole load of commercial levers since, I need to get on and fix my La Peppina for home.
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Someone new to the preparation of espresso certainly describes me!
In terms of pressure what the maker of the Robot says is that traditionally lever machines rarely attain the 9 bar that so many aspire to, and his machine for most users seems to produce great results in the 5-8 bar range.
Stevethecoffee
withered_preacher
I’d look into the Robot as well, easy to use and even easier to maintain.