I inquired about a restock of the Lelit Elizabeth from coffeeitalia.co.uk, but they said the machine has been discontinued. I replied to verify if they meant just not restocking or if it's actually discontinued. But of a shock if true…or is a V4 coming soon?

I've not heard anything? Welcome to the forum.

Howdy! I chatted with Bella Barista and they said because of a high rate of returns, they've stopped selling them. So I'm assuming this other dealer did the same. I spent a few weeks researching and finally decided on the Elizabeth…but now I'm back to researching again. Any recommendations on an alternative? What I loved about the Elizabeth was the long steam preinfusion and handy water spout (wife only drinks Americanos.). The only alternative I can really see is the noisy, plastic-y Sage Dual Boiler. I thought about the Ascaso Steel Duo PID, but it's limited to a 5 second preinfusion.

High rate of returns? wow. I am very very happy with my Elizabeth. Touch wood. Don't see myself replacing it anytime soon.

@"Inspector"#p56328 right? First I've heard in terms of return rate. Just odd that all the UK venders I've come across are all out of stock now. Shouldn't there be a bunch of refurbs or open boxes? My Glenda is still going strong the past year with zero issues, but I just want to get a dual boiler/thermoblock now for more convenient milk frothing. Plus a better hot water spout instead of a messy steam wand lol.

Not the first time I’ve heard about Lelit availability issues lately. However there’s a Bianca v3 for sale in the classifieds!

Jump to a Bianca if you can up your budget Failing that an ECM machine

They got back and confirmed they aren't selling because of the same issue of high rate of returns, not that it's actually discontinued. This new machine hunt is killing me! I might just stretch my budget or gamble with the Ascaso or Sage Dual Boiler. My wife is afraid to use a hot water wand spout, so I have to take some losses somewhere to get a nice, less scary water tap lol. Does the Bianca splash/produce a lot of steam when dispensing water?

It’s generally not recommended to use the hot water spout on any machine. Something about scale sitting in the bottom of the boiler but for me it’s the taste. Even after purging 500ml a week I’ve found water from the spout on every machine I’ve had tastes weird, somewhat synthetic. Most people just use the kettle if they’re making an Americano or similar. Every machine will also spit and steam a bit from the hot water tap as you’re forcing boiling hot water through a (cold) pipe and screen.

> @"Anthonyuk"#p56339 Does the Bianca splash/produce a lot of steam when dispensing water? You don’t want to use the hot water tap on your coffee. I don’t think it would taste very nice. Elizabeth is “special” in that sense as it dispenses the water from the brew boiler, which is mixed with the water from the steam boiler when at a certain temperature and if configured like so. All in DavecUK’s review. Sad to hear about the Elizabeth. It’s been great for me, I had for over 3 years, and I’d have a hard time choosing a new machine.

It kind of begs the question as to why machines have hot water taps but I'd guess it's partly just tradition and partly because there's still a huge portion of buyers who aren't fussy.

Lelit Elizabeth discontinued?

drdre89

@Anthonyuk Well I returned my Lelit Elizabeth a while back (due to the pressure spiking issue) and got the Rancilio Silvia Pro X.

I would highly recommend the Rancilio Silvia Pro X (in black or white) with the Pantechnicon drip tray upgrade. As it’s in the same price range and same type of machine as the Elizabeth.

Solidly built and will last you a very long time. Best of all ease of use and great coffee.

Cuprajake

Really depends what water you use
If the water cannot scale then it won’t make the steam boiler taste funny.

dutchy101

Hopefully this means the service boiler is still in good nick. Have only used remineralised zero water and RO water in the machine

JHCCoffee

I had owned a Lelit E until I upgraded. It had/has an ingenious design. It did have OPV valve slippage and steam valve base/knob leak issues, which my retailer (and thereby Canadian distributor) fixed under warranty. This cost them quite alot of money and time. Last time I looked they were still for sale in Canada. If I were to be buying again at that price point, I would wait and save and buy a Bianca. I kicked myself a thousand times for not stretching and buying a Bianca. If I could not wait I’d buy a Rancilio Silva (its a workhorse), put up with the temp surfing, use it for a while, resell and then buy a Bianca. Fyi, I currently own a Decent, but that’s a whole other story. I would absolutely not buy a Breville (too much plastic; its a mass produced machine that breaks).

drdre89

JHCCoffee Fyi, I currently own a Decent

How’s the Decent going for you… worth the price tag?

JHCCoffee

drdre89 How’s the Decent going for you… worth the price tag?

Its very well built. Steep learning curve but easy enough to use after that. Definitely a technical machine; you’ll either love or hate pouring espresso using a tablet interface (though you can also just use the controls on the grouphead); it’s not a touchy/feely lever machine. You can control everything and anything, so dialing in can be a challenge unless you are disciplined. Its easy to chase down rabbit holes. But if you focus on one or two variables at a time, it’s really easy to adjust the taste of your coffee. And when you hit a recipe and profile you like you can save it and use it again and again. If the recipe/profile you like is already there, just hit the pour button and go make toast or get some jam. Fortunately I bought “pre-owned” for ⅔ of retail (when you pay $4k CDN you don’t say “used” 😁 ) and bought an extended warranty (which I have yet to need). There is also a great community of Decent owners out there happy to help. And to share recipes/profiles via a 3rd party service called Visualizer. My main constraints are: a) finding decent decaf beans that have the taste profile that I like that are correctly roasted, and b) time availability to play with it and learn. So I am dipping my toe into roasting; just bought a FreshRoast 800 which I will mod; doubtless a Bullet will follow.

dndrich

My Elizabeth continues strong at about the 2 year mark. The Silvia would be a good choice too, except it is significantly larger and would not fit under my cabinet. So the Elizabeth has been a great choice for me. It is still available in the USA. Clive carries it and it is in stock from what I can tell.

delta76

Sad to hear, but not too surprised. My Elizabeth only had a small problem with steam wand with a slight deform teflon tube clogged one hole. Took me long enough to fix it. Lelit almost hit a home run with Elizabeth but they also seem to have made some bad decisions and used cheap parts where it is more likely to fail, like the steam valve.

For Americano I just use the kettle. Way faster and easier. I do draw the hot water from the steam boiler but only to warm up cups

drdre89

delta76 they need to release an Elizabeth v4.

DavecUK

delta76 . Took me long enough to fix it. Lelit almost hit a home run with Elizabeth but they also seem to have made some bad decisions and used cheap parts where it is more likely to fail, like the steam valve.

I never liked the valve that much, especially the knob (and told Lelit so), I actually thought a Toggle valve would be much easier, or if they wanted to keep the clean lines simply use a solenoid controlled valve.

There was a reason at the time they were suck using that knob and valve, but honestly…the time has come to change it.

delta76

drdre89 or even better, a Elizabeth X with more radical changes.

Lelit has been raising the prices but not their machines’ build quality. Can’t say I’m happy with that (I am still fond of them of course)

MediumRoastSteam

So what changes would you like to see on the Elizabeth?

delta76

MediumRoastSteam out of my head better build quality. easier to adjust OPV. stainless steel on both boilers.

other than that, surprise me!

MediumRoastSteam

delta76 stainless steel on both boilers.

Don’t forget the group is brass, and that the boiler is mounted directly on top of the group. Could there be a galvanic reaction risk?

MediumRoastSteam

Hot water tap that drains the service/steam boiler rather than mixing water with the brew boiler;
Better, nicer looking steam knob;
Better, nicer looking portafilter handle;
Slightly longer drip tray (maybe 1cm), so that the steam wand can rest over the tray, rather than the edge of the tray;
Nice to have: Volumetric rather than timed shots (I find timed shots useless);
Smarter express heat up time: Let the users turn that on/off in advanced settings, and, if steam is on, energise the steam boiler only when the brew boiler has reached the upper temperature. This way the machine does not need to share the current with both boilers, as the brew boiler will be off as it cools down from 130C. I have done this myself and one can then accelerate the heat up time by approx 4 or 5 minutes (i.e.: same as if only the brew boiler is on).
Would be good to be able to turn both boilers on/off individually, for those days where you just want to steam milk for a hot chocolate, or maybe coffee comes from another machine.

delta76

MediumRoastSteam I have no idea, I had no problem with the brass boiler, but if I can choose, I’d pick stainless boiler any day.

Maybe not possible to do for the reason you mentioned

DavecUK

MediumRoastSteam Don’t forget the group is brass, and that the boiler is mounted directly on top of the group. Could there be a galvanic reaction risk?

no, because the join is dry….galvanic reaction with steel and brass is only really an issue where they join in the presence of water between that join e.g. a screw thread

MediumRoastSteam

DavecUK Thank you for clarifying.

dutchy101

In wonder if these issues preventing long-standing stockers of this machine continuing to sell it are related to changes that have come into the product manufacturing process since the acquisition a year or so ago.

Seems a little coincidental timing wise

DavecUK

dutchy101 In wonder if these issues preventing long-standing stockers of this machine continuing to sell it are related to changes that have come into the product manufacturing process since the acquisition a year or so ago.

Seems a little coincidental timing wise

There are some new things coming from Lelit, at Host they did mention that they wanted to send me some prototype machines to look at soon.

MediumRoastSteam

DavecUK - I wonder if

dutchy101 these issues preventing long-standing stockers of this machine continuing to sell it are related to changes that have come into the product manufacturing process since the acquisition a year or so ago.

Is a comment related to the fact stockers like Bella Barista are no longer carrying the Elizabeth or the MaraX, only the Bianca. If memory doesn’t fail me, there was a post in his forum about this being the reason they were not stocking it - that they need to buy those machines in a much bigger quantity than what they were buying. But the reason has recently has changed to the high rate of defect on those machines, which I struggle to believe if I’m honest.

dndrich

I agree about the steam valve. But, the machine is otherwise so good. I think the build quality is just fine. I have opened the case many times for various reasons, and it really looks well done to me. And regarding the steam valve, this is really only an issue if you leave the machine on most of the day, which I do. But honestly, the machine has been such a performer.

MediumRoastSteam

dndrich And regarding the steam valve, this is really only an issue if you leave the machine on most of the day, which I do

You should really turn the steam /service boiler off when not using it.

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