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?

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.

dndrich

MediumRoastSteam yeah, but my wife might have a hard time firing it up!

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.

MediumRoastSteam

dndrich - ahhh! Understood. At least your wife uses the machine… unlike mine who’d rather drink instant! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

dndrich

MediumRoastSteam ouch…

delta76

MediumRoastSteam are you me? I have the same wife. “I can just drink instant”. “i drank coffee at the office and it tasted good”

Since I obtained Zero I have made her coffee with the worse beans. (still specialty with quite high SCA cupping score, it just the roaster did not do a good job)

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.

lnlyssg

Interestingly coffeeitalia have the Elizabeth back in stock now. Bella Barista have it as coming soon (which seems to be the term they now use rather than out of stock) but not sure why they are still listing it if they don’t plan to re-stock?

delta76

lnlyssg i know nothing about distribution network but I can imagine BB is negotiating, or negotiated a better deal. For example with return rate of 3% they have a 20% margin, but for Elizabeth as return rate of 5% they want a 25% margin to cover cost of support and restocking. Those numbers are made up of course but it is just business and if the balance sheet is positive then it is business as usual.

breeza

Bella Barista told me today that the last batch they had took a year to sell through and at the retail price the machine is not popular enough to restock. In comparison, the Proitec Go batch sold through in a month.

They suggested the Rancilio Silvia Pro X as an alternative. They said it was a more popular machine and also more reliable than the Elizabeth.

MediumRoastSteam

breeza - That’s interesting. It baffles me how they can compare the Profitec Go (Single boiler dual use machine) with the Elizabeth - A dual boiler machine.

The Rancilio Silvia X is indeed a direct contender.

Dusk

MediumRoastSteam

But I think the look and size of a machine can be a big influence on why people buy them, way beyond what the obvious logical/rational choice is. There are arguably many better machines than a La Marzocco LM at that price(and much less) but they still sell well.

lnlyssg

I got in touch with Bella Barista and the short version is that when Breville acquired Lelit they set high minimum order quantities that would have taken two years for BB to sell through. It seems that Breville are now working on a new price for the UK and lower min. orders which is due to happen in early 2024.

drdre89

@DavecUK can you put in a good word to the Lelit mob and see if an Elizabeth v4 is in the works? …. I’m sure the members of this forum can help with the prototype of what we would like to see and what can be improved from the v3🔬😎

MBdoc

I bought two Elizabeths from MaxiCoffee in France last year and both have been faultless apart from a transient problem with a small leak from the top of the steam boiler on one (a series of helpful posts on this forum and a Utube video from Lelit helped to sort this out). The mount of the steam wand was a bit graunchy on the same machine ( silky smooth on the other) - also fixed with a bit of silicone grease after advice from DaveC on this forum.

I have limited experience with coffee machines but I have owned several (Gaggia Classic, Ascaso Dream, Ascaso Duo Steel (not PID) before I bought the Elizabeths and several grinders (Aerolatte Mini 1, Ascaso Mini (250W), Eureka Mignon (converted to single dose) & Eureka Mignon SD). I used the two Ascaso machines for several years and had to replace the brew boiler on both and a valve on the Duo otherwise they were very reliable although the Dream was a bit fiddly to use with milk. Both Ascaso’s were sold after I bought the Elizabeth’s. I have kept the two Aerolatte grinders as they are easy to adjust quickly and fine for grinding coffee for a cafetière or Bodum vacuum (this does make excellent coffee).

I now just use the Elizabeths and the Mignon grinders (SD is by far the best) which save a lot of coffee and are quick and easy to use.

I checked MaxiCoffee today and although they still sell a range of Lelit machine not the Elizabeth any more. I will ask them why.

MBdoc

I asked my supplier (MaxiCoffee in France) about problems with supply of the Lelit Elizabeth and here is the reply received today

“I’m glad to inform you that the LELIT Elizabeth is coming back in stock next week.”

skylark

I just hate on the steam wand. Everything else seems to be aok in my world. Im drinking less, more half and half on docs advice but steaming milk with that offset on the wand is just wrong. Give me a short stubby straight (alliteration) wand and i’d be gushing about it. Can i possibly change it (easily) and with what?

dndrich

skylark Interesting! I am perfectly delighted with the wand. It works quite well for texturing milk in my 16 oz pitcher. But as my mother used to say, that is what makes horse racing! Good to have so many wonderful choices in these machines. I love my Elizabeth, but there is so much quality out there in other machines too. We are lucky.

MBdoc

I agree with dndrich. The steam wand on the Elizabeth is fantastic. It makes far the best foam Ihave ever had very easily. I start in a 600ml jug and once the milk has foamed to the top and reached 65C I pour it into a 900ml jug and swirl three time to disperse the larger bubbles.

Previously I found the wands on both the Ascaso Dream and Duo Steel to be very hard to use and converted them with a Gaggia Classic plastic tip which was much easier to use but nowhere as good as the Elizabeth once the right technique to get a smooth foam is mastered (just keep the tip close to the surface of the milk until it reaches about 1 cm from the top then plunge to full depth until milk reaches 65C)

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