Lelit Elizabeth or Bianca

delta76

Adrianmsmith it is almost double the price so for most people that means better. in one aspect or another.
@foggydrake Espresso quality wise, both are on pair. Steaming on Bianca is much nicer.
Bianca wins on look and wow factors when you have guests. Elizabeth is much more compact and lightweight so easier on WAF. Bianca is more satisfying on tactile feedback (lever, knob), but also more troublesome on maintenance.

Owned both, sold both. Prefer Elizabeth because it was more trouble-free, but maybe I was getting a sour lemon with my Bianca.
So go with what your heart desires :D.

delta76

Emc2 no, don’t think you can tell that apart.

Ando nope. Did Elizabeth => Bianca => Decent. Let OP have the fun of upgrading ;)

Emc2

dfk41 I can’t explain why. Subjectively there was a big difference. You could argue it was placebo, bias etc but I can’t deny my subjective experience. I didn’t do any preinfusion mod though which might explain the difference.

delta76

Emc2 unless you do a blind test and with statistically significant result you can say for sure this one makes better espressos than that one. My memory is rusty but I think you need to pick out 8 out of 10 “better one” correctly to be definitive. Of course it is almost impossible to do in home set up, and I think most people agree that most decent machines make equally good espressos unless it has significant differences, like lever.
I could not tell my espressos were any different upgrading from Elizabeth to Bianca.
Money should be spent on grinder instead if you want better cup quality

Waitforme

It was looks that sold the Bianca to me over the Liz.

6 years on , used daily and not had a single issue , I’ve not even changed the group gasket.

Very rarely use the paddle , never use pre infusion.

I’d bet I couldn’t tell the difference between the coffee from a Bianca or Liz, they’re both pushing hot water through ground coffee at a set pressure.

Adrianmsmith

Waitforme 6 years on , used daily and not had a single issue , I’ve not even changed the group gasket

You sound like @dfk41 in disguise🥰

delta76

Waitforme really :o. Mine was stiff after one year so I decided what the hell and buy a cafelat silicone one and replaced it. around 8 GBP so why not
you probably can tell the difference if you used the paddle to mimick the declined pressure of the lever. but yeah most “good” espresso machines do just that - deliver hot water at set temp and set pressure. So if you make one on this, one on that, very hard to tell difference. What set them apart is how consistent and reliable they can do that, and other belts and whistles. If those thing are worth it, are up to individual preferences

James didn’t even bother to do a blind test, because he knows they would taste the same. If James can’t tell a difference, who am I to claim otherwise :)

dfk41

A large part of buying any equipment, is aesthetics and the opinion of others. In the grand scheme of making coffee, neither actually count. I was super excited many years ago to pick up a 5 month old La Marzocco GS3. I sold it after 3 weeks when I realised it did not contain a magic rabbit! The Elizabeth is certainly not as good looking as a Bianca or any other polished stainless steel type machine but I hate polishing smudges so it suits me. The Elizabeth was about the cheapest entry level dual boiler I could find from a reputable firm and had been the the DC review.. The thing about the paddle, and I have to profess my ignorance here having never used one, is how to yoy exactly replicate a shot?

Emc2

dfk41 you can do it manually by trying to superimpose on a favourite profile on the Pressensor app. Assuming that the puck prep is consistent, it’s relatively easy.

delta76

in any case, Decent is the answer ;)

Emc2

delta76 Traditional vs Modern 😊

foggydrake

Hi all, Thanks for taken the time and sharing your experiences and knowledge it’s been much appreciated.

The discussion has mentioned that a grinder and water are vital parts of brewing espresso. I believe my water supply is covered with staying in Scotland, we are lucky to have such an amazing quality, this also removes the need for descaling. I guess the grinder is work in progress as my journey continues and I gather experience and just like dfk41 mentioned going down the rabbit hole and coming back up for air from time to time

dfk41

foggydrake I have a friend who lives in a small village just outside of Edinburgh towards the coast. He googled the water quality report for his post code and was absolutely shocked to see how much calcium it contained, so he switched to an RO machine. You can find your local water quality report by entering your postcode on your water supplier’s website, which provides information on hardness, mineral content,

Always best to check!

foggydrake

dfk41 good idea never crossed my mind 👍

Cuprajake

id never put any tap water through a machine, always ro for me, up front cost of that vs yrs of maintaining it down the line, fwiw decent recommend rodi or zero tds water

Adrianmsmith

If you cant afford or don’t want RO or a filter system EVEN a Britta cartridge jug would be a big step up from actual tap water, and an absolute bare minimum approach.

delta76

Test strips are cheap and good enough to give you an idea how hard your tap water is. If it is not very hard, brita pro scale expert + in tank softener should be good enough

Adrianmsmith

delta76
The water around here is so hard it’ll break both your kneecaps rather than let you drink it 😎

foggydrake

Hi all

Just to let you know I just placed on order with BB for the Bianca :), Thanks for all your advise! Grinder upgrade next ;)

« Previous Page