Decided to start a little thread, documenting my journey and the vertical learning curve i seam to have been on. Like most, i got furloughed when covid kicked off and got bored so decided to get more into coffee. One thing after another with lots of reading on various forums, YouTube tutorials and what not,i bought a gaggia classic. Along with that i decided to get a 1zpresso for my grinding as i have a wilfa svart for all my pour overs etc. Well after wasting a good 500g of beans on the gaggia, i decided it wasn’t for me, and promptly sold it. Decided on the sage duo temp pro which i was initially going to buy in the first place,quick look and £249 later john lewis delivered my shiney new machine Now as much as i loved the 1zpresso, my shoulder didin’t so, that got sold in favour of an eureka mignon from @Black Cat Coffee Next up the upgraditus got a hold of me as i wanted a fancy looking machine, and i got a bit of a dark horse off ebay A la macatec elba one, e61 grouphead. I had long lusted over a dual boiler, mainly the lelit Elizabeth, with its pre infusion, quick heat up times it really is a fantastic machine, but id also noted the acs minima, another machine along the more traditional looks, and the looks along with the bigger boilers swayed it for me. So in the never ending revolving door of grinders with me, after having a eureak zenith 65, a niche and another mignon i saw a lightly used 2019 mazzer major on ebay, i added a Daniel wong doserless kit at the time, since gone to a funnel, even added ssp redspeed burrs I was going to used bottled water, either ashbeck or longhill, but then i spoke to a few in the know and did a bit of digging and settled on using ro water, remineralised with potassium bicarbonate, this will never scale the machine and makes for a tastey espresso to. After only having the minima for a short while a lever machine caught my eye, a 2014 londinium l1 - that was it i was in love, i sold the minima to fund the l1 and that was me set, the londinium moved home with me. i had a stunning set of handles turned by nick, they really sent the machine to another level, and i was happy in my own little coffee world, id been toying with med/lighter stuff but always found then too bright, to acidic to my taste, then one day the pressure relief valve blew on the l1, scared me to death, and that set about a refurb of the machine, but id lost all confidence, and decided now we had a bit of equity, that i would buy my first propper new machine, i lusted over the top spec londiniums but at £3500 ish they were just too much. the next machine came from bella barista, a crem one profiler, very capable machine, but arrived faulty, so had to go back, i have an amazing wife who said just get the machine you want, so i did, an lr24 stunner it was too, but sadly again came with issues and i returned the machine, :( after a little search i settled upon the lelit bianca- id always fancied a vesuvius profilong machine, but they too were expensive, so the lelit was the machine of choice, (2months later the ves dropped in price!!) and there a sat, happy as a pig in mud, the lelit a fabulos machine, quiet rotary pump, flow control, great heat stability, tbh it was almost boring as it just did its job, i still longed for another lever machine, once there in your blood they stick, they just look amazing. and what should pop up but an acs leva…a machine id been quite skeptical about, any lever seems to be quite polarising, just seems to be that way. id heard rumors read stuff saying how the machine was a miss match of parts, no good etc. but they still looked amazing, id followed the machine for a while and at the price it came up, prompted by a life even i thought stuff it! we’re here once, get it! and that leads me to now. its been an up and down journey, ive jumped on fads bought stuff that i totally didnt need, learnt less is definately more, when it comes to coffee, ive noticed that each step ive taken up the ladder, ive inproved my coffee, each machine has been better than the last, starting would i imagined id of spent so much for a coffee - hell no, am i glad i did - yes jake

Cuprajake That’s quite a quite a journey Jake! It’s amazing how much you persevered. A classic example for some one to learn and understand what it takes to keep the passion for coffee alive. The best part is your wife firmly supporting so that you get what you desire. Enjoy making coffee with Evo. She offers plenty of possibilities to keep you busy. Hope she stays with you for ever!

Unlike Jake, we mostly stayed pour overs - mainly the Indian filter for a good part of our life with occasional £100-£150 machines. When the last machine died on us in late 2020, we kept moving the goal post from Gaggia to Minima to Evo. The 150 quids to £2500 is indeed a massive upgrade. Sure, she is our end game machine.

Jake’s corner was great reading during the pandemic

Fabulous post @Cuprajake most interesting. It’s terrific to have that pictorial guide to your journey. Thanks for taking the time to share.

Cuprajake Great post, shows the journey for many of us. Some go there in one big jump, others take the longer road, which is probably more fun..

id of saved a small fortune going big first, but i dont think id of learnt or appreciated the subtle changes. ive had some fabulous products half not pictured haha

So with a great machine comes great responsibility 🤣 i mean gadgets and we all love new stuff True to form ive ordered a funnel, doesn’t fit, ive ordered a ims basket, and a normcore 58.5mm push tamper, with a plan to machine it down to fit the basket, for a mrs safe tamp🤣 Few internal pic Then an arty one

Great journey to finally end up where you are today. Best way to learn what you do a don’t like regarding machines and your coffee.

My Coffee Journey

Ernie1

Really enjoyed reading about the journey! That’s quite a few machines!

Some very nice looking machines too! I love the turned handles on the first lever machine.

Cuprajake

nick didnt, they were a very hard thing to make, had to design and make special mandrels due to the way the londinium handles are made,

dfk41

Cuprajake I have had dozens of Londinium handles turned foe me without an issue Jake. The chap used to charge me £15 and supply the wood! He would not turn anything exotic unless they had the right certification, so I wonder what issues the chap you used was having?

Ernie1

Cuprajake

Worth the effort though! What’s the wood? Love the figuring on it, reminds me of birds-eye maple.

Waitforme

Great read, thanks for sharing.

What you’ve got to do now is make sure that itch that has been scratching you for a couple of years has been well and truly cured 👌

Cuprajake

The wood is thyua burr,

Nick had no issues, theses were just the first he had done, so had to make his own tooling. Hes very particular about his work, which shows in his quality.

My modded pf locks in better but needs a tad more taking off,

I think im seeing the over shoot, so will change the pid setting when i find it 🤣 in other good new acs replied for me transfer warranty.

LMSC

Cuprajake im seeing the over shoot, so will change the pid setting when i find it 🤣 in other good new acs replied for me transfer warranty.

There was a programming issue with Gicar, which is Gicar’s fault.
This was recently discovered. Dave reported it recently. The value of B can vary from 1 to 999, where B = 0.05C.

The default settings should be:

Group 2.0, 0.04, 5.0, 40 (I have set mine at 15)
Brew 1.0, 0, 5, 140-160 (Mine 0.7, 0,12,190)
Service 10,0,5,1.0

Cuprajake

Mine are not that haha

Cuprajake

These are mine

—

LMSC

Cuprajake I have listed the parameters in the same order as you saw on your machine. Kp, Ki, Kd, B. Please change them to new values and go from there.

I dropped my group’s B as it was undershooting by more than a degree and resulting in longer waiting time. My brew still overshoots by 1.5C to 2C if the set point is >=100C. I have checked them for loose contacts. It is perhaps something local to my ambience or my machine. I have had not time to experiment further as I have not been using my Evo during the last 2 weeks as my Osmio has gone for a fix.

Our brew set point even for a medium light roast is 98-99C. It rarely overshoots by 0.3C-0.5C. We are good as long as we do not put up the set point of the brew.

Hope it helps!

Edit:

These changes were brought to our attention in recent weeks. Adam may not have had a chance to change the parameters. Please changes. You should see an improvement. Thx

Cuprajake

Thanks.

Ive used the unofficial guide i found to set, all are what you put, ive got the brew at 60 for now, as ive turned it off for the night.

How come your brew are so different?

Do you know the temp readings, when you set 88/96, 90/98, 92/100 etc

LMSC

Cuprajake ive got the brew at 60 for now, as ive turned it off for the night.

B at 60 give a 3C variation from the set point. You want to aim 7C -8C for it to be effective.

Cuprajake How come your brew are so different?

Most of the readings on the FAQ are based on my experiments with the brew overshoot before the recent changes. My parameters settings are what I find as temp stable. After the B valves were put up to 160, I took it to 190 to address the overshoot when the brew set point is >=100X or 102C. This B still doesn’t work for 100C and above.

Cuprajake Do you know the temp readings, when you set 88/96, 90/98, 92/100 etc

I will check and post when I start using the machine again. It is low on water. I need to wait for my osmio zero to be returned to me.

Thx

dutchy101

A great thread, written by a man who clearly has a very understanding wife.

I was a little surprised to see the Evo as your next machine @Cuprajake, you were toying with the idea of buying the Versuvias V2 only the other day lol

Cuprajake

dutchy101 I was a little surprised to see the Evo as your next machine @Cuprajake, you were toying with the idea of buying the Versuvias V2 only the other day lol

The import tax would of put it out of price range, plus i love levers.

Cuprajake

Thanks, i sha increase in the morning to @DavecUK 140 lowest setting.

Its fascinating how many adjustment’s there are

LMSC

As you know, please ignore the first 30 mins from the cold start before observing any temp overshoot.

Cuprajake

Giphy - studying short circuit GIF

Frothbewithyou

Great read @Cuprajake I sat reading this …obviously drinking coffee and enjoyed your journey and pictures. I am on the mountain pass route a long and arduous journey saving up to take the leap to the end goal machine first time around!

One day I will join you folks on the espresso mountain :D for now I will crank this shoulder like you did way back when with the X54 helping out on busy days.

Hope this inspires a coffee corner of people sharing their experiences!

Cuprajake

ive been lucky along the way, that we had money in the house from a move which allowed me to do so, i feel very lucky

DavecUK

Cuprajake ive been lucky along the way, that we had money in the house from a move which allowed me to do so, i feel very lucky

I think it’s hard for people to understand those who will happily spend 2 or 3K (sometimes much more) on equipment to make coffee. I have been blessed (or cursed) depending on how you look at it, to use upwards of 50 espresso machines in my time. In fact, one has been sitting in the hallway for a week awaiting unboxing and commissioning.

To me, the machines in a sense have no value…I look at them as a hobby, a passion to improve them. I do have some favourites though. Sadly, I rarely have time to enjoy them until something else comes along. I am wary of saying which are my favourites because it’s nice to see all the different machines out there. I suppose it’s like having a “hareem of machines”. I love them all in different ways. For the machines I own (I have forgotten a few):

MaraX I respect for it’s quiet pump and innovation as the last word in HX systems (at the moment)
Bianca for it’s innovatime approach, finishing and value
Elizabeth because it’s really clever and easy to maintain
ACS Minima (huge dual boiler performance), simple and very good price…even if it is noisy (they need to work on that) and really easy to maintain.
Vesuvius, complex, big, temp stable and very nice profiling (would love to see it upgraded/updated one day)
Crem one 2B LFPP (mine works OK), super innovative way of profiling works well, corporate owned, so development will sloow and difficult
Puristika, a temperature stable little gem, ideal for the small kitchen and hand grinding espresso/americano drinker. ECM quality
Duetto serial number 0001 - First dual boiler I helped design, kicked off a trend…so although I have not used mine for over 10 years…I always have a soft spot for it.
ACS Vesuvius EVO Lever Alpha - Although the Alpha machine it’self is a piece of junk a concept test bed, I loved it. Want to fix it up again and replace some of the scrap parts, best espresso I ever tasted…..my absolute favourite machine to use!!

LMSC

DavecUK think it’s hard for people to understand those who will happily spend 2 or 3K (sometimes much more) on equipment to make coffee.

Great read Dave! When you write that Evo is your favourite, it doesn’t get better than that. I hope Jake’s perseverance has paid off and he sticks with her for a while! 😊

Hobby ! yes exactly! It’s not how expensive a machine is or how many cups we drink a day. It is also nothing to do with how many £s we save by not going to coffee shops. This is how my family saw when I ordered the Evo.

dutchy101

DavecUK best espresso I ever tasted…..my absolute favourite machine to use!!

Wow. Fair dos

dfk41

DavecUK Dave, I take it you have never had a shot from a Londinium, to compare it to!

Grahamsphillips

DavecUK Thanks Dave.. interesting because it occurrs to me the Vesuvius plus a bluetooth connection and the right programming would be the perfect synthesis of build quality (ECM) innovation (Decent) all wrapped in a traditional E61 style body. Can you convince @Paolo_Cortese to update it? I love mine, which I bought second hand largely on the basis of your reviews; its taken me a year but I think I’ve finally got the hang of it!

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