General impressions of an old ElEspresso

Hi all,

I just picked up an old El Espresso on eBay for $31 and am quite
pleased with it. There was some discussion on alt.coffee a while ago
and I wanted to share my impressions to add to what little info there
is on the thing. Hopefully the next person to find one of these
machines will benefit.

FWIW, my regular machine is a Rancilio S-27 with a Mazzer Mini grinder.
Keep this in mind if I start whining about something because
obviously, this machine is intended for a different audience. Pix are
here:

http://albuspuer.com/Espresso/ElEspresso/

Some general information:

54mm chromed brass retention-spring-equipped unpressurized portafilter*
9 oz stainless steel boiler**
Thermostat pre-set to 95 degrees C
1000 watt heater at 110 volts
Piston-type 75 watt vibe pump
3-hole steel ball-jointed (with only side-to-side mobility) steam wand
Portafilter locks into bottom of boiler
All-steel construction

Here are my initial findings:

1. Quite small.
>>From any angle, the entire machine can hide behind a single *** of
letter-size paper. It measures 8.5" square by 11"H. It is smaller than
a Cuisinart, a Dualit toaster, and takes up merely 1/6 the volume of
the S-27! (4995 vs 794 cu in)

2. Well made.
The Swiss really do a nice job. This thing is well organized and put
together. The acrylic water reservoir is retained by little detants in
the body, and there are slots to view the water elvel through. The
water tube has a priming bulb on the bottom. All the tubing is clear
bent acrylic or other hard clear tubing. the vibe pump sits on 2 huge
solid rubber mounts. All the wires are well routed and cabled.

3. Basic.
No gauges, no adjustable presso-stat, no 3-way valve. Just a pump, a
heater, and a hi-lo switch for the boiler/steamer and some "not ready
yet" idiot lights.

I've not had a machine that did not self-prime before. So when I filled
the reservoir with water and flipped the switch for the first time, I
was disappointed when nothing came out. Then vague memories of
alt.coffee readings reminded me to turn the steam wand on and wa-la!,
we have water.

The water stream is not a consistant temp throughout the pour. Because
of how small the boiler is, and hot little metal there is, it cools
from 95 degrees C to about 92 degrees over a 2 shot pour. The heat
kicks on 2 into the pour, but it's still not enough. It does,
however...

4. Make quite a decent cup of espresso.
The machine takes about 5 minutes to thoroughly heat up. From steam to
brew takes 3 seconds. From brew-steam is 18.

For the first shot, I used the same grind of Sweet Maria's Puro Scuro
that I feed the S-27 and it was a perfect choice. I happen to have a
"designer" tamp that is 53MM, so I put the pressure on, gave it a
twist, locked in place and hit the go button. To my surprise, we had
thick syrupy tiger-striping during the pour, which was about 19
seconds. This might be too long, given how small the filter is, and
that there was a bit of overextraction at the last couple seconds.

5. Prodigious steam. We are talking "able to steam a serious pitcher
of milk" pretty well. In fact, I found that since the steam lever is a
1/4 turn mechanism, I needed to be careful how much steam I initially
turn on, because the 3-hole wand has some major kick. I would say it
is EASILY as powerful for the first 10 seconds as my Rancilio, and
while it does taper off after that, it will keep on steaming for a
goodly time. I did a 2-cappuccino pitcher of milk, fairly well, in
well under 45 seconds.


Other bits:

*The portafilter is either 51mm or 54mm, depending on which end of
things you choose to consult.

**The boiler, which has highly magnetic steel components welded to the
top, appeared to be aluminum on initial inspection. However, in looking
closely at some of the corrosion around one of the bolts on the top, I
wondered if it wasn't brass inside with some kind of coating. The only
reference I could find online, which was via a google-cache, mentioned
that this thing had a stainless boiler, so I just don't know. The color
is wrong for aluminum, it's closer to magnesium/stainless color, but it
is matte finished. I scratched the boiler deeply with a screwdriver to
see if it was coated and it appears that the boiler is one material all
the way through.

Overall, it seems like a neat toy, a very decent machine, and is
certainly well made. The resulting cappuccino wasn't quite as wonderful
as it is in the Rancilio. The coffee wasn't quite as round tasting at
the very end and was generally not quite as smooth. Upon inspection of
one puck, it looked like the water hit it a bit too hot, looking at
another, it was textbook with the screwhead barely making contact, so
maybe I can figure out a work around by surfing. In other words, due
to its size, it is not as consistant as the S-27 and the resulting
coffee tastes like it--however it also cost 1% of the price of a new
S-27

I've seen a number of folks point out that it looks like a Saeco
Classico, and I too see the resemblence, however the Saeco's aren't
quite as, um, hefty feeling as this little thing, the way the edges are
bent on the Saeco's is not as crisp, and--being Italian--may have some
different parts, like the 1/4 turn steam knob. All that said though, it
is possible a Saeco of similar vintage shared a lot of parts with this
elespresso, as the coffee world simply wasn't and isn't that big.

Based on other espresso machines I have used in the cheaper end of the
spectrum, and given the high resale value of Silvias, I would put this
at a $150-175 mark on the used market. It is certainly comparable to
the Solis SL 70, which it reminds me a LOT of, and the brass/chrome
parts are so beautifully made that I wonder if it isn't an early
edition of the Solis in disguise.

Hope this is a useful contribution.
-Jesse

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