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That's a tough one. I have heard the MaraX is not as good build quality as the Profitec, but I haven't seen one in person to compare. I would think adding a temperature indicator to a Profitec would make it the better choice because you don't start using it until the temp is right. The cold touch steam wand and water outlet on the Profitec are very nice to use. There is not a single thing about the build of the Profitec that I don't like except that a water level indicator would have been helpful instead of just stopping when it gets low.

It's a pleasure to use and to look at!

Search for Bellman Stovetop Steamer 50SS. I bought mine second hand from eBay, but in Australia the website Alternative Brewing sells it, among others.

@@michaelporter000 Thanks.

Sure, but I followed the provided instructions exactly and then tried variations and searched for other instructions I could find and nothing produced coffee anywhere near as good as a moka pot when used with a dedicated milk steamer. And I'm not a coffee novice.

Some people seem to like it- not me or you!

I heard that the 3 position switch is low temp for dark, medium temp for medium or light roast, and high temp just for better steam, but I always use the high temp. After 40 minutes the group is at the right temp of around 94 'C, but it can vary up over 100 if left on long enough. That's why I would recommend swapping the pressure gauge for a temp gauge so you know what it really is. HX machines don't have accurate temp control on the group, even though presumably the boiler pressure control is accurate because it uses PID.

No, sorry - I haven't found any more information. I have the original instructions booklet. I was told some chain store sold it in Australia for a short while a long time ago, but the booklet doesn't indicate which store.

Yup- It's a long time and I'm not happy with the inefficiency of this, but it makes good coffee. No comparison with something like a Breville Bambino on both aspects - energy and coffee quality!

I have a smart plug on my with a schedule set. It's no problem, when I wake up the machine is hot and the cups in top are warm too. I make 2 lattes in less than 5 mins every morning. It's a great machine, far superior than any breville

I have one as well as find that it heats up perfectly in about 25 minutes. Maybe it depends on where you live and temperature of the home/humidity levels. If I turn it on a second time, it heats up even faster.

25 min heat up warrants an automatic start up schedule option. 😢

Moka pot can make very good coffee if you use the right technique, but can easily make bitter coffee from over extraction if you use the wrong method. Basically don't pack grounds in hard, fill with boiling water, and cool with cold for water as soon as it is finished ie when it splutters.

Thanks. The Mara X looks interesting but I'm told it is noticeably lower build quality.

Great comments. This unit does have PID control of the boiler so that part of the temp is controlled. I have definitely never seen anything near 98 degrees at the group head but clearly the thermal mass of the group head resists any quick temperature changes. I wonder how fast the flow of water inside the head is during thermosyphoning. In the end I have concluded that the group head temp prevents wide enough brew water that I am able to taste. Maybe if I left it on all day when the weather is hot it may overheat enough to taste but I rarely leave it on more than a few hours. Note that the water flow rate is small when pulling a shot so the thermal mass of the head will prevent large temperature changes. When flushing the flow is much faster and temp displayed changes much more.

The 2 in 1 unit was much more expensive for me so I don't think just the added pressure gauge is worth it, unless you are planning to use it very often. If safety is your only concern I think the over pressure valve is perfectly safe.

This is the original Flair classic.

No, I don't think that is normal and mine doesn't do that. There is certainly some dripping from the back flush outlet while first heating but it stops. There must be a seal that needs replacing. I would guess it is the valve seat seal for the lower valve operated by the lever. Basket leaks would be a leak in the valve seat seal for the upper valve operated by the lever.

@michaelporter000 Thanks for explaining, I got mine just 3 days ago, will take it back to the shop.

Yes, that is the normal process. What I'm describing here is an alternative process called Blooming Espresso which can produce superior results for some coffees.

It depends on which model you have. The pre-millenium models that have a high and low heat setting usually have a steam heated group and then the Bong isolator is a must. If it's a later model then maybe a thinner isolator is enough. The heatsink is a bit over the top for most but it just provides an easier mount for the digital display probe. Temperature indicator stickers are probably ok instead of a digital display but are slower and harder to read.

⁠@@michaelporter000 thank you. What do you mean by a thinner isolator? It is a 2020 Europiccola. I was planning to get the bong isolator and the temperature sticker (colored one). Do you think it is a good set up?

The bracket came with the display and has 2 button batteries. Probably bought from coffee-sensor.com

The portafilter probably came from coffee-sensor.com. I had trouble finding a puck screen and ended up buying a larger one and grinded it down to size. Hopefully you can find one to avoid that job.

@@michaelporter000 Tudor at coffee sensor has been super helpful throughout my learning process and post sale - spent almost the same amount as my LP on upgrades and stuff with them too! hehe

I would guess this is around 1bar pressure. Definitely nowhere near 9bar for espresso.

I don't think it would have any effect on the sputtering.

It needs to be small. There is no pressure rating or anything but the one I used was small and still a really tight fit. To be honest it worked almost as well without this mod and just doing the first mod which requires bleeding off some air manually using the steam knob.

@@michaelporter000 Thanks for the reply. I was just hoping there'd be an easy way to tell if a particular gauge wouldn't also need the spring...

Yes, I always do that but it is still a bit spongey compared to Flair. There is an air buster kit for La Pavoni to fix this issue, but I don't find it much of a problem.

yeah Im looking at that too and pressure profiling gauge .. looks to be a nice piece of kit . I was having several issues.. I spent much time as a roaster and commercial machine restorer but this little thing perplexed me and I moved on to other machine's but now back playing with it... I have no issues getting nice microfoam even with stock 3 hole tip but the shots have been very inconstant.. sometimes lever would just be stuck up and cannot pull down and sometimes just goes right now with no resistance... i came to conclusion im over pressured because its too hot and maybe not pulling up some before pulling shot... when I started doing that and monitoring pressure after adding my gauge.. that settled down... we will see if its consistant.. for now it seems to be @@michaelporter000

The lever lift technique didn't change much and it was still very spongy at the bottom on my LP Esperto Abile - the problem's only solved after getting AirBuster from CS guys. I'm still testing it but now there's absolutely no sponginess at all. However, lately my espresso starts to squirt a bit from IMS portafilter's filter which didn't happen but might be related to coffee beans or other things. Will do back to beans soon that didn't case it and then will confirm. Also, the overflow pipe in AirBuster sometimes can release a lot more water than it normally does - don't know why but most of the time it's steam or few drops. The shots are great though and can take out portafilter within seconds without having to wait for the remaining pressure in group (that pretty much was always building up without AirBuster) to be released somehow.

@@dparham I'm also experiencing the problem of quick flow vs very slow. The first shot flows quicker than subsequent ones for no apparent reason - same beans, grinder settings, amount of coffee, group temperature and pressure applied from the outset so it's still a puzzle but happens less frequent now. Normally it would be caused by grinding beans too coarse or too fine but it's not the case when none of settings change.

@@anylookup I dont use mine tat often, since ive gone back to just espresso when I was using the pavoli for microfoam. I use a Portapresso device which has a lot of control and very consiseant its hand made out of Austraila

I only have a stainless steel moka pot and it has been fine. They can easily taste bitter which could be confused for metallic. For that, fill with boiling water, don't pack in hard, and take off the stove and put in cold water as soon as it finishes making coffee, ie when it splutters.

If you get no foam after emptying the air, it must be because you have developed a technique of not introducing any air yourself during steaming, probably because of this Bellman shortcoming. You need to change your technique now to intentionally add air - which is called stretching the milk. As soon as the milk is spinning, lower the jug until the tip is near the milk surface and you hear a paper tearing sound, which is air being slowly injected. Keep it there until the jug reaches body temperature and then push the tip well under the surface to complete heating the milk. Also, you can trust the safety valve. Bellman explosions are usually just the lid seal blowing out because the lid wasn't done up tight and are nothing to do with the safety valve operation.

@@michaelporter000 Theoretically I know all that. But when I try to stretch the milk the angle with the hole just don't work, that push the milk without create bubble (why I thought, there is not enough pressure). I have drop 2 cup of milk. I played with the angle, up and down below or above he surface until the milk burn my hand. And barely zero foam. Not even large bubble. Then, when we see your example you barely stretch the milk, in a second the tip is below the surface. Another thing. I can control the stretching and get large foam or finer foam with the basic Bellman's technique. So theoretically I do stretch the milk somehow. (Maybe it's easier with the little bit of foam created by the air) Edit: after some test with water to see the vortex, and the air flow. I'm pretty sure that's a lack of pressure. If I let the pressure build over a minute after emptied the air (Bellman recommend 30 sec to 1min as soon as steam get out of the wand) without reach the safety valve. (the manual say to dont rely on it, i'm gonna follow the documentation) I have a better vortex and air intake. So my technique seems good. I will try to remove the air with more pressure few more time to see if the consistency of my froth is improving. Otherwise. i will just stuck to the official Bellman's technique.

Yes- I was surprised I couldn't find an example on the internet so I had to draw my own very rough one. Glad someone found it useful!

Yes, you are right

You are welcome 😊

Expensive but worth it. Makes the best coffee and has milk steaming all in one unit. Fast heat up and you don't need a kettle. Always enjoyable to use. It's even easy to take on holidays too.

No. Ironically I found temperature control better on the La Pavoni until I recently bought a temperature probe for the Profitec and discovered that 30 minutes heat up time is the absolute minimum and I have to use the high heat setting. Now I don't get sour shots on the Profitec but the best shots still don't seem quite as good as the La Pavoni.

@@michaelporter000 you came to a conclusion that a lot of folks came to in my understanding. Nothing beats a manual machine in terms of shot quality. A semi automatic machine like the profitec makes brewing consistently easier at the expense of getting those really good shots. Plus, Heat exchangers come with their own limitations, heat-up times being just one of them. It seems like there ist No perfect machine. I will stick to manual brewing as you have the most control over the relevant parameters.