CI takes on upgrade fever! (preliminarily)
May 7, 2005 – 1:59 am
(the paddlewheel group. hat tip: tonx.org)
the only thing i’m sure of, at this point, is that (a) there are two stunning and already-lauded additions to ‘prosumer’ machinery, and (b) along with some jaw-dropping innovations they do indeed push the upper price strata still higher. my own $1,200 isomac tea has previously been eclipsed (slightly) at the top of the heap by the tricked-out andreja premium. not worth my money, despite its strengths, because the espresso quality would remain unchanged — its advantages are in process and some nice bells and whistles. with the latest starlets, however, there seem to be some long-awaited and long-lasting breakthroughs.
i’m still reading the specs on these and getting what scant first-person opinion there is so far. am i buying? sparky, no. but there could come a day … besides, blogs are for dreaming.
la marzocco. a burnished pedigree for multi-group commercial machines, and now a home model. one word: paddlewheel. this is their answer to the e61 (my grouphead, an italian piece of engineering genius that’s pretty much held its own since 1961). instead of hand-controlled lever action, you get a paddle wheel and a massive, water-filled external grouphead that looks as if a nitrous oxide canister has lodged itself on the front of said machine. incredible research and development, including parts that must be manufactured from scratch, commercial-grade innards, etc. etc. meaning: you’d have to be crazy to buy until the market responds and the price goes down (word is: $4,500 to begin with, later in the $3,200 range).
synesso. heretofore unheard of, now a serious playa. extremely stable thermal elements, it would seem. the temp control on appears to be awesome and unflappable. not real sure how the groups, electronic temp controls, water pre-heating and all works, but it does have some quirky feats — the steam lever, for example, cool-touch steam wands, internal cooling fans for long life, etc. no price specifics, but one could guess … someone needs to take the plunge on this one and start informing the rest of us.
note: pics above are also links to primary info pages for these machines. more LM paddlewheel specifics and rumors here and here. the nitty gritty on synesso found here and here.
*sigh* now all one needs is this sort of grinder innovation, and i’ll be completely in a malcontented lather.
