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My quest for great espresso never seems to end. My manual lever espresso machine arrived early in the week. I had a few hangups not realizing the size of the grouphead and ended up having to re-order the proper tamper base. Anticipation is the worst after all. After sorting out all the necessary equipment the espresso trials began.

I had actually planned on taking shots of my very first pulls, no matter how embarrassing, but I have a huge problem when I get excited. I tend to rip through stuff and drink up all my trials. One of the hard things about photographing espresso for me is that it cools so fast and I take pictures extremely slow. I Honestly would rather taste my trials than photograph them. So please forgive for no espresso pictures right now. I do intend on taking a shot when I get my pulls correctly. Perhaps even a video.

Needless to say my first pull completely surprised me. I didn’t choke the machine but the force needed to actually pull the shot threw me a bit. The grind wasn’t right, but my dose and tamp turned out nice and even. The shot was incredibly thin and sour. After a little grinder adjustments I was able to pull a few drinkable shots. Still a little on the sour side, but getting better. The taste of espresso is actually quite a bit different from a lever machine than my Le’Lit pump machine. The La Pavoni really seems to separate out the notes in coffees, while the Le’Lit kind of melds them together. I wouldn’t say I really prefer one over the other, it’s just different.

I’m still learning how to pull proper lever shots and I will report periodically on my findings.