Great E61 espresso machine, competing with Isomacs and ECM
Positive Product Points
Heavy duty commercial E61 grouphead, 1,8L Boiler. The machine comes with a 3.5L water tank and an integrated descaler that lasts for about 2500 !! liters. The Butterfly is capable of frothing large amounts of milk at a time and produces the best espresso I`ve ever had.
Negative Product Points
Like most E61 machines the Butterfly tends to overheat a little bit when unused for a longer time period. Flushing a few ounces of water through the grouphead solves the problem with ease.
Detailed Commentary
I was searching for a HX machine and discovered the Butterfly more or less by accident in an espresso shop in Vienna. The big pro of the machine is in my opinion the price - you get a machine that could be compared to the ECM Giotto or Isomac Millenium for under $1000.- or €1000,- because i purchased the machine in Europe.
It`s a very heavy machine for this class, about 25kg. The Butterfly has an 1,8L copper Boiler that provides lots of steam power and hot wather on demand. The espresso quality is simply the best i ever had. With this machine I am able to produce consistent shots, no matter if single or double basket. The double portafilter produces more crema than the single, but that`s almost the same with other machines. Even a couple of guests are no problem to serve - producing 8-10 espressi in a row and a few cappucini - the quality is always great. I don`t know other machines than the Butterfly very well, except the Giotto (I was able to compare the machines a couple of times), but it`s very easy to produce shot after shot keeping the quality. When leaving the Butterfly on for a longer period the brewing water overheats a bit, like most other E61 machines flushing a few ounces of water through the group will solve the problem. When i turned the machine on the first time the pressure gauge showed 1.3-1.4 bar - to much for infrequent home use. I had to flush about 200ml of water through the group to remove the overheated water - after turning the pressurestat to 1.1bar about 100ml are enough to cool down. The drip tray holds about 1 liter, thats enough for me.
I have opened the machine and had a look into it - all the pipes are out of copper, no plastic. The electronics are located at the left side of the machine, not on the base plate, but at about 10 cm height. If there would ever run some water out of the boiler, for what reason ever, the electronics wouldn`t be damaged. The cupwarmer is removable and so water can be easily refilled without removing all the cups - a big plus in my opinion.
Buying Experience
I bought the machine at a local store in Vienna - tasteit.at I was just looking for information, but I fell in love with the machine and bought it together with an Innova grinder.
Three Month Followup
After using the Butterfly for about a Year I have to say that it`s still an impressive Machine! Still great consistensy, no problems at all, great Espresso - no one showed me a better one yet. Overheating is not as much as I have heard from other machines - but among Butterfly users, this seems to vary: If you consider buying an E61 Machine THIS one should really be in your mind.
