This is the second commercial machine I've owned since outgrowing my estro profi. My first experience was with a Wega Mini. That didn't go so well, but that's another story. Anyway, after lurking around alt.coffee for a while, I decided that instead of buying a new livia 90, I would attempt to find a used commercial machine on e-bay. I was primarily looking for a Unic as it seemed to have one of the largest boilers for such a small footprint (it's only 11" wide). As it so happened, I managed to find a little used 6 yr old. It arrived in one piece, in great shape, and fired up without a problem. In short, I love this machine. It came with 3 porta filters (single, double & triple, yikes!) and no instructions. However, I was able to get a manual from the nice folks on alt.coffee and soon I was adjusting the autosettings for the different shot sizes. Having owned it for a year now, I have not had to do anything major other than gasket replacements. Everything on the machine is very well laid out and working on it is very easy. It draws consistantly great shots
once fully warmed up, about 30 minutes, and has oodles of steam. I think the solid construction, large boiler, 110V system, footprint make it one of the best, home-commercial machines available. Plumbing into the sinks coldwater line (with an in-line filter/softener) was a breeze. |
