Funny I was thinking about that recently, was wondering if I just somehow missed the final outcome. And placement.

ETA sorry LP I just realizing I shouldn’t have posted so that this stays on top for him to see.

FOAS, I don't have time to search it, but there is a report on the finished installation, with pictures. I too was wondering if the machine was figuring into all the entertaining/catering...

Why, you want me to talk about Elektra? Don't mind if I do...

She (anthromorphism) has been operational in the dining room for, gosh, many months but not yet a year.

There were frustrating problems for the first few months, mostly having to do with leaks.

The little leaks from the machine itself were irritating, individually not too hard to chase down but there were quite a number of them, none of which had been apparent when the machine was running in the garage. I think the reason is that the machine is on a timer, it turns off at 10 pm and on at 5 am. This was to save energy, but results in the machine cooling down and heating up daily, which seems to be more stressful than simply being on 24/7. I probably should just run it all the time, that's what these machines were designed to do.

The bigger problem was leaks from the 3/8" plastic tubing/line and John Guest push fittings that make the water supply line. I had a couple floods. In the dining room. On the hardwood floor. So that corner of the floor may need some refinishing someday, which means by the next person who owns this house, as it's not noticeable enough for me to care. Anything that isn't detectable unless I get down on my knees and feel with my fingers isn't going to trouble me.

I could not figure out why the fittings would suddenly start spraying and seeping. I recut the line and even replaced all the fittings to no effect. Much anguish. Well, it turns out that the 3/8" tubing that Home Depot sells *for this exact purpose* is cheap, undersized, generic crap. Once I bought genuine John Guest tubing from my trusted supplier of specialty espresso gear, all these issues disappeared.

Elektra has been running uneventfully for a few months now. Some routine maintenance, cleaning, etc but that's all. I have accumulated various parts and have some interesting modifications planned, but that's for next year.

Okay so what do we actually do with Elektra?

Every morning, SWMBO gets a latte placed on her bedside table. She's become rather spoiled about it, actually. When I'm out of town, she texts me complaining about "no latte!?". She's stopped going to cafes, claiming that our lattes are better. She just suggested that I shouldn't "sleep in" on the weekends, because she can't get out of bed without her bedside latte.

I have a shot, or Americano, or latte, every morning before going to work. Sometimes I'll have a couple shots when I get home as well. But usually not. When I first got Elektra, I also started having trouble sleeping. It turns out that if you have six shots of espresso after 6 pm, there are Consequences.

On the weekends, we have more espresso.

It is when people are over that Elektra really comes into her own. Pretty much everyone who visits before 5 pm wants a latte. Or two. When we have daytime events, that can mean a lot of espresso.

This morning, we hosted a house party for a candidate for our Secretary of State. (Yes we've been doing a lot of events lately, but a friend is her communications manager and asked us so naturally SWMBO said yes; the candidate is a pretty remarkable woman and SWMBO did most of the work so I gave my permission, as if it matters...) There were about 27 attending and I served about twenty lattes. Elektra was made for that. With two groups and an 11 liter boiler she will pull shots and steam milk non-stop. Her four-hole steam tips will heat and texture a 32 oz pitcher of milk in about 20 seconds. I have figured out an efficient workflow and can produce six lattes in about as many minutes, without rushing. These are proper 8 oz lattes, not 20 oz Big Gulp Venti monsters - those take longer because each requires two shots.

What hasn't really come is much skill at "latte art". If I concentrate, I can do decent hearts and leaves. Tulips, not so much. And if I get sloppy, everything becomes a hasty cappuccino. I figure it will come with time. Most days I'm only making one latte so I'm not getting as much practice as a barista would.

Elektra's sister - you'll recall I actually restored two of these machines - is in actual commercial service in my friend's shop. I was there for their opening a few weeks ago. My friend is a coffee roaster and knows about filter and cupping, but not espresso, so he has a learning curve. I don't know how far he's gotten on that curve. On opening day I was pressed into service as the barista and cranked out the dreaded 20 oz takeaway lattes all morning. I will have to go over there soon and see how things are going, and tend to any issues or maintenance.

My Elektra leads a pampered life by comparison. A retired workhorse, she mostly loafs around making one or two lattes a day, and occasionally gets to stretch her legs.

I haven't gotten fussy with the espresso. We use very standard dark roast beans. Don't tell anyone, but I sometimes buy the 2 lb bags of Starbucks or Peets "dark roast" beans at Costco - because I can't see spending $25 for a pound of fancy beans. I tune the grind to 20 g coffee in, 40 g espresso out (2:1 brew ratio), in about 45 seconds (a slowish shot). My tastes are for very traditional Italian type espresso, a little bitter and kind of sweet and very dark and strong, and thus I like my own shots better than about 90% of the shots I get at Portland's cafes.

Almost every cafe shot I try is unpleasantly sour, to my taste, because (I believe) they are using the currently-trendy medium or light roast beans without talking the time to pull them properly. For example, I went to a cafe that had a two group Slayer, which is a $10,000 machine designed to pull shots from medium and light roasted beans, using preinfusion and then rising pressure, with the shot taking about 60-90 seconds. The barista whacked out my shot in the "standard" 20 seconds and it was awfully sour.

I also have a little roasting machine now. Two, actually. SWMBO bought me a FreshRoast, and my roaster friend gave me a Behmor. However, I haven't had time to try roasting my own beans. That's a 2020 thing.

We've been having fun lately with affogatos (a shot of espresso pulled into a scoop of vanilla ice cream) and espresso stout (a shot of espresso slowly poured into a pint of stout beer). We have also made cappuccinos but lattes are more interesting, because of the "art" aspect. I haven't seriously tried making any of the other espresso drinks - alternative milks, ristrettos, shot in the darks, etc.

I've learned that I'm not obsessive enough to be a *real* espresso aficionado. I have a scale but usually don't dose or pull by weight. I tried stirring and grooming the grounds in the portafilter (aka WDT) but found that it takes too long. I do use a bottomless portafilter.

So that's the report. Next year, when I add the variable pressure profiling, preinfusion delay, digital temperature control, etc I'll post again. If I ever get good at tulips I'll certainly come brag about it. And when I start trying to roast coffee, expect lots of questions!

I'll post a pic later.

I'm now looking for another machine to restore, for my office, but haven't found anything interesting enough for cheap enough. I'd like to find a tatty Elektra "Belle Epoque" (Google it, they are stunningly beautiful!) for $200. You can stop laughing any time.

After doing the two Elektras, I was asked to fix a "Grindmaster" commercial machine for a dance company. That was such a weird and unpleasant machine to work on, that I am going to be selective about what I take on. I have also fixed two little Starbucks "Barista" type machines, one for DD's college apartment and one for a friend. Those are very easy to work on.

I found it. Report at the end of the original thread. Search on "espresso".

AMAZING! I wish I had your technical acumen John!

This is an Elektra "Belle Epoque", the largest and showiest of the Elektra "Verticale" espresso machines. The site from which I took the photo says it was taken in Venice.

I would like to someday get one of these machines, or a smaller Verticale model. However, the Belle Epoque is $11,000 list price so a used, non-working, cheap one will have to drop in my lap for this to ever happen. It would be fun to restore something like this. Exactly where it could then go is another question.

I must say John, I do really admire your energy and gumption to achieve what you seem to do and accomplish on a regular basis! And something you mentioned in another entry? You work for a living at the same time you do all this? Must have the superman gene hidden away in there somewhere.

My hat, baseball style but it's still a hat, is off to you sir!

Yeah, mine too!

R2D2's sexy cousin!

LOL!

"R2D2's sexy cousin!"

That was my exact first reaction, too! !

Rusty

Oh my, what a beautiful machine! I think you'll like roasting your own coffee, when you get to that point. The only problem is that I've gotten to the point where I just don't order coffee out most of the time, I like my freshly roasted Chemex pour over coffee so well.

Your wife is very lucky, if I were to get a latte in the morning, I'd have to make it. To be fair to Elery, though, he does get up before me and make a pot of coffee and has it waiting in a thermos on the counter.

Annie

I admit that I really don’t get the American preference for supersized drinks. There is no way I could (or would want to) drink 20oz of anything in one drink.

Wow! That is a gorgeous machine.

colleenoz, people get those 16 and 20 oz drinks "to go" so they aren't consumed in a sitting. The typical US to-go 16 or 20 oz latte is very weak, only about 40-60 ml of espresso, its basically coffee-flavored steamed milk. SWMBO now prefers our home lattes which have that 40 ml espresso in just an 8 oz drink.

I used to have a job which required me to be at my desk ay 5:30 am. So I'd ride my bike to work, sit down with a high heart rate, when the cafe opened I'd have a 20 oz coffee, an hour later I'd have another, so by 9 am I'd had 40 oz of coffee and been working for 3.5 hours . . . Then another coffee later, I think I drank a 1/2 gallon of coffee a day then, solely to stay awake and wired. Now I'm much more restrained.

I still wouldn’t drink 20oz of anything in an hour. If I did, I’d never get anything done, because I would be stuck in the bathroom!