Crew Review: Rancilio Egro ONE Commercial Superauto

Got a spare $13k lying around that you’re just not sure what to do with? Of course you do! And the obvious expenditure is on a commercial-class superautomatic like the Rancilio Egro ONE.

OK, maybe it’s not up your alley for a home machine, but this fully programmable superautomatic would be right at home in a convenience store — you can program specific drinks and set it up to take payment — or a high capacity restaurant, cafe or drive-through espresso stand that requires extreme efficiency.

Watch Gail go through all the features and make us a few different drinks on this super fancy little number.

Crew Review: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker

We recently got our little paws on the very popular programmable One-Touch Tea Maker by Breville. Featuring presets for type of tea (black, green, oolong, herbal, etc.) and then a correlated variable steeping time that determines brew strength, the One-Touch Tea Maker also lets you customize for your preferences and program it for auto-on functionality. Yes, that means you can finally realize your dream of waking up to that fresh pot o’ tea in the morning.

Watch Gail run through features, functionality and then brew up a pot of Dammann loose leaf tea.

Which Brew Temperature is Best for Lavazza Super Crema?

We took one of our most popular coffees, Lavazza Super Crema, and brewed it using different temperatures on the La Spaziale Mini Vivaldi. While the 204F degree espresso extraction temperature is a general rule of thumb, a lot of single origin/estate beans and even some blends are particularly sensitive to heat and will perform better at a different temperature.

Watch as Gail brews several shots at different temperatures, tasting each to determine the ideal brew temp for Super Crema.

Francis Francis X7 Internals

While working on a Francis Francis in our repair center, we found out it’s awesome little secret: It comes with an internal PID! You can’t adjust it yourself, and some of the newer models like the X7 aren’t designed to be adjusted at all, but it will keep the boiler’s temp within 1 degree of the set temperature — unlike less sophisticated thermostats that have a varying range of about 20 degrees and, thus, require temperature surfing.

Josh and Gail cracked open an X7 to show its guts and glory!

Lavazza Pre-Ground Coffee Cupping

We sell several variations of Lavazza’s pre-ground coffee and we often get asked what the difference is, flavor-wise. So we asked Gail to put it to the cupping test to see how they compare.

Watch as she cups Lavazza In Blu, Qualita Oro, Qualita Rossa, Bar and Crema e Gusto.

Hourglass Aging Taste Test

We’ll never know how Marilyn Monroe’s figure would have held up over time, but that’s not the kind of Hourglass we’re talking about here, baby! We’re talking about the cold coffee brewing system that creates a smooth concentrate that you can use to make hot or cold coffee for up to two weeks afterward.

Or so they say! But can you, really? These are the big questions that only the crew at Seattle Coffee Gear are prepared to take on. We had Gail brew up a batch of the Hourglass coffee; she then tested it the next day for a baseline flavor assessment and then we followed it up 1 week and 2 weeks later to see how the flavor stood up.

Watch Gail as she takes one for science!

Crew Review: Saeco Syntia Superautomatic

Saeco’s newest release in the US is the Syntia, a petite, scaled down version of their also recently released Xelsis. Like the Xelsis, it has a stainless steel casing (love!) a sleek, futuristic design (double love!) and some programmable options (ok, this love-fest is getting ridiculous!). It also has a bi-pass doser for pre-ground coffee, the standard removable brew group and it even utilizes the magic of magnets.

Sadly, it doesn’t have the patented Saeco Brewing System (SBS) that varies the pressure to give more or less crema on your shot, but there’s always a catch, right? If you have limited counterspace or cupboard clearance, this is definitely the superautomatic for you. Watch Gail take us through its features and demonstrate its functionality.

Ascaso Dream UP + Brew Head Upgrade

The Ascaso Dream UP is considered a ‘versatile’ espresso machine, meaning that — like its predecessor — the brew head has been designed for use with both ESE pods and ground coffee. However, the stock brew head definitely favors pods and you don’t get as rich of a shot using grounds as you can off of other machines in this class.

When we did our review recently, we noticed that even though the new UP has a three-way solenoid valve, it didn’t seem to perform that well, leaving really soupy grounds behind. So we decided to experiment with the machine by installing the Brew Head Upgrade kit to see if that improved the performance. It did!

Watch Gail show us the different screens, talk about how they perform and demonstrate a shot. We even spliced in footage from the original review (accompanied by super sessy muzak!) for easy side-by-side comparison.

Video Crew Review: Izzo Alex II

The newly re-engineered Izzo Alex II is a semi-automatic espresso machine out to make a name for itself: It’s currently the only heat exchanger for home use that has a PID! Combine that with the convertible water source (which Izzo pioneered) and the no burn steam wands, and you can almost make up for the not-so-superb fit and finish elements that we don’t love about it.

Watch Gail take us through its features, functionality and demonstrate making a latte — all on her birthday!

Pre-ground Coffee Aging Test

In answer to the oft posed question ‘can’t I just use pre-ground coffee from __[insert your favorite store/roastery/cafe here]__?’, we have held an aging test.

We’re big on freshly grinding your coffee before each shot, as pre-ground starts to dry out (even in air-tight containers) within the first 24 hours. To show you how the shots degrade, we dialed in and ground a bunch of coffee, then pulled a shot the day of for baseline purposes. We then pulled shots 24, 48, 72 hours and 1 full week later to show how the shots measured up — and to give our unequivocal vocal and facial feature responses to their flavor. Yowza!

Watch Gail as we go through the initial testing and then check in throughout the subsequent week.