In this video, Josh shows us the internal components of the Quick Mill Vetrano and explains how it all works — a great primer for anyone interested in the tech side of things.

Our partner in this venture is Uesugi USA, a Japanese company that (as luck would have it) have a US presence here in the Seattle-area. We pulled Henry into the mix and headed out to their facility to talk about what they do and see how they take these machines apart, break them down to their components and funnel them back into the commodity supply chain as cleanly as possible.

You do backflush if you own a machine with a valve system referred to as a three-way solenoid, brew pressure release, three-way valve, solenoid valve or any other combination of these phrases. Not sure if your machine has this? If your machine has an E61 brew group (such as those on Rockets, Quick Mills, Izzos or Grimacs), it has this valve system. Other models that feature this without the E61 are those made by La Spaziale, Pasquini, the Rancilio Silvia and Ascaso’s Uno Pro and Duo series. This valve system relieves pressure post-brew, which results in a drier puck, but it sucks a little bit of coffee and water into the system each time which can build up in there and adversely impact the machine’s performance. Backflushing forces detergent and water through the valve system, thoroughly cleaning it and maintaining the system. It also has the added benefit of cleaning up behind the brew head’s screen without taking it apart.

You don’t backflush if your machine doesn’t have this system — because you don’t have the valves to clean! Some machines that don’t need backflushing include the Saeco Aroma, Via Venezia, Sirena, models made by Breville, those from Francis Francis!/illy and Delonghi and Capresso semi-automatics. But since you’re not forcing detergent through the brew head, you will need to take it apart semi-regularly to clean up behind the brew screen.

The best way to determine if you need to backflush your machine is to read the manufacturer’s manual and the machine’s technical specifications to see if it has the valve system. If it doesn’t, you’re good to go; if it does, you should backflush once every 1 – 2 weeks, depending on how often you use the machine.

Not sure how to do it? Watch us backflush the Rocket Giotto E61 or the Rancilio Silvia.

Watch Gail take apart the brew head on the Rancilio Silvia:

Now watch her take apart an E61 brew head:

1. To ineffectively swat at flies, yet one day you accidentally killed one and couldn’t bear to keep the gut-stained book around.
2. To prop up the uneven handmade bookshelf lovingly made by a friend/parent/spouse/sibling/child that never sits right on the wood floor.
3. To start a fire in the fireplace to enjoy while sipping on a delicious glass of chai spiced wine. (Guilty!)

Or, maybe you just recycled it by accident. Whatever the case, the fact of the matter is that now you have no wisdom to guide you. We created our manufacturer manual repository over at Brown Bean to connect you with the source code. We have manuals for a lot of models both current and historical, so if you’re looking for tips on how to perform maintenance or need to find out what that error code means, check ‘em out.

Don’t see your model there? Leave a comment here and we’ll see if we can’t track it down and add it to the repository.

It’s not a heat exchanger, however, so you don’t have simultaneous steam and brew functionality available. Therefore, following the steam -> temperature surf -> brew procedure will not only keep your boiler in good shape (by regularly pulling fresh water into the boiler), it will make sure your brew temp is just right for that super-sweet shot. While we regularly recommend the Alexia as the cream of the crop for shot lovers, some latte/cappuccino drinkers pick it up as well and are really satisfied with the results, even though it takes a bit more time than its heat exchanger or double boiler counterparts.

You can retrofit the machine with a PID, but if you don’t want to add another few hundred bucks to your purchase price, it is easy to use the machine once you have a good idea of how to regulate the temperature. Since our demo model in the store has a PID, we went through and tracked the process corresponding to the PID’s temperature gauge to determine a rough estimate of how much water to pull through the steam/water wand during temperature surfing to easily switch between steam and brew temps.

First up, a diagram:

Please excuse our grubby little paws, but you know that’s how we roll. Here’s what these correspond to:

• 1: Green light is on when #2 is switched to the left position and the machine is on.
• 2: On/Off toggle switch; as indicated on the machine, right = off, left = on.
• 3: Heating light – this light will kick on to indicate that the boiler is heating. If it’s off, it means your machine is at temperature for either steaming or brewing (depending on which mode it is in).
• 4: P is for pump! Turn this on to pull water from the reservoir into the boiler; right = pump is off, left = pump is on. You would turn this to the left to pull hot water (instead of steam) through the steam/water wand.
• 5: Steam switch – right = off, left = on; turn this on to get your boiler up to steam temp. If this is on, steam will come out of the steam/water wand.
• 6: Steam on/ready light – this light will be on to indicate that the machine is in steam mode, but the heating light is what will indicate when it’s reached steam temperature, so this light will always stay on until you want to leave the steam mode.

OK, so in the picture above, we have the machine’s switches in the position you should start out with to make your latte:

1. Turn on the machine (#2 in the left position, #1 should go on).
2. Turn on the steam functionality (#6 red light should go on).
3. When the machine is heating, you will see that the middle light (#3) is on; leave the machine to heat up to steam temp — this is the perfect time to get your milk ready in your frothing pitcher.
4. When the #3 light goes out, the machine is now up to steam temperature, so you’re ready to froth.
5. Froth to your heart’s content!
6. When you’re finished, it’s time to cool down the boiler; this is the process referred to as ‘temperature surfing’.
7. Turn off the steam switch (#5).
8. Turn on the pump (#4).
9. Put a pitcher/cup, etc., underneath the steam/water wand and turn it on.
10. For a 12 oz pitcher of milk, we measured that you’ll drain about 10 oz. of water through the steam/water wand to bring it down to temperature. Do so, then shut off the steam/water wand and turn off the pump.
11. You should see that the heating light (#3) is back on again, indicating that cool water has brought the boiler temp down below ideal brewing temperature and it is now heating up. If you don’t see this light go on, follow steps 8 – 10 again and pull a bit more water through the steam/water wand. Note: The heating (#3) light will not come on while the pump is in operation, so you’ll need to shut it down to see if enough cool water has been pulled into the boiler to require it to heat up again.
12. Prep your coffee — grind and tamp, etc. — and wait for the heating light (#3) to shut off again.
13. Once light #3 is off, you are up to brew temperature, so pull your shot.

So, there’s the basic process for operating the machine to whip up a latte or cappuccino. We won’t get into the grind/tamp/extraction or milk steaming/frothing/stretching areas because those are totally different balls of wax. But this is the basic how-to guide to get started so that you can feel a little more comfortable with your Alexia and pull really great shots.

Questions on any of this? Please share with the class and leave them in the comments.

This month, we talk about the different functional types of espresso machines, include a recipe for Indochine Lemon, point you to our manufacturer manual resource on Brown Bean and introduce you to a few new products we have in the store. What you won’t see, however, is The Grind Special, which is for subscriber-eyes-only. Sign up to get that little bit o’ goodness every month.

• Manual/Lever: With these machines, you are the pump. You grind, tamp and control the pressure during the extraction. You also manage the whole steaming process.
• Semi-Automatic: Semi-automatics have 15 – 17 BAR pumps involved, which will settle down to about 9 BARs of pressure if your grind/tamp is accurate. You will grind & tamp, then initiate the shot on and off. Steaming is also up to you.
• Automatic: Still grinding, tamping and steaming on your own, but you can program these machines to dose out a specific amount of water, so it will automatically end the shot.
• Pressurized Portafilters: Automatic and semi-automatic machines can have a variation that includes a pressurized porftafilter. This makes the machine a little bit easier to use because you don’t have to be super particular about your grind and tamp.
• Pod-Friendly: Another variation of semi-automatic and automatic machines are those that allow you to use what is basically a ground coffee version of a tea bag. These single serving pods make for easy, mess-free brewing.
• Superautomatic: These machines manage the whole grind and tamp process for you, but on most of them you will still be required to steam your milk. Some of them (usually called ‘One Touch’) provide automated frothing and shot extraction into your cup at the touch of the button; others have an automated frothing system that will froth the milk separately and you can pour it into the cup after it’s automatically extracted.
• Capsule: Probably the most simple machine in terms of materials and labor, these guys use a proprietary capsule filled with pre-ground coffee and extract it at the touch of a button — no grinding and tamping. Some of them have automatic frothing options.

We asked Gail to talk to us about these different machines, why someone would want to buy a specific type and why perhaps they wouldn’t want to buy it. Hopefully, this video will function as a good primer for learning the basic functional differences and help you as you research which machine best suits your needs.