Flair Espresso Maker PRO 2 (Black) - An all manual lever espresso maker with stainless steel brew head and pressure gauge

Product Information

When I was first approached to review the PRO I was told that the frame is 50% stronger than on the Classic. I'll get into comparing grinders later, but anyone who has a grinder that's producing repeatable and tasty espresso shots with another machine should find that adequate to the PRO. Because the Flair does have a lot of parts, I find it best to try and get everything staged and ready to assemble to make the workflow smoother.

By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Filling slightly into the reservoir helps prevent an air gap above the coffee at the end of the pull. We recommend using coffee beans roasted within a few weeks of use and grinding immediately before brewing.This disengagement at the end of the pull can be eliminated entirely by watching the pressure gauge to make sure all pressure is released, as I'll show below. F, ensure your beans are freshly roasted and ground and that you experiment with different grind and dose sizes. The PRO dispersion screen sits on top of your ground coffee in your stainless steel portafilter and aids in the equal distribution of brew water through the puck while brewing.

Having said that, I do think, judging from other reviews I've read such as the Flair Espresso Review on Home Barista, that this kind of quality is possible. As they lose and regain their grip at the front or back, there is no leakage of coffee above the piston, so I doubt the shot is affected.

Remember that SCA guidelines measure brew water, not water in the coffee bed, but I thought readers would find that reading interesting, because the ground coffee, the portafilter and the shower screen are also absorbing heat.

This seemed counter intuitive to me, assuming filling the brew head with boiling water and letting sit would absolutely get it hotter than just steam venting from the kettle heating, but Flair maintains the kinetic energy of steam is higher and get the unit hotter. It is highly recommended (essential) to preheat the brew head, and they include a nice rubber cap to fill it with water, but recommend you actually place it over the vent holes of the kettle and let the steam heat it up. I love the fact that it is completely mechanical, well built - that means it is simple and should last for a long time. Furthermore, if I did I'd probably get a low end machine and maybe not get to such a high quality drink that I would really enjoy. Also, when you pour into the brew head and allow some water to go into the well, you virtually eliminate any air gap, and with that, you eliminate spongy pulls that can be challenging to overcome in some closed boiler levers.Another way all Flair espresso makers differ from traditional machines is the way the portafilter attaches to the cylinder. Also, it can be unsettling at first to see the cylinder shift its grip on the portafilter and create a slight gap. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform.

Maintaining all the performance of the original PRO, the PRO 2 features four upgrades including a removable spout, an enhanced bottomless portafilter, a gauge guard for increased durability and a silicone grip for better brewing ergonomics. in which the water is coming through way too easily, I'm doing a 12-15 seconds preinfusion around 2 bars and then it's hard to reach the desired pressure of around 6-9 bars because there's no resistance, the water flows too easily as I said. The tamper offered as an accessory or bundled with the Classic models is a nice, heavy, stainless steel. As you can see from the photos, a good friend of mine also brought over their Cafelat Robot to test side by side, so I will be following up with a direct comparison between those two machines.

This also does not change shot quality, because force inside the brew chamber goes in all directions. For a very light roast that I find hard to extract without sourness, I like to position the cylinder in the silicone pre-heating cap and fill it twice with water off the boil, letting it rest at least 30 seconds each time.