Well it's arrived! :coffee2: My Machine left the UK on February 26, arrived in Australia on March 01 then promptly sat and waited for Customs to do their thing. Finally it was released on March 07 and a delivery was attempted on March 13. Unfortunately I was overseas at the time, so I went to the local DHL agents and picked it up this morning. The GST and customs and everything else I had to pay was $299.85. A lot less than what I was budgeting for, as I was thinking it was going to be around $450.00. Overall the machine arrived safe, the only bit of damage being a slight ding in the drip tray, which I think is from the group handles were boxed underneath the group. Included in the box are two group handles, a single spout and single basket and a double spout and double basket. Both baskets are ridge types. There is also a water filter cartridge that Reiss recommends for the tank, and of course the instructions. I took my time unpackaging everything, and removing all the protective coatings on the steel. It's not as physically imposing as I thought it might be. It's actually quite compact, with the depth of the thing being the most blatant dimension. After I filled up the tank I switched it on and the vibe pump began filling the boiler. Exactly as the manual says, it stopped filling and an alarm sounded. This is the element protection circuit kicking in. So I followed the instructions in th manual and switched it off for five seconds then switched it on to continue filling. Once it was full it stated heating up. Up to pressure in under four minutes. Bled off the false pressure, it pumped in some more water and the pressure up again. Passed some water through the group as per instructions for a fast heat to temp for the goup and then ground some coffee. At the moment I am finishing of some Yirgacheffe from my local roaster (Coffee Dominion) here in Townsville. It's well past it's peak flavour, but still quite tasty 🙂 As can be expected with a totally new machine that is significantly different to my little Ponte Vecchio Lusso, my first shot was a gusher. Tightened up the grind some more and another gusher, not quite as bad this time. Third time lucky, I got the grind into an acceptable ball park, though I think I could go slightly finer still. This time I got a drinkable shot. Talk about clarity of flavour. WOW!!! :coffee2: Put it this way, when I had the Giotto I though I was getting good flavours and nice distinction. With the PV I thought I had a more enjoyable cup with the same qualities as the Giotto, but this just in another league when it comes to bringing out the flavours of the bean. The Yirg was an absolute flavour bomb going off in my mouth. Time to go and try some more shots, I'm going to be bouncing around on caffeine today I think :coffee2:
