Which La Marzocco?
Happy new year all!
I am opening a new cafe and I planning of using a La Marzocco. I have never worked on any of La Marzoccos machines.
So here it goes. The cheapest is the Linea EE 2 groups. Then at about the same price I can get: the Linea EE/3, the Linea MP/2 and the GB5 EE/2. I do not include the AV version of the Linea, as I have heard so many things about the Pierro groups and the temperature stability of the machine.
Is the Linea more durable and reliable machine than the GB5?
Will I hate the MP version of the Linea, or is it a great advantage just to exist when you have time to experiment?
Is the machanical paddle working as the Cyncra? OFF- line pressure pre-infusion - pump pressure brewing or it is constant pressure changing thingie?
What are your thoughts?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brady on
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This shouldn't be relevant. No espresso machine should ever be allowed to suck up milk. With proper training, your baristas will remove the milk pitcher immediately upon finishing steaming and purge the wand.
georgemvg said:Any more details about that? I know also that Linea sucks a lot of milk in the steam wand. Is this the case with the GB5 also?
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Permalink Reply by Scott on
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Sorry, that was phrased a little weird. See if this clears it up. The EE has only manual control brew controls. The Linea AV has manual switches on all the groups, in addition to the volumetric buttons. The GB5 adds a preheater (just a loop of copper pipe through the steam boiler) to feed the group boilers, electronics to monitor the steam boiler, via a security probe, and other function; and deletes the sight glass. The GB5 is all solid state. All new LM's are PID.
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Shush, how will we make any money if you keep giving away all the secrets?
And the LM is no worse than any other machine out there in regards to siphoning milk. And a lot cheaper to repair than an HX machine if one happens to suck, say eggnog, into the steam boiler.
BTW, George, where are you? Oh wait you're in Greece! What city? I spent three months there about 20 years ago. My cousin lived on Crete.
Brady said:
This shouldn't be relevant. No espresso machine should ever be allowed to suck up milk. With proper training, your baristas will remove the milk pitcher immediately upon finishing steaming and purge the wand.
georgemvg said:Any more details about that? I know also that Linea sucks a lot of milk in the steam wand. Is this the case with the GB5 also?
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Permalink Reply by Dustin DeMers on
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You know I would totatly agree with this statment if I hadnt worked on a brand new Linea for 2 months. And in those 2 months the steam wands got clogged so bad they stopped steaming....three times!!!
Now the people I was working with could give to shits about purging the wands after use. But the machine the Linea replaced was a Faema E92 and was about ten years old, beat to hell, rarly the steam wands were purged. But the wands never clogged, and that thing wouldnt die! It just kept on keeping on.
So I ask ye' teck's WTF?
Scott said:Shush, how will we make any money if you keep giving away all the secrets?
And the LM is no worse than any other machine out there in regards to siphoning milk. And a lot cheaper to repair than an HX machine if one happens to suck, say eggnog, into the steam boiler.
BTW, George, where are you? Oh wait you're in Greece! What city? I spent three months there about 20 years ago. My cousin lived on Crete.
Brady said:
This shouldn't be relevant. No espresso machine should ever be allowed to suck up milk. With proper training, your baristas will remove the milk pitcher immediately upon finishing steaming and purge the wand.
georgemvg said:Any more details about that? I know also that Linea sucks a lot of milk in the steam wand. Is this the case with the GB5 also?
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Your Linea was set up by amateurs. The PRV was stuck on the Faema and the boiler pressure was probably set way too high to compensate for inconsistent brew temps - hence the awesome steam.
Or different materials of the steam wands.
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hmm...could be amateurs i suppose. I dont think i was there when it was installed. But it was done by one of the local espresso machine repair/tech places here in the bay area. What could be done wrong when setting up the machine to make this happen?
Also im not sure the boiler pressure was set to high on the faema, cause the brew temps seemed about right. (like if ran the group for a little bit, the water would stop sputtering). But then again i dont know for sure.
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Perhaps the Linea had a tip with smaller holes? It is also possible that the tip design may be more prone to clogging, or harder to clean than the Faema. I don't get a disproportionately-large number of calls about plugged tips on Lineas vs other manufacturers though.
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Hey Dustin - I was kidding. That was lame attempt at tech humor. However, one report about one machine, a pattern does not make. I've installed 30+ Lineas and have been responsible for 70 or so over the last 15 years, and this has never been a problem unique to this machine.
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Ah, sorry I missed that. Unfortunately I wasn't techy enough to get it. All I know is the faema e91 and e92 are the best walk up and steam machines ive encountered. (shots on the other hand is another issue).
And its good to know that you havnt seen this on other lineas. Cause I realy like liking that machine. :)
Sorry to veer off course. Why does the Linea with a pid concern you george? Im pretty sure its going to have the same fluctuations as the GB5.
Scott said:Hey Dustin - I was kidding. That was lame attempt at tech humor. However, one report about one machine, a pattern does not make. I've installed 30+ Lineas and have been responsible for 70 or so over the last 15 years, and this has never been a problem unique to this machine.
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Permalink Reply by georgemvg on
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Scott, I am far away from Crete, Patras is the city.
What is the difference between solid state and Pid? I mean, the pid of the Linea is not connected with a solid state relay that controls the heating element?
So, nothing serious about Linea's steam wands as I see.
The temperature stability of the Linea AV with Pid concerns me, as I am leading more to this. Tell me more, convince me! :)
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Permalink Reply by Steffen Müller on
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Strange - that normally happens only when letting the wand sit in the pitcher after steaming and the cool down causes some sort of vacuum in the wand sucking milk in. But that's also normally not an issue when following the pre- and after steam flush regimen.
georgemvg said:Any more details about that? I know also that Linea sucks a lot of milk in the steam wand. Is this the case with the GB5 also?
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Permalink Reply by Jacob Casella on
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My two cents, having worked on a lot of Marzocco variants:
- If you go Linea, try to get PID. I believe that come standard on the new ones.
- GB5 steam wand valves FTW, IMHO.
- GB5's definitely prettier, for what that's worth.
- AV controls are an area of contention; really depends what kind of shop you're planning on running. They can definitely be an asset depending on how busy you are, and depending on your level of barista training/passion. Worth thinking about. (Extended volumetric discussion thread here:http://www.baristaexchange.com/forum/topics/programmed-buttons-to-u...). I always feel like I'm the reluctant champion of AV...if your business/staffing model works with MP, awesome.
- Lineas have a reputation for being tanks, but I don't see massive differences between the newer Lineas & GB5s outside of the shape of the box.
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