I’ve been eyeing this machine for a while since my goal is to really control my press just like I have with the Aero Press. Still haven’t decided if this is a worthwhile investment.
Hoffman seems to be pretty approving and I’d follow that guy off a cliff.
You really shouldn’t jump off cliffs after coffee gurus.
You should go first so they can estimate the best brew for the fall!
I love my Flair because each pull is unique and when the pull is great it’s some of the best ever. If you prefer consistency, may not be for you.
My personality gives me a lot of pleasure in tinkering and control so I love being completely hands on with the Flair. You will pull some of the best shots you’ve ever had when you get it dialed in. You will also have many fails. Although once you get the basic techniques down the fails are not undrinkable.
But because I enjoy this totally hand-crafted approach I even enjoy my fails. It’s like jazz improvisation.
I apologize, as I’ve wandered in from the wider web… but could someone provide some documentation on these things? Based on your comments, I’m intrigued but I can’t find an indepth description of its function and features beyond the blurbs I’ve found on Google.
Flair is a company that makes manual espresso machines, like the one in this post. In a regular or “semi-automatic” espresso machine like you’d find in a nice cafe, the machine heats the water and pushes the water through the coffee at high pressures. In manual espresso machines, you add the hot water yourself then use the lever to generate the pressure manually. This gives you lots of control over how the espresso is brewed at the cost of more work/effort to make your morning coffee. Some semi automatic machines do also have features to vary temp and pressure, but usually these are much more expensive ~2-3k vs ~$100-500. Another important difference is almost all semi automatic machines have the ability to steam milk, which is important if you plan to make lattes etc
