Share an Italian-style espresso machine that is highly accurate and playful, even if you are not familiar with concentrated coffee, you can still brew good Espresso at home.
Why would you get a Flair 58 Espresso Machine?
For me, when making a cup of coffee, compared to electric Espresso, Nespresso machines, which can quickly provide a stable cup with milk frothing function, automatic water output, temperature control, pressure adjustment, and easy cleaning, everything can be decided by the "machine" for the electric ESP machine, I would rather choose a fully mechanical operation, the process of pulling the lever might be quite painful, the water temperature might drop slowly, and you have to manually add water, with many unstable factors, and the results are not consistent every time.
Perhaps, it's just the simple elegance, or the feeling of making a cup of ESP by hand, nothing else.
But on the contrary, every time I make a cup of concentrated coffee, I enjoy a portion of joy, anticipation, the process, and also... the pursuit... hoping to know what methods can be perfected next time.
Flair 58 is full of playability
Friends who see this may think it's an exaggeration, but the above is truly my experience over the past six months. A few months ago, I also bought a Lelit Mara X V2 at home, which is relatively more mechanical. However, I still feel the playability and variability are less. Some may ask if it can change pressure? Is it enough?
Enough, but I think the Flair 58 can be even better.
I can fill the Flair 58 water tank with milk, iced lemon tea, soup, any liquid. The coffee puck holder can hold Americano, add two slices of orange peel for flavor. Yes, other electric espresso machines can also add these, but what about cleaning afterward? If I make it in the morning and want to drink a cup of espresso in the evening? I believe most traditional Italian espresso machines would need to be sent for maintenance, but the Flair 58 can be cleaned and reused (about 1 hour), thanks to its fully mechanical design and easy cleaning (usually less than 5 minutes), which can greatly satisfy my unexpected quirks, and I don't even have to worry about the heater, ESP water outlet, or internal boiler breaking down and losing a good machine.
Of course, you ask me if the traditional quality would be better, also frothing milk, and more convenient to use! Undeniably, yes! But the entry level is at least $7000 up, and it doesn't account for aging replacement (due to Flair's mechanical design, I personally think it can be played for at least several years... and there are individual parts that can be easily replaced by oneself). I think when entering the pit, it will be a major consideration position in recent years. I feel that for half the price, achieving ESP 8-9 functionality, I am more inclined towards the former.
My half-year experience with Flair 58
Flair 58 can easily press up to 9 Bars, achieving the quality of a traditional ten-thousand-dollar espresso machine (I personally feel) and this coffee maker also has a pre-heater, which can be ready in about 3-5 minutes (however, the pre-heater version requires extra money, a few hundred Hong Kong dollars). No need to worry about facing heat absorption/dissipation of the metal water box after adding water, facing temperature loss, it's much more convenient than Flair Pro2/ Neo which requires water pre-heating!
Refuse complex cleaning procedures
On the other hand, most lever-style espresso machines are very troublesome when preparing to make a cup of espresso, such as assembling the water tank, pulling lever/pressurizing handle, and after pressurizing to make ESP, you will face a problem, which is the need to disassemble and clean the machine. When I used the Flair Neo/Pro 2 previously, I found it really annoying! Moreover, assembling would cause pain in the hand due to pressing the coffee grounds! Therefore, the Neo mostly became a display.... Also, compared to traditional ESP coffee machines, the usage experience feels like a toy, but the Flair 58 greatly improves this experience. When cleaning, you only need to simply add water to the water tank, wipe clean with a paper towel, and the 58mm coffee handle can be cleaned just like a regular traditional coffee machine, and can be used interchangeably. Every time cleaning afterward only takes about 5 minutes, allowing me to easily enjoy it even on busy mornings before work.
La Pavoni Style Painless Entry
Another thing to share is that most ESP machines have pressure adjustment features, but as far as I know, the entry cost is above $10,000-12,000, but Flair 58 can change the pressure during production according to the force you apply (of course, you get what you pay for, the process of making espresso in La Pavoni style is laborious (meaning you have to pull the lever up and down)), but in return, you get another more precious flavor, which I think is OK.
Besides not being able to froth milk and not having a built-in large water tank, and removing the water tank, other differences with ESP machines are not big.
Disadvantages of Using the Flair 58
There are so many praises, but sometimes counting its bad points, I first want to say, it's so dusty! So much dust! If everyone who has seen the photos, you will find a lot of dust, right? I want to say, before taking the photos I have cleaned several times... but still dusty... The machine's water tank has a plastic position outside, and personally, I think it can be part of a past Japanese program - a big contradiction (a machine that can never remove all dust vs. a machine that can clean all dust). If you have OCD, it's definitely a nightmare... Every time after making, you have to put a plastic bag on it to prevent dust...
Ignoring the instructions becomes a regretful beauty after assembly
Another point is, just like the plastic position, because the heating components and the water tank are there, if you want to disassemble the whole machine, you have to rotate the entire assembly, but the problem is... After assembly, I found it very difficult to disassemble again, and later due to the heating wire and power supply location, inside the metallic position of the water tank, but the plastic can still be rotated... As a result, when rotating the outside plastic, it will break the wires of the metallic pre-heating position of the water tank (because that's what I did... in the end, the pre-heating position can't be used anymore, I estimate), so... after buying it, without fully reading the instructions, I unknowingly damaged a part, and the pre-heating became non-pre-heating, in the end, it all had to revert to heating water pre-heating... You must be careful, do not rotate! After installation, do not rotate the outer plastic ring of the water tank anymore...
Flair 58 Usage Experience Summary
Aside from the above-mentioned drawbacks, the experience of using it for half a year has been very good. Overall, it is a very satisfying manual espresso machine. You can imagine the sense of ritual and playfulness brought by a traditional film camera, while a digital camera (electric espresso machine) has its merits. Both can truly make good photos (espresso), but the process direction is different, and what they pursue is vastly different, depending on personal preference.
