Ponte Vecchio Lusso, a great espresso machine!

I have been wanting to write a little bit about the Ponte Vechio Lusso but did not get a chance until now. After all it is definely one of my most favorite espressos machine. The picture above is almost exactly like the PV that I have except the red color.

The Ponte Vecchio Lusso is a spring lever espresso machine and comes in one group and two groups version. The two group version is a little bit more expensive but is definely worth the extra price. As lever users know, one big draw back of lever espresso machines are the inability of making continuous shots because of the residual pressure after the shot. The barista need to wait for about a minute for this pressure to bleed off before making the next shot ( lever machine do not have solenoid valves.) With the two groups PV, I can pretty much pull shots continuously without problems. 

Apart from all the positives aspect of a spring lever, the PV has a added benefit of having a thermosyphons that stabilize the temperature of the group heads; compare this to other home lever machines such as the Pavoni, Elektra or the much hyped Cremina, all of these machine will get how after being on for a while. In constrast, the PV can be left on essentially for the whole day and will not be overheated. In this sense, the PV lusso possess the convinience factors that pump machines has.

Another strength of the PV lusso is its huge boiler; this has two implications; it requires less filling and thus you can build many shots before having to refill the boiler; another thing is it steam extremely well and it speed of steaming compare very favorably to my Nuova Simoelli Musica. 

The PV Lusso is definely a very good espresso machine, capable of great espresso as well as excellent milk. If you have a two group version of this machine, it will likely be the last espresso machine you will ever need!