So up front to start with.

I did not pay for this.

This was a gift for me to have a look at review.

And it is the flare espresso maker.

I haven't opened this yet.

This is as it has arrived.

And I'm curious to see what's in the box, sir.

That's a look.

That's pretty.

Oh, so we get your little brewing guides, too, Which is very nice. 00:00:59.800 --> 00:01:4.200 Has the the feel of an airline safety card. 00:01:4.210 --> 00:01:6.670 If I'm totally honest, I don't know why it makes me think of that. 00:01:6.680 --> 00:01:8.040 But that's that's not a criticism. 00:01:8.120 --> 00:01:9.550 Or come back to this in a second. 00:01:9.550 --> 00:01:10.650 Let's open the case up.

Well, well, well.

All right.

We got a little shadow screen.

We have what I presume is like the brood chamber.

Good.

One final thing.

I have a little fun thing.

We have the lever itself, which is kind of interesting.

And we have abase piece a little plastic crazy, a little thing toe Put this together, which is what I shall do now.

We should add this.

There's another little package here with some extras. 00:02:2.250 --> 00:02:14.870 A little note from the person behind, uh, the flat more pieces.

Well, now gauge.

This is getting interesting.

That is that is fantastic.

That is a little tiny tamper made out of colored pencils.

And that, that is that is one of the greatest things I've ever seen.

I like that a lot.

All right.

I think I think I'm getting this now.

I think I know what I'm what I'm doing.

So this is our maiden voyage.

I have done everything has told me to do.

Everything is prepped on in place.

Ground some coffee, tamped it with the amazing tiny temper.

Preheated, my brewing chamber here.

I've just bought some water. 00:02:59.750 --> 00:03:2.850 I'm gonna be using the fancy plunger that appears to have a pressure gauge on it. 00:03:3.070 --> 00:03:5.990 So what I'm supposed to do is is filled to the line in here.

I'm gonna put my little plunger thin.

And now we should be ready to brew, huh?

We have coffee.

We have coffee.

Coffee with a little criminal.

Until now.

How does it taste?

Pretty.

Pretty good.

Pretty interesting. 00:03:59.380 --> 00:04:0.950 So pretty good mouth feel in that shot. 00:04:1.640 --> 00:04:8.750 So many nice texture indicating reasonably good extraction, I think was probably at the upper end of fine on the ground settings. 00:04:9.240 --> 00:04:13.640 It was a workout, and you could see this little gauge was running pretty high on.

Actually, if you look at that, this is a physics of these kind of things that they're very, very capable of achieving.

Nine bars, plus, actually of pressure just threw.

You know, the physics of a lever, which is always an interesting thing.

I'm intrigued by this particular shot.

I mean, it's not a staggeringly good espresso, but it's the first shot I've pulled on this.

This is just interesting.

Interesting.

So this is not my second shot coming together, and I'm you know, I think I'm starting to get my head around it a little bit more social, see how much water you get. 00:04:48.620 --> 00:05:3.980 If you felt the line 15 grams of coffee, that 60 60 grams of water in, that's not necessarily what we're gonna get out. 00:05:5.040 --> 00:05:6.300 I pulled a few more shots. 00:05:6.560 --> 00:05:9.590 I've had some pretty tasty espresso out of this thing on. 00:05:9.590 --> 00:05:21.350 While I don't think I've used it enough to say that this is a full review or a deep dive I certainly have enough thoughts for first impression, and in some cases I'm not sure that using it more wouldn't necessarily change my opinion about these things.

It is clearly a well made thing.

It's 12 designed, it's beautifully made.

There's care and love and attention in this little brewer, and they start at around 100 and $60 Soto have something at $160.

Make pretty good espresso.

It's certainly interesting.

I've been using my brats on call on a pretty fine setting.

So by no means a high end grinder are actually still some reasonably good results.

And I think if you pad this with a very good grinder, which is always the best way to go, then I think you get some really pretty fantastic results out of it.

But there is a caveat. 00:05:56.410 --> 00:06:4.950 Told this like you don't just get $160 espresso machine that works really well without there being some sort of compromise somewhere. 00:06:5.380 --> 00:06:9.660 And in truth, the compromise is it's all a little bit fiddly. 00:06:9.750 --> 00:06:11.940 It's all a little bit convoluted.

There's certainly a little bit more work for you to do in this kind of process.

to get good results.

If you take the process off prepping a show, you're gonna grind, that's not usual.

Dose in the funnel is actually really nice.

You gonna tamp and I love this thing.

I love this little tiny tamper bit.

It becomes sort of fuzzy, easy putting screen on top.

Then you go and get your chamber that you have to pre heat 100%.

You must get that thing as hot as you can for the best results.

And that's that's a little bit fatty, right?

It does have a little handle for holding, but it is a hot thing that you're pulling out of hot water on.

Do you know I can't help but want to dry it off a little bit.

Put in place.

Pour your hot water in zero kettle.

You want to get that boiling at round about the right time, get your piston in place and then pull the shot. 00:06:55.270 --> 00:07:0.020 I'm grateful that they sent me a little bit more of ah fancy version of this. 00:07:0.020 --> 00:07:1.480 This isn't the baseline version. 00:07:1.480 --> 00:07:3.960 That's, um, niceties here on this pressure gauge. 00:07:3.960 --> 00:07:7.230 Looks like an early version off a much nicer look. 00:07:7.230 --> 00:07:12.790 Engage that they're releasing in that kind of pro model that they're announcing later this month with the gauge.

I found this pretty easily used.

I think without the Gage, I would have found it much harder.

Maybe it became instantly reliant on seeing some sort of feedback, but I certainly found it very helpful.

It's good and makes great coffee, but there is a little bit of a sacrifice, you know, For example, emptying out the basket after use, that's just a little bit fussy.

It's a little bit messy on Dhe.

You know, I fully admit to being spoiled by having, you know, one of the best setups work that money can buy on a very easy workflow there.

So anything that's not that, obviously eyes sort of harmed by comparison, right?

It's at a disadvantage.

It just makes me a little bit more conscious of it.

Overall, I'm genuinely impressed.

I think I would probably not go for the super cheap end of things. 00:07:59.790 --> 00:08:0.630 If I was looking at one of these. 00:08:0.630 --> 00:08:1.780 I would want some extras. 00:08:1.780 --> 00:08:3.730 Life, the pressure gauge has a nice thing. 00:08:4.070 --> 00:08:7.730 I think this clearly someone who loves making coffee behind this thing. 00:08:7.730 --> 00:08:12.750 The fact that there's a version you can convert to a naked porter filter just very easily.

I think that's fun.

I think that's great.

I don't really know how everything will age in terms of all of the gaskets and seals inside this thing.

They do sell replacements, but I can't speak to the longevity of something like this.

You know, if you've got a machine, I'm not sure I'm not sure I know the right time for this.

It's obviously a very capable travel espresso maker.

And if I needed to make espresso on a hillside somewhere, Well, if I've got access to water and heat source, then this this would do.

I like it.

I just I just can't quite fit When for me.

I would use it a lot.

I'm gonna keep it in its trouble.

Case toe hand.

I might let it.

Some friends you wanna play around with this stuff because it is pretty easy to use the instructions.

The guide is pretty good. 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:2.070 It's pretty clear, and it makes espresso seem pretty easy, right? 00:09:2.070 --> 00:09:8.910 You're gonna tweak your grand setting like everything else but actually keeping your your dose in constant in terms of both ground coffee, Andi. 00:09:8.920 --> 00:09:10.340 Hot water in the chamber.

All of that stuff, I think, is a good thing to make espresso relatively easy to do and actually get some pretty impressive results.

Like I said, I was sent this for free are sent a very nice version of this with some lovely extras for free.

So I do take that into consideration.

When of you You're seeing a review like this.

If you have one of these, what are your thoughts?

How are you using it when you're using it?

I would really be interested to hear from you in the comments below.

Thank you so much for watching.

And I hope you have a great day.