Flair 58 Lever Espresso Machine

The absolute bleeding edge of espresso exploration these days is found in three things: temperature stability, temperature profiling, and pressure profiling.

What’s interesting is the pressure profiling part. We’ve actually had pressure profiling available for espresso shots since modern day espresso was invented by Gaggia with their Crema lever espresso machine in 1947. The lever cocked an internal spring set up to deliver 7BAR of pressure to the brewing water at peak, but that pressure would decline over the shot pull as the spring unloaded. That – in simplest terms – is pressure profiling an espresso shot, albeit in a very steady, straight downward sloping line.

Believe it or not, it is consumers – not commercial cafes and baristas – that really got to play with real pressure profiling as far back as the 1950s and 60s, thanks to several consumer machines put out by Gaggia, Faema and La Pavoni. These companies introduced consumer espresso machines that used a direct lever system for pushing water at high pressure through a bed of coffee. They did not include an internal spring: your hand was the spring. And because your hand controlled the pressure, you could drive the pressure up or down during the shot pull.

This was something entirely unique to consumer espresso machines: the direct lever shot puller. Commercial lever machines almost universally were spring-cockers. The fact is, almost every espresso professional could agree that lever-based espresso machines, as long as the temperature was good, could produce some of the best tasting espresso, ever. The declining pressure of spring-cocked lever groups eased off on the extracting of bitters, something that is more of a problem in constant pressure pump driven espresso machines, towards the end of the shot pull.

Espresso machine engineers often like to re-invent the wheel, so in the early 2010s, La Marzocco brought pressure profiling to their Strada line of commercial espresso machines via a very complex (and prone to breakdown) system. The interface to control it is not very friendly, but bottom line, the machine can accept a programmed pressure profile over the range of the shot pull, and the shots taste better because of it. The machines are also very temperature stable, which also improves shot pulls. All for $20,000+ in a 3 group commercial machine. La Marzocco brought the technology down to their $9,000 GS3 MP model with the Strada MP group back in 2017.

I can attest to the improved shots. I had the new “GS 3 MP Strata Group” modification installed on my own GS3 for the cost of most new prosumer espresso machines ($2,000). When the machine worked (it’s currently sitting broken in my basement – La Marzoccos tend to break down often), the pressure profiling tricks I could do with the machine allowed for some incredible experimentation and absolutely luxurious shot pulls.

The Decent Espresso machines, designed for consumer use, feature both pressure profiling and temperature profiling. These machines offer an insane amount of experimentation and visual feedback on the art and science of making espresso. But you’re looking at well over $5,000 for the starter models, and up to $6,500 for the bigger more advanced units.

So you got these $5,000-$10,000 machines that can pressure profile. With a lot of moving parts. Prone to breaking down. With expensive repair bills if they break down. But when they work, they produce some amazing espresso and allow you, as the espresso craftsperson, to really experiment.

Well, what if I told you could have an espresso machine that gives you full control of pressure profiling, excellent temperature stability, and a rudimentary ability to toss in some temperature profiling as well? All for $500?

It exists, and it’s called the Flair 58, from Flair Espresso. A modern day, direct lever espresso machine that delivers good temperature stability and the ability to completely control the pressure you use to brew your shots. There’s even an undocumented way to play with water temperatures that we discovered while testing this machine.

This is our full review of the Flair 58.

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