FlairEspresso Maker - Classic with Pressure Kit: Manual Lever Espresso Machine with Stainless Steel Tamper, Pressure Gauge and Carrying Case

The media could not be loaded. I’ve been roasting my own coffee beans since 2001 and for the past 15 years my home setup has been a Rancilio Silvia/Rocky. I also inherited a Pavoni Europicola that I toyed with for a couple years and for anyone who has used one, the Flair will feel familiar, although the Pavoni was far less forgiving. I travel months at a time, and my rig-on-the-go for many years was a Mypressi Twist. The nitrous cartridges were a pain to source and felt wasteful (not to mention expensive), but paired with a Porlex Mini the espresso quality was astounding, as in on par with the Silvia/Rocky. Sadly, my unit gave up the ghost in 2014, by which time the company was defunct. I’ve been on the hunt for a suitable replacement ever since. Enter “The Flair.”I somehow missed the Kickstarter Campaign and only realized it existed mid-February when I happened onto this Amazon listing. I’ve had my unit two weeks, long enough to run it through its paces (around 35 shots). As with any new set up, you’ll have to work out a routine and dial in the grind, but as far as I’m concerned the Flair is exceptionally forgiving. It allows enormous control (over temp and pressure) still the margin of error is wide, so it’s not as though it requires excessive precision or skill. In fact, I’d say the Flair is slightly easier to use than the Mypressi, and while the shots aren’t exactly on par, they’re darn close. In any case, the Mypressi is no longer in production and the units had very limited life-spans. By comparison, the Flair seems designed and built to last.In early 2015 I bought a Minipresso by Wacaco. It seemed worth a go for the money, but despite my best efforts, the shots were subpar. The Minipresso utilizes a pressurized portafilter to “enhance” the crema, which is to say “cheat,” and it made only single shots, not doubles. I was so dissatisfied with the results, I binned it and bought an Aeropress, which makes excellent coffee—not espresso mind you (the hype on the box claiming it makes espresso is laughable) but strong coffee. I know the Flair costs 3x the Minipresso and has a larger profile, but if you care at all about the quality of the espresso, there’s no comparison.I’ve never used or even seen a Handpresso, but like the Minipresso it uses a pressurized portafilter system and reviews seem split as to whether the Handpresso or the Minipresso deliver better results, in which case the Flair is almost certainly going to deliver better results. The other mainstream alternative is the Rok, which costs slightly more than the Flair. I prefer the aesthetic of the Rok (it’s pretty), but the Flair won me over for its portability. I also took seriously reviews by Rok owners who compared their results with the Flair. One last unit I considered is the Espresso Forge, which gets excellent reviews from serious espresso geeks, so much so I might still give one a go some day, but for now I’m quite satisfied with the Flair given the price difference.Am I ready to retire my Silvia and use the Flair full-time. No. But I’ll probably sell the used Siliva I purchased a couple years ago as a backup. And since I generally drink only 2 espressos a day, I can almost, maybe, possibly imagine resorting to the Flair full-time if the remaining Silvia has a catastrophic failure. On the plus side, The Flair is portable so I could put it away when not in use, allowing me to reclaim a chunk of kitchen counter.In conclusion, if you’re looking for a travel espresso rig and aren’t prepared to pay the premium for an Espresso Forge, the Flair is definitely worth a go. And if you’re seriously budget-minded, the Flair is probably a better choice than most consumer semi-automatics at the same price point, and probably even better than many costing twice as much, or at least the ones that use pressurized portafilters. Yes, you have to trade a bit of effort and learning curve for the relative ease of use provided by prosumer semi-automatics, but if you’re willing to learn to actually craft espresso, the Flair Espresso Maker is a worthwhile investment, particularly as a travel machine.______________________UPDATE: April 23, 2017The video attached to my original review shows a shot being pulled using 18g of coffee ground in my aged Porlex Mini. Obviously the shot quality from that pairing was not just satisfactory but quite impressive for a machine at this price point. That said, a friend recently gifted me a Helor 101 and also bought himself a Commandante MK30. Both are wildly expensive manual grinders. We spent the last week running them through their paces on the Flair and the shots we pulled were insanely good. That's not to say you need a $250 manual grinder to get quality espresso out of the Flair (you don't) but with a quality grinder, there is a marked improvement in the cup, and wjth just a little effort, we were able to consistently pull shots on par with what I get out of my Rancilio Silvia/Rocky combo. I haven't had a chance to see how well the Rocky and Flair pair (or the Helor and Silvia for that matter) but it's safe to say the Flair is even more impressive and capable than I originally thought.

I can be a real nitpicker but this thing is bereft of nits to pick. The only way I would like it more is if it were made in the USA as I'm kind of a stickler for American manufacturing...but of course, if it were made in the USA, it'd probably cost $450. Be that as it may, this thing is of Chinese manufacture but it does not portray the typical corner-cutting that has given Chinese manufacturing its reputation; this is exquisitely designed, engineered, and manufactured. Not a ton of products on the market that are simultaneously this beautiful and so functional.As far as performance goes, some users complain that they're not getting crema or that what crema they do get is very weak and dissipates readily. You may experience the same thing but if you're at least in the ballpark of the two most critical parameters, it will work. The instructions detail these critical parameters as fresh-roasted coffee (less than 2weeks since roasting) and the use of a proper, finely-adjustable conical burr grinder... if you think that Starbucks is great coffee and you're cool with using a blade grinder or its equally effective alternative, a hammer, to grind your beans, you probably shouldn't bother with the Flair - it employs the same principle as methods within my field of analytical chemistry - [garbage in = garbage out]. I have a bit of an advantage in this arena as I do not suffer from old beans, I built my own computer programmable coffee roaster and I only roast enough beans for about 10 days. I use a Hario Skerton hand-crank grinder which is not ideal for the Flair as you're limited on grind adjustability, but it most definitely gets me a phenomenal shot of espresso...I got respectable crema on shot number one. Be that as it may...I'm considering some higher-quality hand-crank grinders at the moment in order to allow more variability and experimentation.As far as presentation - this unit blew me away - the carrying case and instructional pamphlet are both exquisite and far, far exceeded my best expectations; the brilliant packability of the Flair means it'll be a piece of cake to take with me on motorcycle road trips. Overall, it's abundantly obvious that a great deal of care went into every single step in the development and manufacture of the Flair.Simply-put, I don't think there is any way you will get a device capable of pulling perfect espresso at this price point (especially one as beautiful, well-made, easily cleanable, and portable) except the Flair; do your own research as I did, watch a bunch of YouTube reviews on other options you may be considering such as Nanopresso or ROK; definitely watch comparative videos of ROK vs. Flair...it's no competition...I almost bought a ROK...glad I didn't.- On a side note...The Flair Espresso Maker does come with an effective tamper for the portafilter (and they offer a stainless steel one for sale too - Flair uses a smaller-than-conventional portafilter so you cannot use "normal-size" tampers); however, I wanted to add my own... ... flair ... ... to this unit so I turned my own tamper on my lathe at home.