Hehe yes I made it 😁 you can see the corner of the Niche in the background. I had already decided to take a photo with my DSLR and happened to get a really good pour too. Thanks for the compliment – it helps me validate my expensive hobbies 😂

Thanks! Definitely one of my better pours haha. Getting a machine with powerful steam (Lelit Elizabeth) helped a lot. Though the angle of the photo here hides the fact that it’s actually pretty lopsided 😉

Gotcha – yeah I can confirm the thermocoil (at least in the BBP) isn’t very stable. If you don’t care about simultaneous steaming & brewing, to get good stability you could go for a single boiler machine with PID like the Profitec Go, Lelit Victoria, or Ascaso Steel Uno. Note the PID is important – it’s basically a smart controller to avoid the boiler overshooting the target temperature, so you get much better consistency.

In addition to measuring your output / a longer extraction, you can try a longer pre-infusion, or bumping up the temperature. 190F is on the very low end of what is usually considered ideal – you could try aiming for 195 - 205. Also, if the portafilter is not fully heated that will offset the brew temperature and cause lower extraction.

Are you using the Stilosa stock, or do you have a bottomless portafilter etc.? How long have you had it?

For me, I wouldn’t have wanted to upgrade to the Elizabeth directly. After the Stilosa I moved to a Breville Bambino Plus. That solved my biggest issues with the Stilosa (lack of temperature stability and a crappy steam wand), and let me get a bottomless pf and unpressurized basket and learn how to get really good puck prep and dial in by taste. Plus the steam wand was good enough to really learn latte art.

My main reasons for the upgrade to the Elizabeth are to have more fine-grained control over temperature, pressure, etc. for better shot consistency and control when dialing in, plus an even better steam wand. But back when I had the Stilosa, personally I wouldn’t have known what to do with that level of control. Obviously your experience may differ, but I wouldn’t change my choice of the BBP as the second step on my espresso journey.

Bambino Plus gang 💪

The Go looks like a good machine. A dual boiler was important to me because I make a lot of milk drinks so being able to steam milk while the temperature stabilizes for the next shot is really nice. Other than that my requirements were temperature control and a relatively small footprint (though I have to say, upgrading from the Bambino Plus to the Elizabeth was still quite a shock as far as the size difference)

I remember the feeling 😅 though it’s kind of nice to really know what you don’t like about the lower end machines when you upgrade.

I upgraded to the Bambino Plus and (a little later) a Niche. Definitely a whole different game. I’ve had them for about a year now, worked on my puck prep and dialing in, and both my espresso and latte art have improved 100x. The steam isn’t super powerful (still leagues above the Stilosa, and it has a proper steam wand) so it takes some practice to get a great microfoam but it is very doable.

At this point my main issue with the Bambino is the lack of temperature control. I drink a lot of light roasts and it generally does well, but I’m getting a lot more picky about the espresso so I’m starting to look at higher end machines with temp control. But the Bambino Plus has been a great machine.

The Stilosa also can’t do steam for very long at a time. When the “ready” light on the front goes off you want to turn off the steam and wait for the light again. In the mean time make sure to keep the milk moving by gently swirling the pitcher.

When I had my Stilosa I also found that after the first round of steaming, there would still be lots of larger bubbles in the milk (which you don’t want as they prevent a good microfoam), but at the right lukewarm temperate, while waiting for the machine to heat again I could get close to the pitcher and breathe onto the milk and that would help pop a lot of those bubbles. Which is fine as long as you’re not making drinks for guests 😅