I’ve been eyeing this machine for a while since my goal is to really control my press just like I have with the Aero Press. Still haven’t decided if this is a worthwhile investment.
Hoffman seems to be pretty approving and I’d follow that guy off a cliff.
You really shouldn’t jump off cliffs after coffee gurus.
You should go first so they can estimate the best brew for the fall!
I have the flair neo classic and I absolutely love it. But I will say that it has a steep learning curve out the gate to get things dialed in. You have to really enjoy the process and the workflow, if you want something for a quick shot this coffeemaker is less than ideal. I love the flavors that i get from my coffee and i really enjoy experimenting to see how i can improve my cup.
I went from a flair to a Rock to a picopresso. As a person who loves the ritual behind coffee I found that 100% stops when it comes to espresso. It’s just to many variables that are difficult to control for me. Dialing in a grinder, pre infusion, and temp surfing on a GCP are about all I have the patience for and I am already dead set on installing a pid or upgrading to the likes of a Profitec Go.
If you mean “quick” as in “how much effort to figure out how to make a good shot” then I definitely agree.
If by “quick” you mean “how long from zero to espresso” I actually disagree. You can be pulling a shot in 8-10minutes with a flair. Most traditional (boiler, pump, push-button) espresso makers are still warming up in that time frame.
Yeah, a flair or a robot is way quicker than a powered espresso machine.
I’ve been trying to optimise my workflow using a stopwatch and doing as much in parallel as possible. The key is to have water boiling and beans grinding simultaneously, and then milk heating and espresso extraction simultaneously.
I can make a flat white and be all cleaned up and packed away withing 4mins.
Process:
- add water to kettle and start boiling
- add beans to grinder and start grinding
- get robot off shelf and put into position with scale
- put milk into French press and in the microwave with time set to 1min (but not yet started)
- grinding has now finished. WDT and tamp.
- kettle has now boiled, press start on microwave
- water into portafilter and press (~30sec)
- empty and clean portafilter
- remove milk from microwave, froth, pour.
- put away robot, clean french press.
- ☕
yeah, I was mostly referring to the effort you put into each cup. Some people prefer less of a workflow per cup. I agree with you on the first shot, but if I’m making more than 2 shots I notice myself wishing I had a more traditional machine. I still have not invested in getting a second portafilter and brewchamber, so I lose a lot of time resetting between shots.
Honestly, I’ve been using a traditional espresso machine at work and it also has a lot of steps.
Esp with the 58 removing variables of a standard style portafilter and heated brew chamber, I prefer the workflow of the 58. The only extra step is pouring water into the brewing chamber.
By the time you buy a second portafilter and brew chamber you’ll be out almost as much as a 58.
I have the signature model and it makes good espresso.
That said, pre-heating the brew chamber (you’ll also need to pre-heat the portafilter for the pro model) can be quite a pain, and you can’t really skip it cuz otherwise water won’t be hot enough when pulling the shots and you get sour coffee. Juggling the hot chamber is also not a fun thing especially if it’s your first coffee in the day (though it will wake you up way faster than coffee if you messed up :p)
I’ve since switched to the cafelat robot and the workflow is so much better.
edit: spelling
I’m a Flair user and a little unfamiliar with the Robot. How is the preheating better? Is it in some method of temperature control or a way you don’t have to handle a detached brew chamber?
For medium/dark roast you don’t need to preheat. You pour hot water directly into the deep basket, which has very little thermal mass so the temperature won’t drop much. The basket sits in the portafilter with a handle so your hands are safely away from the heat. Much of the heat loss is to the piston but due to the short contact time (~30s) it’s not much of an issue.
For light roast you do want to pre-heat the piston…and you’d need to be creative for that (I’ve seen some people use candles…). This is when you’d want a Flair 58 with the electronic temperature control.
I have one and I love it! The first two years I managed with a conical burr hand grinder, but eventually I decided to switch to an electric grinder and it is much less work.
The silicon O-rigs I’ve had to change after about 3 years because the cylinder became a bit loose and water would leak while de-pressurizing.
I had the flair signature that i later upgraded to flair pro2 (with extra “stuff” to minimize how long it would take to make 2 espressos) and I sold it…
…to buy a flair 58.
All the flair machines are great. The 58 with the electrical heating element and pressure gauge is the best, of course. It’s also the priciest. The rest are definitely usable.
Other than using a relatively standard size portafilter and more traditional setup with a handle, the 58 with the electrical heating element also had an easier (and thus more reproducible) workflow. Can go “from zero to espresso” in 8-10 minutes.
You’re generally going to have to get a capable grinder (read: half decent burr grinder with sufficiently fine adjustments… plan on around $200 for electrical. Less for a manual.)… one of the flair models with a pressurized or flow control basket can probably produce decent results with a lower end burr grinder or even a blade grinder, but it’s not gonna be as good as what you get from a good grinder and non pressurized/straight wall basket.
You’re also going to need a source of hot water. I assume if you’re currently making aeropress, you have one. Depending on which flair model you’re considering, you may want to preheat the basket… which means immersing it in your hot water source or putting it somehow over top of the hot water to heat up by steam.
Other than that, the flair comes with usable tools (tamper) but you may eventually want nicer ones. Super recommend getting the pressure gauge for the flair too. It helps a lot in having a repeatable method of pulling a shot.
As for how good the espresso is? It’s really good. Once you really know what you’re doing, you can absolutely be making the best espresso you’ve ever had with it. The full control over pressure profile, temperature, dose size, basically every variable is make it great. These are the same things that make the aeropress great… except the aeropress can’t hit as high pressures and so can’t actually make espresso.
Fully recommend, but also fully recommend that you get the most expensive one that fits your budget.
Really interested in a flair 58 so I’m glad to hear the experience is so good, thank you!
Glad I could help!
I would add one thing to my write up though. It’s not nearly as portable as the pro2, signature, classic, neo, etc.
Aside from the size, preheating the chamber with hot water doesn’t really work well at all. It’s still possible to pull shots but they come out pretty under extracted.
Awesome. Yeah what I really like is the portable aspects of it. Since I’m so used to aero press this felt like the next step forward. Does the grind consistency have to be fine grain everytime? I have a grinder that makes it pretty fine but I’m curious if a more expensive grinder have better results.
It’ll depend on your coffee beans nearly entirely. Espresso is way harder to dial in than other types of coffee so having a consistent grinder capable of making very small changes in the grind size makes the process much much easier.
Try the one you have now, but consider getting something with tiny steps like the 1Zpresso J-Max. I use that with my flair all the time. The learning curve is steep, but worth it.
