Flair Espresso - Flair 49 PRO Espresso Maker

I like my Flair; it makes the best espresso I’ve ever had, and I can easily take it to work when I’m on an overnight shift. Plus I recently discovered that you can froth milk by heating it up and then agitating it in a French press. A cheap little one-cup Bodum French press can produce results that are tolerably similar to a steamer.

The Pro, I think. I’d have to check when I get home.

Yes. Coming from a lever lover. The robot is fantastic, as is the flair pro, also love la pavoni in case I have someone else who wants milk.

Keep your old machine to steam with and get the flair, thats what I do!

Levers give you everything you want in a fancy high end machine like blooming shots, pressure control/water debit, temp control... etc. Downside is that unless you get a spring lever, most fully manual levers don't have boilers so no steaming without a separate device/machine. I love my flairs, my pico, but my La Pavoni really is nice, it's convenient to have the steam with it to make caps/lattes

I’ve been using flair pro for 2 years, 58+ seems way better experience.

I have the DeLonghi EC 702 and a 1ZPresso grinder. Works really well with darker roasts. I also have a Flair manual machine. Far better shots, but a lot more work. Its more a Sunday brunch with friends thing.

I have the next Delonghi up and I also have a Flair Pro. The Flair makes better Espresso, but the Delonghi is easier and faster

Flair Pro is only 260USD on Amazon right now and it makes better espresso than any "budget" machine. If you enjoy the process of espresso, you really cant go wrong with Flair Pro. The cost of an average machine buys you an awful lot of shots from your local roaster/shop.

Flair pro makes fantastic shots and is inexpensive enough you wont feel bad if you dont end up using it a ton. Black Friday soon. . ..

Used Flair Neo / Pro if you can. If not, I'd pick the Picopresso.

I use a Flair Pro, which has a portafilter that does not have a handle. The process is much fiddlier and fussier than the 58, which uses a standard portafilter. With a 58, you can buy 2 portafilters, prep them both, then pull two shots in a row. A machine with some kind of pump (or even a lever that just fills a chamber from line pressure) makes the process a lot smoother. The one area where a Flair is weak IMO is temperature stability, as well as max temp. Flair 58+ doesn't get hot enough for people who are into light roasted espresso, and simply because it doesn't have the thermal mass it can't be as temp stable as an E61 group. All of this being said, I'd upgrade my grinder before I'd upgrade my Flair Pro 2. There are a lot of different ways to use a direct manual lever, and once you develop the skills, you can do things that you'd have to buy a 2,000-3,000 USD machine to get: Extremely low pressure preinfusion Noticing a sudden increase in flow rate that indicates channeling, so you back off of pressure to let the puck self heal, and you get something drinkable instead of a shot of spro that's both bitter \*and\* sour. Declining pressure profile: you can do a flat 9 bar extraction if you really want to, some coffees taste better that way. The declining pressure profile of a lever IMO is the most forgiving and broadly applicable profile, it has a way of smoothing and rounding harshness that a flat 9 or flat 6 doesn't give you. Reducing pressure as the puck degrades gives the water more time to extract as it percolates through the puck, so even though the pressure is declining, the pressure is still high enough that the lower flow rate at the end of the shot makes a noticeable difference in taste. They make pump machines that can do most of what a lever can do, but they're $3,000+. What you're paying for is repeatability and convenience. What you could do is get a Flair, see how it fits into your life, and if it doesn't, buy a pump machine. Some people keep their manual lever around for the coffees that they just can't quite get right in a pump machine.

My flair pro makes better shots than my dedica maestro plus by a very wide margin.

Yeah, they are just so expensive now - I’d get a used flair pro if I was choosing between the two, personally. Easy to come by, just as good (I think).

I had the Vertuo machine so they were a little more expensive. Nonetheless, with my $180 Flair and some $30 2.2lb Italian beans I was getting way better espresso than that machine. If you want to call Nespresso espresso... which is already stretching the definition pretty far.

Espresso is a series of trade-offs until you get to machines costing thousands of dollars. I'd honestly punt this back to her to research. Espresso is also a lifetime of learning (about features, equipment and techniques) and so she should be willing and excited to do this initial research to build confidence on what she wants. Being a Barista at Starbucks is just mostly hitting a button and knowing recipes on # of pumps for different size drinks. It is not necessarily the type of experience that translates as well as you would expect into the home espresso realm, where you care much more about quality and puck prep over speed. If she is willing to do a bit more manual work in pulling shots (less convenience, better quality), and doesn't care about steaming milk, she should consider a manual lever machine like Flair. Along the same lines, a manual grinder also costs a lot less than an electric one, but can be a bear if you're trying to pull multiple shots. A Flair machine paired with an electric grinder is a good compromise for a budget setup. If she's going fully electric, which is what most people prefer, don't get anything with a grinder built in. They are notoriously bad grinders and as she gets more into espresso she will probably want to upgrade the grinder. Staying modular is a huge advantage for future flexibility. Can't go wrong with a Breville Bambino paired with the best grinder you are willing to buy her.