X1 Gen 1 (Aluminium Boiler)

Francis Francis X1 espresso machine. They retailed new for about $900, 20 years ago. It's a tank, I can't believe it's still chugging along. Pictured with this morning's espresso in a cup I made. :)

I had a gen 1 Francis Francis X1 with an aluminium boiler. The heating element died in 2020. When I opened it up to diagnose the problem I found a manufacturing date stamp of 1998. Spare parts for my model were not available so I had to let got of it. It made me some awesome cups of coffee. If yours has a brass boiler you're in a better position if something breaks.

yeah, looking cool was their best quality, I don't miss mine.

I used to have this as well.

I have this but in chrome! Found it on facebook marketplace 😂

I got a pink one off ebay a dozen years ago! Love it.

In my mind, one can hit the diminishing returns of cup quality with machines pretty early. Less so with grinders. But the **diminishing returns with machine workflow and consistency are a much longer trail**. I started on a very old and used Francis Francis from Facebook Marketplace. Occasionally made great espresso with it, but it was really frustrating to monitor and maintain. Now? Thanks to a house move and kitchen renovation, I am unboxing a La Cimbali DT1; plumbed in and hooked into our reverse osmosis water and a drain pipe. It will make consistently excellent coffee and the workflow (I'm hoping) should be incredibly efficient. And I've learned to save bucks by home roasting green beans I buy for $7/lb on a FB Marketplace-bought roaster. Yes, I know that's time consuming; I roast on weekends when I have the time and inclination, but when I want really good coffee at 6:30 am I don't have time to fuss with a fussy machine.