This will be my first substantive post on the La Marzocco GS/3. I have not wanted to say much about it until I felt like I truly understand the machine. I have been pulling shots with it consistently for about one month, and yesterday I was able to devote 7 hours to playing and testing the machine, over (per my notes) 126 shots of different types (I tasted most, but drank very few).
First, I will not try to justify either the price or paying the price. As with nearly everything having to do with espresso, the price is absurd and I never would have purchased this for myself. Coming as a gift, during a dire time, meant to promote looking forward and being optimistic about life, the machine is most welcome and I suspect I will not get the itch to buy another machine for at least a few more weeks.....although I suspect the GS/3 will never join the 13 other espresso-machines-of-the-past that I have sitting in a cabinet and with which I am unable to part.
Second, most of the comparisons here will be to my
Rocket R58 v2 and my old but still trusty and loved
La Pavoni lever.
Third, do I think you/your neighbor/your friend should buy one? I have no idea.
OK, with that out of the way.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
I could stop there. But you know me better than that......
Wow.
Did I mention wow?
OK, enough of that.
First, so what's the point of this machine? Why do the reviews swoon? To understand that, you have to understand the philosophy of the machine, which I would summarize as: fanatical consistency. Really, that's it. The machine is designed to allow for as-perfect-as-possible consistency. The basic idea: everything is tweakable/futzable/adjustable (really, nearly everything). You tweak and futz and adjust, and then you can save all of that tweaking/futzing/adjusting into a memory and produce exactly the same cup, down to the 100th of the degree, or the 10th of a gram, or the 10th of a bar.
Let me give you one example. One thing you can tweak/futz/adjust is the time between the point at which the pre-infusion stops and the regular cycle begins. Many machines have pre-infusion, some even let you play (manually or automatically) with the timing, but I have never before owned a machine that lets you with such precision tweak the exact time between the instant the pre-infusion stops and the regular cycle begins. I never knew it mattered. Yes, the difference can be seen (errr.....tasted) in the taste. And, like everything on this over-engineered machine, you can adjust the time not just in seconds, but in 10ths of a second. I cannot detect a difference in taste between, say, a .5 second delay and a .8 second delay, but a difference of between .5 second and 1 second is easily tasted.
About half of yesterday's shots were once I discovered and became fascinated with this one little setting. So, per the machine's philosophy, I adjusted, tweaked, and futzed....and then I found the setting I liked the best and stored it. Every shot I pull (using that particular setting) will use exactly that same delay. Fanatical consistency.
And, the cool part is this: when I switch coffee, or when the coffee goes from 2 days to 5 days old, I suspect I will need to adjust that one tiny, seemingly trivial setting, and learn the whole thing over again. Merveilleux.
Second, so is there any way to explain (not justify) the cost? Well, not really, but the machine is massively over-engineered. Let me give you one example. Flip the machine on, come back 24 minutes later, and the coffee boiler pressure gauge will be sitting there smiling at you with 12 bars on its face. What? 12 bars? But that will ruin the shot. Ah, yes, but then pull a shot and notice that the gauge drops to 9 bars. Not 9.1, not 8.9, not a bouncing needs like so many other machine. 9 bars. Perfectly. 9 bars at the start, 9 bars in the middle, 9 bars at the end. The consistency is a perfect flat line. No ramp up, no ramp down. Just a pretty flat line.
Even for a triple ristretto (which the Rocket struggles with and the Lever, well, no chance), the GS/3 just hums along and does not exhibit even the slightest struggle. 23 dry grams to produce 38 grams of perfect ristretto-ness in 28 seconds.....the machine just smiles at you, quietly.
Everything is over-engineered. I have not measured myself yet, but the temperature and pressure graphs (among others) show perfect flat lines. None of this "the shot starts out at 202 degrees and is at 180 by the end of the shot." Remember, fanatical consistency.
Third, as you all know, I am passionate about my twin Mazzer Mini's. Wonderful, wonderful grinders, incredible consistency.
With the GS/3, I am now in the market for a new grinder.....probably a titan. There is always the weakest link in any chain, and in my espresso chain, it is now the Mazzers.
Fourth, it is, of course, all about the taste in the cup. Today, I cannot produce a better tasting cup than I can with the Rocket, or even the Lever (on a single). Well, other than a triple ristretto, where even with my limited skills the GS/3 knocks the Rocket aside.
But, it is as clear as day to me that, with time, the GS/3 will produce tastes that I cannot produce on my other machines. Nearly every problem with an espresso occurs on the non-machine side of the portafilter, and that is certainly true in my case and especially with the GS/3. But, in a year, I believe I will be pulling ristrettos that I could never produce on my other machines. For now, I throw away about half of my "I intend to drink this" shots on the GS/3. That will change, over time.
So, to fanatical consistency, I add: anticipation.
Fifth, you can run this machine as a manual, but I don't know why you would want to. The "philosophy" is to futz and then be able to repeat, exactly and down to the 10th of a degree or gram, the futzing. It would be a huge waste of money to buy this machine in the expectation of running it manually for anything other than the occasional new type of coffee you just want to play with once.
In this regard, I cannot imagine a worse machine for someone like our friend
Shrink, given his likes and dislikes.
Sixth, you can also run this machine as a full auto....just plug it in, bleed the boilers (which is easy and must be done only once), add water and start pulling shots. But, as with a pure manual operation, I'm not sure why anyone would want to buy this machine and just push the auto button. The joy, the taste, the incredible quality, comes only with many, many hours of futzing.
Seventh, it is not perfect. As reported in most reviews, the drip tray is annoyingly hard to remove and re-attach; the Rocket design, with magnets, is much better. But, the machine's makers, I suspect, expect most of these machines to be plumbed, and they are probably correct.
I have much to learn, and I look forward to playing with the GS/3 over the next year or so. It will take that long until I feel like I truly "get" the machine. But, what a fantastic journey it will be, goaded on by reviews like this one from one of Stumptown's founders:
The GS3, in the hands of a skilled barista and with great coffee, produces truly excellent espresso with shocking ease. It is a genuinely revolutionary espresso machine. The combination of the technology involved, the design and engineering, and the materials and components used create a tool that enables a skilled barista to do wonderful things. With this machine, the experience of exploring and understanding espresso becomes easier and more practical.
Over the course of the evaluation of the GS3, it became an object of great desire and even lust for all who pulled shots on it. In every case, the discussion rapidly proceeded from "is it a good machine?" to "do I like it?" to "is it better than X?" (fill in "Linea" or "Synesso" for X) and eventually to "is it the best machine you've used?" Drips of a naked pour and finally to "oh I want one!" This conversation was largely fueled by the results when pulling shots.
There you have it. My first GS/3 post.
And, here is the lovely machine just this morning, nested in next to a Mazzer and the still-lovely Rocket.
