Flair 58 vs Flair Pro 2

Well, the answer to that isn't a clear cut. yes or no. If the only reason you're considering an upgrade to the Flare 58 is because you expect it to ma...

When I'm trying to put an espresso portafilter, I remember that I used to find it quite hard to dial in and the reason why? The portal filter size of ...

A used one should still fit your budget and those machines are made to last. Pair either with the DF64/G-IOTA grinder and you have yourself a nice little setup.

Excellent espresso maker. Solid lasting build, easy to learn process, forgiving on the grind due to narrower portafilter and excellent coffee

Milk drinks can be prepared by using milk frothers that are also easy to maintain. The quality may not be as good but I think the students will have fun and experience and you don’t have to invest in giant commercial machines and rely on students to maintain and use.

Considering your wants and preground coffee, I'd advise against the Flair. The Flair seems to work well with coffee ground for espresso and preground coffee will not provide that. If you had a grinder, it could be considered. However, since you're looking for ease of use and cleanup, the Flair isn't it

They still suffer from the old heat problems that plagued them decades ago too. La pavoni levers are a dinosaur compared to newer budget lever machines like the Flair 58. I hope they either decrease prices or introduce a better group head that can compete with the Flairs as I just dont see how they can stand still whilst all these new lever machines beat them at every metric.

It seems that there is a design issue with the pressure gauge : the material is plastic and when you press the hand lever down, the pressure gauge tends to bend backward which results additional pressure at the end part, not into the middle part. So, it cracked after a few months of usage (I've never applied more pressure than 9 PSI). Also, the rubber cover at the hand lever is attached to the metal with three rubber joints. Two of them have broken after 3-4 usage

Stay away from E61 HX machines since you don’t care about steam that much and their temperature control generally isn’t good. Or if you only need to steam occasionally, save some money with a single boiler option such as Breville Infuser or Lelit Victoria , both of which still have programmable preinfusion and PID. If you can accept some out of the box solution, get a Flair 58 which should have reasonable temperature control while letting you do Pressure Profiling like a $3000 machine.

I could actually choke it with my manual Xeoleo grinder a couple of clicks away from the finest setting. The flip-side of this is that it is very difficult to find accessories (like distributors and tampers), which are overpriced in comparison to larger products for 51mm baskets. The only thing I'm still struggling with is thermal management. As it's not plugged to the mains, you have to pre-heat the brew head either by placing it on top of your kettle or filling it with boiling water a couple of times

Fellow Flair 58 user here. Yes it is channeling, I had the same issue when I first started out where it looked very "thin and stringy" as opposed to that nice full looking shot of espresso. I was using a Breville Smart Grind Pro when my 58 first arrived but since then I have upgraded to a Mignon Specialita which has made a world of a difference in the quality of the grinds and shots.

Extremely well built and full of little details that show the respect and attention that they have for the customers. Similar to what Apple used to do in the glory days.