Good morning and welcome to today’s review! I’m taking a break from writing about coffee this morning to talk about my new espresso machine. Part 1 explores my decision making process and some things I did right, more things I did wrong. Enjoy!
The most detailed review of an espresso machine, ever
QUICK MILL CAROLA EVO
I’ve been a home espresso guy for about 15 years. I got my start like many people with a moka pot on the stove and pre-ground Illy or other types of coffee in a can or vacuum packed brick. And, I know, that’s not espresso. My first espresso machine was a dead simple Gaggia Espresso, which I used for years and really loved. I eventually upgraded to a Gaggia Classic, which I did some modifications to and made great coffee.The Classic, especially if you adjust the pressure properly at the overpressure valve, is a great machine and, in retrospect, I could have been happy with mine for many more years.
So, why did I spend $900 on a new machine when the one I had was great?
There is a disease that all home espresso makers suffer from, called upgradeitis, although I have been relatively immune to that over the years. I hate to say it, but after seeing millions of photos of shiny, chrome E61 machines like Quick Mills, Rockets, Lelits, etc, I fell in love with the aesthetics. I also know these machines are commercial grade quality and can last a lifetime with a little maintenance, and that’s something I’m interested in. I very much want to wake up in 25 years and use my gnarled, old, arthritic hands on this same machine. I had been casually pursuing E61 machines every time I spotted them in local Kansas City classifieds and never had any luck trying to scoop one up for cheap, but the hunt was on for the last few years. I tend to be pretty patient.
Then I saw a photo of Quick Mill’s Carola Evo machine and I was really intrigued. E61 group, chrome and polished stainless steel aesthetics, and a lower price due to the fact that is has no steam wand and no hot water valve like most machines of this type. List price on this machine is $1100, which is still crazy for my budget. I really liked this machine because it’s compact, it’s single boiler since it doesn’t do steam, and I drink milkies at home about 3 times per year, so I don’t need steam or hot water. All I need an espresso machine to do is make black gold!
Getting a little more serious about this machine, I stumbled across Chris’ Coffee and right around Christmastime it was on sale for $200 off, retailing there for $895, I think. I emailed them and introduced myself and Chris lopped another $50 off the price if I would post a review, and he only had a few more machines at this price. So, after a few days of convincing myself what a good idea this was, I bit the bullet. I had to pay taxes on the machine, too, which sucked, so my total was $925 signed, sealed and delivered and being around New Year it took about 10 days or so to get to me.
Before I go too much further, if you want to know about every single minute detail, check out the link above to the most detailed review of an espresso machine, ever. Narwhal on Home-Barista.com did an INSANE review of this machine about 2 years ago, complete with tons of pictures.
To tell you a little about Quick Mill, they are an Italian company based in Senago, near Milano. They’ve been making espresso machines and coffee grinders since 1945. I lived in Rome, Italy for 7 years and you could say I’m a bit of an Italophile for that reason. Plus, if I’m going to buy an espresso machine to last my lifetime, it had to be Italian, no? Quick Mill products are Italcheck certified, meaning they are verified to be entirely made in Italy with Italian components. It’s like Italy’s version of a “Made in the USA” tag. My favorite part of the whole deal was when the box arrived and I saw the big “Fragile” sticker on top, I could say, “Frageelay, it must be Italian” and be correct (Christmas Story reference for anyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about).
The Carola Evo has PID, so you set the temperature on a little thermostat in back (which is not easy to get to or use) and it will set itself to that temp. It has a 0.75L brass boiler, 1.8L water reservoir and cannot be plumbed in directly to a water line. There is a pressure gauge up front and a two way rocker switch. Turn it to position 1 and it turns on without heating the boiler. Position 2 turns it on and heats the boiler.
Alright, let’s jump into the details…
Working with Chris’ Coffee
Chris’ Coffee has been around in the coffee biz forever. They have a good reputation on all the espresso and coffee forums and I felt 100% confident in ordering from them. The fact that I paid taxes on an online purchase isn’t their fault, although it stung! LOL I had a few opportunities to need to contact them after the machine arrived and they got back to me within a day each time, so what more could I ask for?
The machine arrived double boxed and super well-packed. Chris’ Coffee has been shipping machines for a long time and they know how it’s done. This Carola Evo weighs a TON and it arrived in perfect shape.
A List of Things NOT to Do When You Get a New Machine
OK, here’s the part where I make myself look like an idiot. Not to bury the headline, I regretted this purchase, badly, from the moment I pulled my first espresso and for about the first week I owned the machine, all for reasons I created for myself and to no fault of Chris’ Coffee or Quick Mill. My best advice? Unpack the machine, do nothing to it, plug it in and use it exactly as it shipped. That’s not what I did, at all, and I paid for it.
What did I decide to do? I decided I wanted to set it up just right before I pulled a single shot. I replaced the stock screen and rubber group gasket with an IMS precision screen and silicone Cafelat gasket (no problem), but I also had talked to a local espresso repair place that is legendary in the area about my purchase and my contact there mentioned he had seen a lot of these machines at shows and that I should set the PID to 120 Celsius. Of course, I know that is above boiling temp, but I also know water temp drops, a lot, once it hits the espresso puck in the portafilter, so I took his advice and set the PID to 120. The PID on the Carola is a bit goofy in that it is an analog switch of about 9-10 teeny tiny dip switches on a little board in the back of the machine that is kept behind a little panel held on by two screws. Adjusting it requires the manual and a lot of care to move the right dip switches into the right positions.
So, I set the PID, replaced the screen and gasket, plugged it in, turned it on, and POW! There goes the breaker. My house is older and has ungrounded, two-prong outlets. It’s still scary to use this machine because if I plug it in and touch it while touching other metal, it runs a decent amount of current through my body, so it’s a bit of a risk to even turn the thing on, honestly! LOL I’m working on that and I certainly unplug it if I’m not using it. I actually had part of the plug adapter touch a piece of metal and it popped the breaker and shot a piece of white-hot metal across my kitchen, sparked like crazy, etc. I though I killed the machine and my electrical in one stupid move, but alas, all was “fine.”
Anyway, I went to pull my first shot and it seemed insanely hot, ran super fast. For the next week I played with every variable, posted on multiple forums trying to get help to diagnose my problem, came at the issue that the espresso I was pulling was pure garbage, running super fast with no crema, trying to take advice that, more often than not sucked, but I was desperate. I’d just sunken $1000 into an espresso machine that didn’t make good coffee and my unplugged Classic was mocking me from the storage cabinet the whole time.
I burned through 2 pounds of coffee that first week trying to get it to work right and I just couldn’t make a decent shot of espresso. None of it made ANY sense. I’d grind finer and it would run faster. I’d choke the machine and a drop wouldn’t appear for 20 seconds, then it’d run 40g of water through the puck in 5 seconds, so I knew I was too fine and fracturing the puck, but then I also wasn’t getting a drop of crema. Then, finally, someone said, “You idiot, you have the boiler set insanely hot, drop it to 93 C.” Eureka. I did that and that was my whole problem.
Like I said, don’t mess with anything, just plug it in out of the box and use it. If I’d done that, I would’ve been fine and I would’ve avoided a week of stressing out and getting pissed off, spending hours online researching WTF was happening, even though I know how to diagnose these things myself. Sheesh! Yes, I can be an idiot, too! Thanks for coming along for the ride, in Part 2 we’ll see how the actual coffee is!