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Old 01-14-2021, 09:47 AM
benb benb is online now
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Eastern MA
Posts: 9,798
I've had my flair neo for a few weeks now and am starting to get the hang of it.

I did order the standard bottomless portafilter along with the temperature strip that lets you see how hot you've got the brew chamber. We'll see if my grinder can actually handle using the normal portafilter once it arrives.

It makes some pretty damn good coffee once I got the hang of getting it hot enough. You have to basically always use boiling water.. the whole process of pulling the shot drops the water temperature down into the correct temp range for brewing. I put the kettle on for 212F/100C and I pre-heat the chamber twice and that seems to do the trick in getting the chamber up to about 190F, then you throw new 212F water in there to make the shot and it seems to drop right into the correct temperature range. Not terribly hard or time consuming now that I got it down.

It is an interesting device though.. not sure I like it better for making a latte or cappucino style drink than the Moka pot. The flair really makes those tiny Italian style servings. It pulls about 40g max and that's it. So better to just drink the shot straight or make an Americano.. otherwise it's easy to end up with something that isn't hot enough or has too much milk. Some of that might have to do with me not having the correct cups though. I did order some SS insulated espresso shot glasses. Those work well. I've mostly been drinking shots from it straight up, but the Americano made with it also taste really fantastic.

I have never really enjoyed having straight shots of espresso.. last time I did so was in Europe in 2019. Now that I'm making them at home I'm going to have to start asking for them at Cafes around me once it's safe to get my bearings on how I'm doing at home. In general my feeling is what I'm making at home is less bitter & more bright tasting.
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