Side By Side

Here is a shot of my red 1990 Oly and the Brown 1987 Oly side by side. I wish I could keep them both. I will pull another shot on it tomorrow, and then give it a nice polish and cleaning, getting it ready for the new owner.

Frothing Milk

Not the prettiest Cappucino ever, but man does it taste good!
This machine steams milk with a lot of power. I used Gaggias before I got my first Cremina, and I was shocked at how much easier it is to steam/foam milk when you have as much steam power as the Cremina
Ready to foam milk for the cap!

FIRST SHOT!!!!

I pulled this shot while trying to take the picture. Not the best shot I ever pulled, but not too bad
tamping the grinds
Warming the cup
Alright, here goes the first shot

Pstat set

The Pstat is now set to .9bars and ready to make espresso. I will let the machine cool, then refill and pull a shot.

Pressure test

Olys use a pressurestat to regulate temperature. The range that an Oly should work within is 0.7 to 0.9 bars. I prefer my machines to hit at .9bars and this one is about at .7. I will adjust the P-stat to .9bars before I pull the first shot.

Warming machine up for first shot

Another reason to use a later machine is that they started putting these 'cuts' in the treads ontop of the boiler. This cut is a saftey feature that give you a loud warning if you try to open the boiler cap while the machine is too hot. Older machines will not give you this warning, and spew hot water everywhere when the cap is removed.
filling up the boiler using a silicon funnel
sight glass in action
warming up.

flushing the boiler

At this point I am give the whole system a complete flush by heating it up and running water through it to make sure that any impurities from the rebuild process are completely removed. At the same time I am cleaning the portafilter and basket in the discarded water. I will pull a shot later today.
Group in action
Yes, this is a pic of the steam valve open. You are not seeing steam becasue the steam is very dry. Perfect for making a nice cappuccino.