My Linea Mini R (5 months in)

I’ve been a little inactive on this sub lately. The title says it all. 5 months into my journey with the Linea Mini R and I’m simply just blown away by this machine. I didn’t post initially because I really want to get a feel for this machine and enjoy it. But I feel like now is a good time to finally give an update.

Coming from a Profitec Pro 600 with FC, which to me could have very well been my end game machine. It was a machine I always wanted and I was more than happy with the espresso I was getting from it. Great microfoam from the steam wand gave me silky smooth milk. If I’m being honest, I never used the Flow Control, more so a gimmick.

Never even had the Linea Mini in my sights until my buddy got one. Talk about a splurge purchase. I didn’t need a new machine by any means. It was more of a want, always is. I literally bought it the day before the price increase and when I hung up the phone with Clive I couldn’t believe what I just did. My buddy called me to congratulate me on the machine. Felt like I was in some sort of an elite club 😂. Now to the machine itself.

This is simply a timeless design. I think initially what sold me on the Mini is the simplicity of it. No buttons, clean design and you control everything in the app which is pretty seamless surprisingly. It’s also build like a tank. Very heavy and sturdy. And I thought my Pro 600 was heavy lol. Gone are the days of flow control. I just want to pull my shot and enjoy. The temperature stability on this machine is the real deal. You can actually notice the difference
compared to an E61 machine. The rotary pump in my opinion is a huge upgrade. Not saying that it’s better. I hate using the word better but it’s definitely a more enjoyable user experience. Super quiet and pretty consistent at repeating the same shots. The steam wand was a big learning curve. This thing is powerful! Couldn’t steam milk for the life of me for the first couple weeks. But after trial and error now it’s super easy to steam. Don’t get me wrong it still humbles me from time to time lol. The pre-brew feature is pretty cool as well if you want to experiment.

Is this machine worth the price tag? Probably not, but I couldn’t be happier with my purchase. And at the end of the day that’s what counts. I think the big selling point for the Mini is that it’s just a no nonsense machine that does the job. It such a joy to use day in and day out and I think user experience is a big plus with this machine. I apologize for the rambling in advance.