On vacation in Australia, I couldn’t resist a visit to Option O’s Brew Lab, and to Coffee Machine Techology’s showroom.
In the first photo L-R: Lagom P64, P80, 01. Second photo L-R: Lagom 01, Casa, Mini. 3rd photo: CMT’s showroom, showing only a fraction of the gear they had on display.
Sam at Option-O was a gracious host. We brewed a light roast as V60 ground with Casa, P80 with stock Mizzen 800M burrs, and 01 with SSP 102 HU burrs. My favorite was the P80 with the Casa a close 2nd. I guess I’m not a fan of the 102 HU burrs, as the coffee brewed with them tasted overly harsh. Maybe the coffee needed to be dialed in differently with those burrs. We also brewed a medium roast ground on the P80 as espresso using a Decent with a lever profile, which was delicious.
I was very impressed with the P80. It is just a smidge larger than the P64, and it is hard to tell them apart. Burrs are extremely easy to swap. Most steel burrs can be magnetically attached; the burr carriers have pins that go through the screw holes of the burrs to prevent them from rotating on the carriers. The exit chute is cleverly designed to also act as a knocker to dislodge grinds. It looks to me like a big improvement over the P64 for the same price.
Any espresso head visiting Melbourne needs to make an appointment to visit Option-O. CMT is only 2 blocks away from the Brew Lab.
by MyCatsNameIsBernie
9 Comments
What was CMT like? Did they have many machines set up for demo? Especially curious on any lever machines they might have had set up.
Wow, the P80 is barely larger than the P60! I knew that the P60 is rather large grinder compared to other 64mm grinders but that really puts it into perspective!
Have had the pleasure of doing a session with Sam at their brewlab. It’s so great to be able to try different grinders out and taste the difference and learn how to pronounce Mizen correctly.
Should have bought this electra when I had a chance
Loving my Casa, will be interested in the P80, considering how it cost almost the same as a p64!
Those Elektra machine’s look incredible. Reminiscent of the coffee machine Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) tries to get coffee out of in Saving Private Ryan.
I despise the microscope telescope trend. They look ridiculous
Nice day for it! And despite owning a Lagom Casa, I had absolutely no idea Option-O are based 500m from my office.
thanks for sharing! this is the stuff that i would like to see more of on this sub