I've been eyeing this machine for a while since my goal is to really control my press just like I have with the Aero Press. Still haven't decided if this is a worthwhile investment.
this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2023
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I had the flair signature that i later upgraded to flair pro2 (with extra "stuff" to minimize how long it would take to make 2 espressos) and I sold it...
...to buy a flair 58.
All the flair machines are great. The 58 with the electrical heating element and pressure gauge is the best, of course. It's also the priciest. The rest are definitely usable.
Other than using a relatively standard size portafilter and more traditional setup with a handle, the 58 with the electrical heating element also had an easier (and thus more reproducible) workflow. Can go "from zero to espresso" in 8-10 minutes.
You're generally going to have to get a capable grinder (read: half decent burr grinder with sufficiently fine adjustments... plan on around $200 for electrical. Less for a manual.)... one of the flair models with a pressurized or flow control basket can probably produce decent results with a lower end burr grinder or even a blade grinder, but it's not gonna be as good as what you get from a good grinder and non pressurized/straight wall basket.
You're also going to need a source of hot water. I assume if you're currently making aeropress, you have one. Depending on which flair model you're considering, you may want to preheat the basket... which means immersing it in your hot water source or putting it somehow over top of the hot water to heat up by steam.
Other than that, the flair comes with usable tools (tamper) but you may eventually want nicer ones. Super recommend getting the pressure gauge for the flair too. It helps a lot in having a repeatable method of pulling a shot.
As for how good the espresso is? It's really good. Once you really know what you're doing, you can absolutely be making the best espresso you've ever had with it. The full control over pressure profile, temperature, dose size, basically every variable is make it great. These are the same things that make the aeropress great... except the aeropress can't hit as high pressures and so can't actually make espresso.
Fully recommend, but also fully recommend that you get the most expensive one that fits your budget.
Really interested in a flair 58 so I’m glad to hear the experience is so good, thank you!
Glad I could help!
I would add one thing to my write up though. It's not nearly as portable as the pro2, signature, classic, neo, etc.
Aside from the size, preheating the chamber with hot water doesn't really work well at all. It's still possible to pull shots but they come out pretty under extracted.
Awesome. Yeah what I really like is the portable aspects of it. Since I'm so used to aero press this felt like the next step forward. Does the grind consistency have to be fine grain everytime? I have a grinder that makes it pretty fine but I'm curious if a more expensive grinder have better results.
It’ll depend on your coffee beans nearly entirely. Espresso is way harder to dial in than other types of coffee so having a consistent grinder capable of making very small changes in the grind size makes the process much much easier.
Try the one you have now, but consider getting something with tiny steps like the 1Zpresso J-Max. I use that with my flair all the time. The learning curve is steep, but worth it.