Courtnix Blog

I’ve been a Flair user since the beginning of my making home espresso. I started with the Classic, got the Pro, and pre-ordered the original 58. I’ve used it near daily for the last almost 3 years now. I did just have to set it aside to put a semi-auto machine on my coffee bar so both my wife and I could make espresso - she didn’t like coffee much up until recently - so I wanted to make a long term reveiw of the 58.

Having the original, I have a few differences in design compared to the ones out today. The ones I am aware of are the puck screen always being mandatory, as the original 58 had its own shower screen in the chamber, the plunger design is different. There’s likely other features that are different.

Workflow

My workflow for my 58 has been to start heating it on setting 2 and then walk away for maybe 15 minutes. I’ll come back and start my kettle and heat it to 210F for medium roasts (I overshoot the water temp because it drops when I pour it into the chamber), and as the water is heating I will start my puck prep.

As the water gets hot I will balance my portafilter on top of my kettle to steam the basket, since it isn’t hot enough after 15 minutes. During that time I will grind my coffee, and at that point the basket is usually warm enough to dry it off and then prepare my basket.

I lock the the portafilter in place, pour in my hot water, then start pulling.

Clean Up

My clean up involves purging the rest of the water from the chamber, dumping out my puck, then taking my purge cup and portafilter to the kitchen sink to clean it. Lastly, I put everything back in place for the next cup.

My Overall Thoughts

I’ve loved making espresso on the Flair 58 all these years. Maintenance has been simple, I will take the plunger out of the chamber and remove the o-rings and clean them all once every 2-3 weeks, and that’s been about all it needs. I have not needed to replace or repair anything, there isn’t much to repair. I know in the beginning there were controller failure issues, but I didn’t have that problem. Users were warned to plug/unplug the machine in the right order, since early designs shorted out from doing this in the wrong order.

Coffee Quality

The quality of the espresso has always been excellent. Every now and again I found something was lacking, but couldn’t figure out what. Maybe it was the beans or the way I made my coffee, but sometimes I would get a magical shot from a cafe using a La Marzocco and I couldn’t match it. However, all my coffee was excellent. The lever made it fun to try different techniques, but it also saved my coffee many times. If pulling too fast or too slow, it was always easy to manipulate the lever to get something good that probably wouldn’t have been as good on a traditional semi-auto machine.

Downsides

For me, the downsides were always the need to heat up the portafilter and basket on top of my water kettle. It was never hot enough unless I let the basket hang out over some steam for a while. Also, the constant use of the purge cup wasn’t my favorite thing either, and needing to fill up and manage a water kettle at the same time was just an added step to my process.

The biggest issue though was that my wife did not want to make espresso on it. She could, but didn’t like doing the job herself. So the biggest con to me is it is definitely a personal pleasure tool, unless others in your house like to do the fun process of making their coffee.

Conclusion

I love my 58. Currently, it got set aside by a Profitec GO so my wife could also make espresso. However, I intend on getting a new bar so I can put the 58 back on it. I love the GO, and a review will come for that.

The Flair 58 makes coffee fun and with great results. The price is good for what you get, and the fact that there is nearly 0 maintenance on this machine and few parts to break is excellent. If something DOES break, it doesn’t require a technician. Flair’s support is top notch in my experience and it makes the art of good quality lever espresso achievable.