First impressions with the S1 Dream
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 7:03 pm
From the time the Dream came out I have been wanting one. Short of shelling out 3-4 times more for a truly commercial machine, the Dream appeared to me to be the current epitome of the home espresso machine. I've had the machine running for a couple of weeks now and although I've still a lot to learn about it, I must say my expectations have been more than met. My machine is identical to the one pictured above.
The machine came well packed from Chris Coffee, although everything was a bit wet when I received it which was evidence the machine had been tested, but not quite completely drained prior to shipment. The included bottomless portafilter was the wrong type and upon notice Chris Coffee promptly shipped out the correct one. All in all my experience with Chris Coffee has been quite good. Although I had never ordered a machine from them before I have ordered many other things from them and have always received excellent service.
I've never owned a plumbed in machine before. The only really scary part was cutting a hole in my counter, because I knew I'd be committed once that happened. Other than that, plumbing it in was pretty straightforward. I already had an unused cold water tap with valve under my sink, which was a foresight I had 14 years ago when I had my house built. Outside of the valve a water regulator, and combination filter/softening solution was installed. I replaced my electrical outlet with a 20 amp model to avoid using the included 20 to 15 amp cord shipped with the machine. Although the service to my kitchen is 20 amp, the outlet is shared with a couple of other things like my garbage disposal, so I'm running the machine in 15 amp mode to avoid tripping the breaker. I have no concern in doing so since the machine always favors the brewing boiler.
Once the water source was installed the hard part was done and it was just a matter of hooking the water line up. The instructions downloaded from Chris Coffee are very straightforward. Installation and pump adjustment took just a few minutes.
My grinder is a Super Jolly which I've modified by removing the doser and installing a funnel. I've had it for many years and it works brilliantly. The coffee I'm currently using is Blue Jaguar Espresso from Redbird. I still have yet to use the bottomless portafilter as the shots the double spout is producing are quite nice. The control set took a bit of time to figure out, but is fairly intuitive and works quite well in operation. I was a bit skeptical of the volumetric dosing as I've never had a machine with such a thing, but in practice it is producing consistent shots in time and volume. The built-in timer is also a very nice feature.
The shots produced are somewhat different in character from my old Bezerra. I attribute this to things like pre-infusion, dual boiler, the rotary pump, and a considerable difference in basket design. Although I very much liked the shots my Bezerra produced, I'm starting to like the shots made by the Dream better and the electronic controls just gives me so many more options for customization. Although I haven't tried any other coffees yet, I'm greatly looking forward to it as my old Bezerra was a great pain getting it dialed in to a particular coffee and just didn't lend itself very well to switching roasts.
I'm currently brewing Blue Jaguar at 202F with 2 seconds of pre-infusion, which seems to be quite nice for my taste.
The machine came well packed from Chris Coffee, although everything was a bit wet when I received it which was evidence the machine had been tested, but not quite completely drained prior to shipment. The included bottomless portafilter was the wrong type and upon notice Chris Coffee promptly shipped out the correct one. All in all my experience with Chris Coffee has been quite good. Although I had never ordered a machine from them before I have ordered many other things from them and have always received excellent service.
I've never owned a plumbed in machine before. The only really scary part was cutting a hole in my counter, because I knew I'd be committed once that happened. Other than that, plumbing it in was pretty straightforward. I already had an unused cold water tap with valve under my sink, which was a foresight I had 14 years ago when I had my house built. Outside of the valve a water regulator, and combination filter/softening solution was installed. I replaced my electrical outlet with a 20 amp model to avoid using the included 20 to 15 amp cord shipped with the machine. Although the service to my kitchen is 20 amp, the outlet is shared with a couple of other things like my garbage disposal, so I'm running the machine in 15 amp mode to avoid tripping the breaker. I have no concern in doing so since the machine always favors the brewing boiler.
Once the water source was installed the hard part was done and it was just a matter of hooking the water line up. The instructions downloaded from Chris Coffee are very straightforward. Installation and pump adjustment took just a few minutes.
My grinder is a Super Jolly which I've modified by removing the doser and installing a funnel. I've had it for many years and it works brilliantly. The coffee I'm currently using is Blue Jaguar Espresso from Redbird. I still have yet to use the bottomless portafilter as the shots the double spout is producing are quite nice. The control set took a bit of time to figure out, but is fairly intuitive and works quite well in operation. I was a bit skeptical of the volumetric dosing as I've never had a machine with such a thing, but in practice it is producing consistent shots in time and volume. The built-in timer is also a very nice feature.
The shots produced are somewhat different in character from my old Bezerra. I attribute this to things like pre-infusion, dual boiler, the rotary pump, and a considerable difference in basket design. Although I very much liked the shots my Bezerra produced, I'm starting to like the shots made by the Dream better and the electronic controls just gives me so many more options for customization. Although I haven't tried any other coffees yet, I'm greatly looking forward to it as my old Bezerra was a great pain getting it dialed in to a particular coffee and just didn't lend itself very well to switching roasts.
I'm currently brewing Blue Jaguar at 202F with 2 seconds of pre-infusion, which seems to be quite nice for my taste.