Intrigued by the machine? Do you own one? On the short list? Let me know below! And don't forget to hit that sub button;) ALSO- "budget" is a relative term. When discussing "end game" machines, the cost tends to be upwards of $5,000 to $10,000. So, this, to me, is a proper "budget" option for a machine that can compete with the high priced "end game" machines. ok. end.
Do you think other manufacters will follow with this kind of "smart PID" I would love to see something as an upgrade for my synchronika that would bridge the gap between and Decent. Right now my workflow involves lifting my brew leaver to get 2 bars or preinfusion for 5 seconds, it would be amazing to have the machine do this for me.
I agree, it’s budget from a value proposition perspective. I absolutely love it! Currently using a Rocket Porta Vía which I love, but if I ever want to upgrade to have more control, the Bianca would top my list.
Man ever since that little rough patch on youtube it really seems like you’ve been able to be yourself to the fullest extent in your videos, its truly a beautiful thing, hope you’re doing as great as you look lance
I think zach is referring to my having to come to terms with being a public figure and having loads of people critique my personality, my weight, etc. It hit me hard and I made a vulnerable post about it. Have since been able to get over it and have just moved on and embraced this space as my own. those who enjoy can follow along. Those who don't can eff off haha!
Hey Lance, thanks so much for the in-depth look at the Bianca. I'd love if you could make a flow-profiling tutorial and how to identify the best profile for a specific bean! Like a more advanced version of your dialing in two-part series.
Great video! It would be amazing if you could do a comparison of pros and cons of different group heads in terms of temp and pressure stability, e.g., E61, saturated, the Decent’s, and others. Thanks, Lance!
Hey Lance, great content as always, I have the Mara X V1 and love the idea behind Lelit's Espresso machines. Building good quality E61 machines while also implementing decent software. Also the fact they update their models every now and then listening to the feedback is really great.
And the machine is here and set up! It’s a beautiful and functional machine. First shot, out of the box, was excellent! Thanks again for the info and help!
Thanks for making some gigantic, very thorough reviews. You’re undoubtedly losing some viewers who are more casual about coffee, but your channel is wealth of knowledge and experience for those who are deeper into the hobby.
Great review, thank you! One thing to note regarding your comments around standby mode: the EU has regulations around this sort of thing, for all electronic devices, and comes with great specificity especially for coffee machines: "for domestic coffee machines other than drip filter coffee machines, a maximum of 30 minutes after completion of the last brewing cycle, or a maximum of 30 minutes after activation of the heating element [...]". It would be effectively illegal for Lelit to ship this in the EU with a longer timer or without standby. This probably explains why there are no menus or clear instructions in the manual about disabling this either. They could of course have offered different defaults for different regions, but I suppose this was too much of a nuisance for them...
I know budget/value is all relative, but this video just solidified what great value this feature rich machine has to offer. Would love to see you deep dive into/share graphs of some of your favorite flow profiles. Fantastic review and video as always!
Dave Corby has instructions on how to change the LCC to default to the actual boiler temperature rather than the target. Did it on my v2 and makes much more sense
Great video, Lance! I have run a V1 Lelit Bianca for the last 3 years. Love it and it has helped me to make considerable progress in the quality and consistency of my home espresso.
Amazing video! Saw in previous videos that you also have a Decent. I am currently hesitating between the DE1XL or the Bianca V3. What do you think of shot quality ? My other big concern is noise on the decent. Seems like the vibe pump are making really loud weird noice vs the gentle humming of the Bianca. Thanks for putting up such great videos, super helpful !
I am thinking the same as you, I go back and forth on these 2 machines but then seen the Sanremo You and might have swayed me on getting that over these 2.
Another great review, thanks Lance! I used to own a Rocket R58 with flow control, and I’ve used a Bianca V2. I enjoyed using both. But, after some surprisingly good espresso from a Cafelat Robot I have for travel, I bought a Londinium lever and sold the Rocket a few months later. Lever machines aren’t for everybody, of course, but I found it an unexpected joy to wake in the morning and pull simple, silent and delicious shots. A useful question for prospective buyers to ask themselves might be “do I prize complexity/flexibility or simplicity?” That may help point them in the right direction.
I love how this machine looks, when I actually get into end game espresso I think it would be a tough decision between this, the E1 Prima and the Olympia Cremina. But I need to get into espresso first, don’t have the space now 😅. Thanks for the great review!
That’s stupid this machine really handles the offset as you say? Every other machine you set the offset permanently, so +5 is +5 all the time and not just after you start the shot it will heat +5. What sense does that make?
I purchased the v3 Bianca (in stainless steel) about 4 months ago now. I have yet to play with the "smart features" as I favor the manual flow control. After seeing your breakdown of the low flow and pre-infusion I'll give it a try if for no other reason than to see that shot to shot consistency from one day to the next. I also found it interesting that you had your PID set to 98c. I use single origin light roasts and had been running 95c but after seeing your results on the temperature drop I'll bump up my PID and see what impact that has on my extractions. Thanks for the great review Lance! Edit: your cons of the machine were spot on. I chose to attach a drain hose to the drip tray after only 1 week of use as it was really annoying to empty constantly. I simply ran it to a 15 gallon bucket (hidden under the counter). Now I only dump the bucket once every week or 2. That eco mode was a p.i.t.a. to figure out how to turn off, thanks for including that info for others.
What experiences did you make bumping up to 98c? I got mine today and I was kind of surprised watching this video and finding out I have to turn up the PID by that much.
The problem the lelit machines have an offset of 4 to 6 degrees celcius. That means the temperature u seeing is actually 4 to 6 degrees lower. Maybe thats the reason to adjust the offset u need professional equipment
Such a great roundup of the Bianca! Every time I have the pleasure of using mine, I fall in love with the build quality and the workflow. I'm curious if my grinder is limiting my shot quality atm and I'm not sure how to find out! I'm using a Eureka Mignon, so I'm not sure if it's just the upgrade-itis talking
What would you choose if you were trying to decide which one to get for home? La Marzocco micro, Rocket R58 or this one Lelit Bianca v3? I don't really need the new app, Bluetooth stuff. I'm older and wouldn't use all that. Any suggestions?
Great video, I really feel like Lelit are the equivalent of One Plus in the early days. They give all the features the enthusiasts want, at a reasonable price but maybe not as high quality materials/finish as top end brands. Have used the Bianca and own an Elizabeth and love it.
I've had a V2 for a little bit over a year. It's been a really solid upgrade vs my BDB. Love the rotary pump's really quiet operation (but the damn loud relays reduce that impact somewhat). I can't say my shots improved by an insane margin, but not having to loose the hot water (and mod) to get the pressure needle valve is a must (I drink lots of Americano. Is that weird?). I'm wondering if an edge-to-edge basket would help get a little bit more out of my lighter roast shots. Some small nitpicky stuff from having it used so long for 4 drinks per day : - The water tank is detected empty while there is still at least a cup of water in it. Seems like a small detail, but I have it connected to a smart plug to auto-start in the morning and it sometimes means I wake up to a cold machine because it thinks it's empty. ( and that my friends, is a sad trombone moment) - The drip tray... You mentioned it but honestly it's very meh overall. I have the stainless version (no options for paint when I got it :( my machine ) and the edges are sharp so I regularly nick myself trying to keep it clean - Needle valve is very sensitive to scale. I've been using and replacing the in-tank filters as guided, but scale started to build up by month 10 and I had to disassemble to descale it. Found out because my adjustment with the valve all the way closed was letting water trough all of a sudden. - This one is specific to people that are not used to the E61 group head, but the vacuum breaker valve is loud AF when the machine first heats up. - Why are the relays so loud!? That's a lot of very small things, but a lot of it reminded me that while the Breville Dual Boiler isn't in the same league as far as how it's constructed, it really had the end user in mind and avoided a lot of those small things. To be noted that even that machine had issues (those damn o-rings keep failing and leaking inside the machine every 12-18 months), but at the price of the BDB vs the Bianca, I would not hesitate one second to go get the Lelit. Because when all is said and one, the experience of using it feels special. That's not something I could ever say about the BDB. @Lance Hedrick tiny thing I would've loved to see from you on this review is an look at the internals. I was curious to see if they have changed the layout at all from my V2 :)
I can't comment on the Bianca's relays specifically (I just have an Anna PID), but relays in general tend to be loud, and the higher amperage they break, the louder they're likely to be. For those who don't know, a relay is a kind of switch that uses low power to manage higher power. That means the power running through the control the user might touch is low and safe, even if what they're switching isn't. Generally this is done with something like a fast solenoid that moves the high power contacts whenever it's triggered by the low power circuit. This switching has to be very quick to reduce arcing, so you wind up with metal hitting metal very fast. That makes some noise. Higher power means beefier contacts, and so louder noise.
The BDB is coming closer to you every video, should we be expecting a new update on the machine? Also i think that they changed the finish on black edition(for the better). And by any chance do you also know how to disable the auto turn off in 30 minutes in the BDB?
yeah. I've learned this (actually I had this in the first cut but thought maybe I was misremembering and cut it out haha!) Why the difficulty in turning off standby?
@@petervansan1054 oh i see... The problem is that there is not enough time for the cups to get warm and i have to warm them with hot water every time before a shot...
I was recently in the market for an upgrade and the Bianca was a runner-up, decided to get the Ascaso Steel Duo PID mostly because I couldn't fit a full-sized e61-style machine. Any plans on reviewing the Ascaso Steel Duo - really curious to see what you think about them dual thermoblocks
Please read pinned comment. It is as I say it is- a budget end game. I didn't say budget espresso machine lol Relative to $7-10k machines, this is definitely budget. Cheers and sorry you feel baited. Not my intention.
Wondering your thoughts about wanting to have a declining temp curve during a shot? That is the biggest thing that hit my brain in this video lol.....I'm like....dude....i've been like doing everything to maintain the temperature during a shot ahhaha
I have the v2, it’s was a pandemic splurge to keep me sane, no regrets. Used it almost daily the past 2 years and my only con is that it’s very bad at hiding being “dirty”. Mine has water residue and espresso residue on it all the time, unless I wipe clean it after every pull and every steam.
Somehow the flat color profile on most shots is weirding me out. Especially because it's really hard to see the pretty walnut wood in the machine, it just looks grey. Or am I not far enough along in the video and this is a bit?
Did it change as you watched? Thanks for the feedback! hopefully not too detracting. Put about 6 months of work into researching and testing for the video haha
It was between this and the Micra for me since price diff is that much. Went with the Micra … for me it just was easier to use and the heat up times are unmatched. Bianca is excellent tho….love the colors and quality
Definitely! Micra is loads more limited as regards control BUT it has essentially unparalleled quality. Though, most home users don't need a machine that would survive ww10 lol
I’m sitting and staring at my black v3 as well! Delivered yesterday. It’s amazing. I appreciate the videos, per usual! Could we maybe do a flow pro recipe video in the future? Thanks man!
Hey! You can emulate pretty much any of the profiles you see online with decent graphs if you have a bluetooth scale to connect to your phone for output flow and the manometer! I have some fun graphs in my recent flair 58 video.
There are rumors of a Bianca v4 coming to the market soon, some indicators such as large sales both in Europa and the US and also that Lelit has come up with a new version every two years.
A beautiful machine. Thank you for your first review Lance On my Slayer machine, I set the needle pre-brew flow rate as follows. This way you can easily measure and adjust it. Light roast / low intensity coffees: 40-45g per 30 seconds Medium roast / medium intensity coffees: 45-55g per 30 seconds Dark roast / high intensity coffees: 55-60g per 30 seconds
Hello Lance. You'll love the E61 grouphead even more if you know that there was already an adjustable needle valve when the E61 grouphead was patented in the 1960s. - Sprogeeks
Yeah! Sadly, most have abandoned this and have made a simple gicleur with a .6mm aperture. Makes it easy to mod for flow control! Thanks for watching, friend!
Hey Lance, Great review. I have a Bianca V2. Not sure if this was called out (in case I missed it) this machine can also be plumbed into a cold water line. Also the stock accessories are quite decent too. Bottomless portafilter, plumbing kit etc.
Correct me if I'm wrong , but at @27.20 what gets modified is not the OPV cutoff , but the max pressure of the pump itself, because it's pretty straightforward doing so with a rotary pump. The OPV usually gets modified in machines with vibration pumps .
thank you so much! And I do. I think the programmable feature is incredible! Unless you can find a much cheaper v2 haha! I mostly manually profile my shots!
Excellent review from you sir, I just wanted to say that I enjoy your channel a lot and I am sure that you will be the face of coffee on youtube. My suggestion for future videos on E61 machines is focusing more on the internals of the machine (wiring, tubing, materials, quality …..) that is because rocket, ECM, lelit….. all have very similar E61 machines and the differentiating factor between them is mostly internals. I say this because I bought an expobar brewtus IV four years ago which is a dual boiler rotary e61 machine. Due to the poor quality of the wiring, heating element, and the PID being very close to the boiler. My machine faced many issues. If I could go back in time I would buy a rocket or ECM machine. YT creators really need to focus on these aspects when reviewing machines as longevity is very important when talking about 3000$+ machines.
oh sure! It is difficult to know what to focus on. If there were issues like this in the Bianca, I would have brought it up. I am always taking machines apart and dissecting them with scrutinous analysis on the build. I have also gotten to visit their factory and ask questions to the designers on the decisions. If I had any trepidation, I would have named it! because there was none, I did not feel the need to bring it up. Thanks for watching!
Lance, said it before and will say it again, love you man. You're direct and you're not only honest (what you say is true) but you’re also candid (unguarded and are sure to share the "whole truth" as "truths" by themself can be misleading). My only concern is that Masterworks may not be so "candid" as much of their approaches (schemes?) and pronouncements can be misleading (sometime their "truth" is not the "whole truth"). I love that you are getting your sponsorship on but would caution the buyer to beware. We haven't heard a Masterworks scandal yet but as someone with a spouse in the art world, it wouldn't surprise me down the road. Just sayin'. Also sayin'... love you, man. Keep on keeping on!
I appreciate you looking out for me! Genuinely means a lot. I have not taken a sponsor for so long out of fear of misstepping. I have been... well... running out of my personal funds to continue so I had to make a choice and started taking sponsors. The love is reciprocal, my friend!
@@LanceHedrick, you’re the best. I realized if I was going to run my mouth about sponsors… I should put some money where my mouth is… so I just joined your Patreon! It’s a mere token compared to the daily (and archived) value you provide! Keep building your empire. The world needs people who do well by doing good… and coffee is good!
Hey Lance, Noticed you have a white bianca on the counter in your latest video. How is the finish on those been for cleaning? how durable do you think the finish will be in comparison to stainless? Enjoy your videos thanks again
Hey mate... great review again. Just wondering if you'd do a review on the Crem One LFPP espresso machine / with the flow control too. Thanks for your good honest review of the Bianca V3. Thank you
Nice review. As allways. Question to everyone: The temperature surfing needed on HX machines is still a thing I guess. Dual boiler doesn't take that away - especially with the Faema group head. So what is the advantage of dual boiler? Better steaming? I'm helping a friend out. Should he save some money (putting them into a grinder) and go for a HX? Tnx
Great review and actually helped me to decide on a machine! Coming from an Expobar Pulser that I've had for 15 years and a mazzer mini (doserless). Waiting for the machine to arrive. Hopefully i wont mind staying with the mazzer for the time being... Thanks for the great review
Lance, love following both of your channels! Great detailed review as always! Question about Bianca’s electronics, what is your opinion is their longevity? Would this type of machine with that many loaded bells and whistles perform year after year for many years to come (assuming the owner performs maintenance, water treatment…etc)? Thank you kindly!
So for someone looking to make the “big upgrade” do you think this is better than the breville dual boiler (with your prescribed modifications)? Obviously a price difference between to be considered. Any chance you could look into the Bezzera offerings in this space?
This is a hard question. Mostly because people don't like the answer. I personally am going BDB and doing the slayer mod. Better thermal stability, half the price (can funnel rest of budget to an insane grinder), etc. But this machine is better out of the box!
Yes sir :D waited for this review! I own a low budget Lelit machine and i really like it.. but when i've mastered the machine i want to upgrade.. this one seems to be it..
You had to go and post this didn’t you? I love this machine and now with the man among boys saying all this loveliness about it, I want it all the more!
Hey Lance! I love your videos and wanted to see if you would ever do a review of the ECM Classika (w/ Flow Control). Always been intrigued with this machine and would love to see a non-sales Lance Hedrick detailed review of the machine. Hope all is well with you!
I noticed when you zoomed out at 18:54 the machine is showing the tank is out of water. At this point it would stop heating. This would throw off the temperature testing. Still a great review of the Bianca.
Thanks for all the deep dive reviews, I really learned lot. I watched your deep dive video for Mara X and E61 style group head. I was thinking two things, for those HX machines, why they could not (1) inject the cold water back into the boiler and it will drop temperature right away (2) Put the thermal sensor some where inside the group head (as you did in all those review video), rather than the boiler. It was really nice to hear that you also were thinking about cold water approach. Also, I have an impression that you said, some of these E61 style machines e.g. MaraX do not come with the pre-infusing using the lever function cuz they don't have the pre-infusion chamber, is that true or only apply for MaraX.
Lance, whats your opinion on the ECM Synchronika?, at that price range, is there something else you would recommend? Great Video's by the way, we watch them all the time, and yes I'm a newbie.. :)
You kind of give the impression that the screen shows the boiler temp. It’s showing the approx shower screen exit temp right? The boiler-group offset is set to 10 degrees in the service menu and can be adjusted to read more real world if you use a scace/pesado or flash to steam method to calibrate. At least this is how it works on V2. Not to be confused with the new temp profile feature.
@@Yirgamalabar calibrating to ~100 degrees based on when the water coming out flashes to steam. There are details in the giant Bianca thread on the Home Barista forum. I think another_jim came up with it from memory. I did it by making sure it was stable at the temp set, 30 min wait to do that, and getting videos at all temps near 100 and comparing which was the lowest that flashes to steam to find 100 degrees.
This confused me aswell. I have V2 - so the lcd shows the approximate shower head temp? For fun I tried brewing with 98 degrees and the result was nice
Hi Lance, big fan here, great job as usual. I am puzzled between the Bianca and the Elizabeth with the last being able to change a tone of the parameters with LCC plus it has the steam and bloom pre infusion tech. Which offers more precision at the group? Also which precision budget machine with steaming capability would you recommend in general?
I don’t even like coffee. Espresso is gross. But for some reason I’m addicted to watching Lance’s videos. Dude you’re so fun to watch. Really awesome personality, funny, super articulate, love this guy!
thank you! that really means a lot. I get self conscious putting myself out there. this comment, you not even enjoying coffee but still watching, means a ton!
Thanks for a great review! I've recently bought a V3, so the info re temp at boiler vs grouphead was super interesting. If I've understood you correctly, setting the boiler temp to 100 manifests as approx 93-95 at the grouphead, and setting to 94 results in approx 91-92 at grouphead? Is there a way to change the offset so that the temp shown on the display more accurately represents that at the grouphead? (I don't have a Scace) (NB. I note that you can set the boiler temp to 115. Did you try that out of interest?)
Bluetooth “transceiver” = transmitter-receiver A “transducer” is something that converts energy from one form to another, which, although technically true for any antenna device, converting electricity to photons, it’s not something we typically use to describe a Bluetooth device.
I've owned a black one for about two months now! It produces absolutely amazing shots and I can't find any major flaws. Out of the box it was set to 10 bars, which unfortunately is common for these machines. I dialed it down rightaway, which was very easy. Gotta say though, it wasn't yet entirely clear to me what the differences are between the pre-infusing and low-flow profiling options, and you showed that very clearly. Thanks for that!
to be fair, they set it to 10 bar so that it is 9 bar at the group head. Mine was hitting 9 at the apex out of the box, though the pump was set to 10. anyway, so glad the video helped!!
@@LanceHedrick That’s very strange. I have a V2 bianca and I always get 1 bar more at the grouphead compared to the pump pressure (e.g. I currently have the pump at 9bar and typically get 10bar at the grouphead). Any possible explanation for this ?
