#speedster — Public Fediverse posts

2027 Porsche 911 GT3 Sports Cabriolet Set to Arrive Later This Year

Today, Porsche pulled the wraps off an all-new variant of their flagship 911 sports car – or should…
#NewsBeep #News #Technology #2027Porsche911SportsCabriolet #CA #Canada #DanielBruhl #GuardsRed #Kalahari #NikiLauda #Porsche #PyroRed #rush #s.c. #S/T #Speedster
https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/604827/

https://www.europesays.com/ie/434822/ Porsche unleashes open-topped 911 GT3 #911 #Éire #gallery #GT3 #IE #images #Ireland #Irish #News #pics #porsche #roadster #S/C #speedster #Technology

🤗 Starke Speedster | Redefining Automotive Performance ❤️ #auto #speedster
https://www.starkespeedster.com/

Credit @hollywoodclassiccar
Vroom. Vroom.

1957 Porsche Speedster Replica.

#porsche #speedster #asmr

Credit @hollywoodclassiccar
Vroom. Vroom.

1957 Porsche Speedster Replica.

#porsche #speedster #asmr

Credit @hollywoodclassiccar
Vroom. Vroom.

1957 Porsche Speedster Replica.

#porsche #speedster #asmr

take out the teleporter first!
> velo c. raptor speed blitz on shadow-beast
#marubahrt #furryart #scalieart #furry #scalie #digitalart #superhero #speedster #superpower #raptor #iguana

take out the teleporter first!
> velo c. raptor speed blitz on shadow-beast
#marubahrt #furryart #scalieart #furry #scalie #digitalart #superhero #speedster #superpower #raptor #iguana

@adriabailton
If I could have any super power, what would it be?

Definitely super speed and super fast mental processing to keep up with it. The Flash always seems to be having a great time.

#Writephant #WritingCommunity #writersofmastodon #TheFlash #Speedster #superpowers

@adriabailton
If I could have any super power, what would it be?

Definitely super speed and super fast mental processing to keep up with it. The Flash always seems to be having a great time.

#Writephant #WritingCommunity #writersofmastodon #TheFlash #Speedster #superpowers

@adriabailton
If I could have any super power, what would it be?

Definitely super speed and super fast mental processing to keep up with it. The Flash always seems to be having a great time.

#Writephant #WritingCommunity #writersofmastodon #TheFlash #Speedster #superpowers

@adriabailton
If I could have any super power, what would it be?

Definitely super speed and super fast mental processing to keep up with it. The Flash always seems to be having a great time.

#Writephant #WritingCommunity #writersofmastodon #TheFlash #Speedster #superpowers

@adriabailton
If I could have any super power, what would it be?

Definitely super speed and super fast mental processing to keep up with it. The Flash always seems to be having a great time.

#Writephant #WritingCommunity #writersofmastodon #TheFlash #Speedster #superpowers

No volverás a ver un #Porsche como este: se trata del tercer #911 #Speedster que se ha hecho de forma exclusiva sobre la generación 993. Un modelo a medida para un coleccionista que podrá...

https://www.motor.es/noticias/porsche-911-speedster-993-one-off-modelo-unico-2024103768.html

No volverás a ver un #Porsche como este: se trata del tercer #911 #Speedster que se ha hecho de forma exclusiva sobre la generación 993. Un modelo a medida para un coleccionista que podrá...

https://www.motor.es/noticias/porsche-911-speedster-993-one-off-modelo-unico-2024103768.html

No volverás a ver un #Porsche como este: se trata del tercer #911 #Speedster que se ha hecho de forma exclusiva sobre la generación 993. Un modelo a medida para un coleccionista que podrá...

https://www.motor.es/noticias/porsche-911-speedster-993-one-off-modelo-unico-2024103768.html

For the entire time I’ve run CoffeeGeek, this is one of the top questions from our readers and members, and via social media. It’s even more common than “hey, have you heard of that cat poop coffee?” or “what’s the best coffee in the world”.

What is the best espresso machine of all time, for consumers? 

The answer, of course, is entirely subjective. Based as much on opinion and personal preferences as it is on technology, ability and reliability of the machine. Because of this, I usually try to avoid answering this question, often deflecting it or redirecting the conversation to what’s really important in a home espresso setup (the grinder).

The Speedster

If I were put on the spot, my go to answer for a long time was always the same: the Kees van der Westen Speedster. Not only is that machine capable of producing five star espresso shots all day long, but it actually makes you feel kind of awesome while you’re doing it. You feel part of the process, but the machine’s unique ability and engineering deliver the goods as well. It is the true ultimate in a hand crafted, unique and individual espresso machine with character to spare.

After owning the machine for a few months, I paired it up with a Verslab M3 grinder. This may be a boast, but I knew I was pulling better shots on the Speedster and Versalab than the finalist baristas at the World Barista Championship were doing in competition. This wasn’t because of my own skill. It’s because I had an espresso machine better than the WBC machine of the era. Ditto on the grinder. They were that good together.

You don’t see a lot of influencers online talking about the Speedster because, to be honest, Kees don’t got time for influencers. He very rarely sends out test machines for people to try and blog or youtube about. I suppose if Hoff asked him, he’d send him one (Jim does own a KvdW machine, just not a Speedster).

I owned and used a Speedster for a decade (yup, I bought one of the first ones ever sold in North America), and that gave me the background and experience to label it the best machine of all time. But there is a caveat. Not only is the Speedster obscenely expensive (landed cost in the US is around $15–$16K now, incl taxes and shipping); it is one of the most expensive machines to own and maintain in a home environment.

In my 10 years of ownership, I spent, on service and maintenance, more than what I paid for the machine initially. A lot of stuff on that machine broke down and needed replacing, from the SSRs to the PIDs, and most of the 7(!!!) Parker solenoids. I even had to replace the preinfusion piston assembly at one point.

And therein lies the rub. If you factor in literally everything about an espresso machine, including initial cost, ability, mechanics, reputation, features, build quality, how it makes you feel operating it, and operational cost, maintenance and service, well, the Speedster is not the best espresso machine in the world.

To this day, it pains me to say that. I sold the machine three years ago, and I still miss it. A lot.

The La Marzocco GS3

Then there’s the La Marzocco GS3, which would normally be my very close second choice as the best in home espresso machine in the world after the Speedster. But sadly, when all things are factored in, it too is not the best machine you can buy today.

The GS3 is an absolutely landmark, ground breaking, standards setting machine. It was the first machine developed (not sold, but developed) with PID controls. It was the first true dual boiler machine to run on 110V with no real compromises. It was the first successful home machine to have a rotary pump running on a 110V setup.

The GS3 also has La Mazocco’s unique saturated group design (KvdW machines sort of copy it, to be fair). The steam ability is off the chart. It had the ability to run on an economy mode (which still seemed like full power) on 110V 15A, but if you plugged it into a 110V 20A circuit (most kitchens have this), it would go into full throttle mode. 

And it produces absolutely amazing, super consistent and temperature stable shots of espresso. All day long.

I was involved in the development of the GS3 machine; indeed, I still own one of the late prototype versions. It’s sitting on a workbench in our basement, and I still fire it up once in a while. Here’s what it looks like:

I’m on my third production La Marzocco GS3, and it sits in our kitchen as I type this.

Third? Yup, because like the Speedster, the GS3 is finicky, had some early build issues, and continues to be a machine that requires a lot of expensive service. Let me walk you through my own history with the GS3.

I bought, at a discounted price, a very early production unit back in 2007 (no, La Marzocco did not give me a free one, despite me being involved in the development); that machine lasted about 4 years with me spending about $2,000 on service calls on it past the one year initial warranty. It was a problem machine with a lot of early build quality issues.

La Marzocco USA agreed to swap it for a paddle version around 2011 (which wasn’t available in 2007) though I was charged a one time $1,000 premium to get the GS3 MP variant. That unit also turned out to be really bad (basically a dud, but I won’t go into all its issues with leaks, failing parts, pressure issues, etc), so La Marzocco swapped that one for another model in 2014-2015, provided I drove the dud one down to Seattle, to pick up the new unit to bring back to Vancouver.

I did that. And since then, that 2015 MP GS3 machine has seen about $2,400 in service maintenance, and a one time $2,000 cost to upgrade it to the new Strada pressure control paddle group (which comes standard with the current GS3 MP models). All told, my ownership of a La Marzocco GS3 has cost me an initial investment of $6,800 (that’s $10K in todays’ dollars), and another $7,500+ in service, maintenance and upgrades.

In good faith, I cannot ‘proclaim’ a $7,500-$9,000 machine as the best in the world in the consumer espresso space if the maintenance, service, and parts prices end up costing as much as the initial machine purchase inside of a decade. I mean, La Marzocco charges $400 just for the drip tray pan on the GS3 (which is just plastic wrapped with thin steel, and a few screw on lock claps). And $250 for the drip tray cover! Don’t ask what the replacement tray for the Speedster costs: you cannot afford it.

As a side note, I suggested to La Marzocco, way back in 2004 when I was involved in the development, that they include an AppleCare+ like package for GS3 owners. Pay a yearly fee (I suggested $150 back then, though I guess $250 today would be more appropriate), and get unlimited service and support on the machine. Caveat is, owners can only buy into it within the first year of ownership, then keep paying it every year to stay in the program.

I feel this would make La Marzocco a ton of money, but also save SOME GS3 owners from a lot of repair, maintenance, and service costs. Of course, La Marzocco did not do this. Perhaps because they were aware of the service LM GS3s require a few years down the road.

But I digress. We were talking about the Best Espresso Machines in the World.

The Best Espresso Machine Today

If we are to pick the best espresso machine in the world, every factor about the machine is equally important. I listed most in the Speedster section above, but to reiterate, it includes: the quality of the materials and parts used in the machine; the build quality; the usability factors; the featureset overall; the noise it makes; the machine’s aesthetics; how it makes you feel in ownership; and of course the drinks it outputs. Equally important are the various cost of ownership categories: bang for buck, service costs, after sales service and support from the vendor or manufacturer, parts costs down the road, and resale value. 

With all these factors in mind, there’s two machines that I think stand out as the best machines in the world, in the consumer espresso space.

One is the Lelit Bianca V3 espresso machine. The other may surprise you. It’s the Breville Bambino Plus.

The Lelit Bianca V3: The Best Espresso Machine of All Time

We are midway through our full review process on the Lelit Bianca, and every single day I become more and more impressed with this $3,000 machine. I don’t like the phrase “end game” and how it is so casually used in coffee influencer circles, but I recently learned something about the Lelit product lineup as a whole, and the Bianca in particular that have pushed it over the top into what I think is a true end game machine. 

First of all, pretty much everything the La Marzocco GS3 paddle group machine can do, the Bianca can do in a package costing almost 2/3rds less. And even more so. The Bianca has three independent pressure modification systems on it; two are programmed automatic modes, and the third is a completely manual control. The Bianca’s PID system isn’t as granular as the GS3 is (which can go down to 0.3F adjustments), but it is smarter and more modern than the GS3. The Bianca, like the GS3, can be plumbed in, and attaching this machine to your home water line increases the ways you can play with pressure profiling, more so than the GS3 allows.

Then there’s what comes with the machine. The only thing missing is a steam pitcher, a scale, and cups. The Bianca comes with wood accents and parts and knobs and feet (that can cost you up to $500 more on the GS3); it comes with the complete direct plumbed in parts (so does the GS3); it comes with four IMS filter baskets. It comes with two portafilters: the beautiful spouted model, and a chopped unit (the GS3 comes with only one PF). The Bianca also comes with a very high end tamper, matched to your machine’s wood accents (La Marzocco gives a stock tamper with the GS3; fancy matched wood is extra).

To get a similar package with all the extras when buying a La Marzocco GS3, you would spend about $10,250 ($9,500 plus another $750 for the extra stuff), making the Bianca close to 1/4 the cost.

Things I learned about Lelit this year really push the Bianca to the top. You may know that Breville bought Lelit recently. Starting in January, they revoked the (previous) sole importer’s exclusive control over the brand in the USA, and are now directly handling distribution, sales, service and support. Even better, they are migrating Lelit’s after sales service and support to the Baratza team (which Breville also owns), and bringing Baratza’s parts availability and pricing system to Lelit. 

That means if you buy a Lelit machine today or in the future, you will get Baratza style after sales service, support, and parts pricing. Absolute game changer. LM may charge you $250 for a drip tray cover, but if you want a new one for your Bianca, my guess is you’ll probably pay a fraction of that cost for it. New solenoid valve? Cost plus small handling charge. I bet they’ll even have new body panels available for the machine, at a very reasonable cost.

And one more thing happened. With most companies of high end espresso machines, the painted or limited edition colours are a premium price on top of the base models. La Marzocco charges $450 for custom colour choices on the GS3 (plus another $500 if you want upgraded side panels). Lelit was that way with the Bianca: the base steel unit was $3,000, and the premium white or black models were $200 more.

Breville decided to make them all $3,000 as of January of this year. 

For $3,000, you are getting an incredibly advanced, extremely high end, generational machine that is absolutely state of the art. It isn’t perfect (we noticed more than a few things we’d like to see updated in the Bianca, which I’ll save for our review). But in terms of ability, engineering, robustness, parts used, features available, consistency in the cup, steaming ability, recovery times, pressure controls, accessories included, technology inside, parts availability, maintenance costs (yes, all of this), there is literally not a better machine available today for the home espresso enthusiast. 

Unless of course $3,000 is just an unfathomable number for you for a home espresso machine.

Which brings us to…

The Breville Bambino Plus: The Best Espresso Machine of All Time

I know, crazy right? But when you think about it, for about $450 or less, (sometimes way less), the Breville Bambino Plus gives you a machine with the following:

• PID stable temperature controls (200F, non changeable) at the grouphead
• instant on ability, meaning you can pull a shot 3 seconds after turning on the machine
• instant steam ability, meaning you can start frothing milk about 3-4 seconds after turning the machine on, or after completing a shot pull
• automatic milk frothing ability via its early version of the MilQ system Breville keeps evolving. It produces authentic, high quality microfoam, completely hands off
• can still steam manually with the machine (and it’s powerful)
• full 9 bar at the grouphead thanks to a tuned OPV valve
• 3 way solenoid pressure relief after shot
• volumetric shot controls with preinfusion as well as a manual brew mode
• Extremely low power draw overall thanks to its heating system design
• hot water delivery built in (a surprising number of machines under $1000 do not have this, including the Profitec Go, or Turin Legato)
• Lots of parts available for the machine from Breville at very economical prices. The water reservoir, last I checked, is $35
• Can be serviced / modified by end user (OPV valve, dimmer mod, pump replacement, etc.
• Minimal scale issues (there’s no boiler to scale up). 

Sure, the Bambino Plus has plenty of issues (the cup tray never heats up, the drip tray is pitifully tiny, the grouphead doesn’t heat up, necessitating a couple of blank flushes before a shot pull), but when you factor in the machine’s ability, consistency between shot pulls, instant on ability, steaming ability, temperature stability, parts availability and the absolute massive bang for the buck it delivers…

This is a candidate for the best espresso machine of all time. Because you could easily spend double the amount, buying a Profitec (Go), or Lelit (Victoria), as just two examples, and not get better espresso. You’ll get more robust, less plastic machines, but they also don’t have the technology the Bambino Plus does. I’d argue both machines don’t even steam nearly as well as the Bambino Plus does, automatically.

Best is Subjective but Price / Service Must be a Factor

As you can guess, this is all subjective. I’m sure my picks for the best espresso machines in the world won’t match what others pick. I always feel dollars play a very important part of the equation. 

I owned two of the machines that most pundits would pick as the best consumer espresso machines ever made (and continue to own one of them). I absolutely loved working on the Speedster. It made me feel very different from how I feel pulling a shot on a Bambino Plus. But that machine was a serious financial black hole. The GS3 is as well. 

Time will tell if the Lelit stands up to decades and decades of use where the overall service and maintenance is under $150 a year, averaged out over a decade or two. I think that’s a reasonable price to pay. Think of it as the strata fees you’d pay for a condo. The news I heard about Lelit going forward, following the Baratza after sales service model really pushed it over the top for me. 

This is also why I haven’t mentioned the Decent Espresso machine yet. Many would pick that as the epitome – the toppermost of the poppermost – in espresso machines. I cannot. Though it is clearly one of the most advanced espresso machines you can buy today, it is also the most complex espresso machine available today. A gazillion parts inside, all needing to function correctly for the machine to work at full potential. 

Decent is a tiny, almost cottage industry company. I’d make the guess that La Marzocco sells more GS3s in a year than Decent has sold in their lifetime. Service and support is really good, right now, but if the company dissolves down the road, owners of Decent machines might be left with an extremely expensive brick at some point.

For that main reason, and the potential for the machine to be an even more expensive money pit than a Speedster or GS3, I cannot consider it as the best machine you should buy. 

Lelit is a massive company by comparison, and has a nationwide (in the US) service and support infrastructure being built right now, which will be as good as the service in Europe already is. They also have 35 years of sales and support to stand on.

And the Bambino Plus? I dare you to find another machine anywhere near its price point with its ability and tech inside. If it’s not the best espresso machine of all time, it’s certainly the best bang for the buck machine that’s ever existed. And for many, that also makes it the best, overall.

https://coffeegeek.com/opinions/state-of-coffee/the-best-espresso-machine/

#bambinoPlus #best #espressoMachine #laMarzocco #lelit #lelitBianca #speedster

🇬🇧
Classic and quirky cars parked in front of a quirky garage in North West London
Komeil Karimi_20220424_K010009
#London #cityscape #urban #urbanphotography #Street #Streetphotography #cars #transport #classiccar #antique #nissancargo #PorscheSpeedster #Porsche #Speedster #Photography

🇬🇧
Classic and quirky cars parked in front of a quirky garage in North West London
Komeil Karimi_20220424_K010009
#London #cityscape #urban #urbanphotography #Street #Streetphotography #cars #transport #classiccar #antique #nissancargo #PorscheSpeedster #Porsche #Speedster #Photography

🇬🇧
Classic and quirky cars parked in front of a quirky garage in North West London
Komeil Karimi_20220424_K010009
#London #cityscape #urban #urbanphotography #Street #Streetphotography #cars #transport #classiccar #antique #nissancargo #PorscheSpeedster #Porsche #Speedster #Photography

#Coches | Pininfarina seduce a los más caprichosos con el nuevo B95, un hypercar Speedster eléctrico con casi 2.000 CV y un precio de vértigo

https://www.motor.es/noticias/pininfarina-b95-202396835.html

#Hypercar #Pininfarina #Speedster @AutomobiliPinin #PininfarinaB95 #CochesEléctricos

#RÜCKRUF | #WARNUNG | 'Interne Testläufe' zeigen #RISSE am Gabelschaftrohr von #SCOTT #SPEEDSTER-Bikes (Modelle 2022): Nutzung ist UMGEHEND einzustellen, da erhebliche Unfall-/ Verletzungsgefahr https://bit.ly/3H7wDrr (PDF)

Weitere aktuelle Meldungen:
https://bit.ly/31n95wE

#RÜCKRUF | #WARNUNG | 'Interne Testläufe' zeigen #RISSE am Gabelschaftrohr von #SCOTT #SPEEDSTER-Bikes (Modelle 2022): Nutzung ist UMGEHEND einzustellen, da erhebliche Unfall-/ Verletzungsgefahr https://bit.ly/3H7wDrr (PDF)

Weitere aktuelle Meldungen:
https://bit.ly/31n95wE

#RÜCKRUF | #WARNUNG | 'Interne Testläufe' zeigen #RISSE am Gabelschaftrohr von #SCOTT #SPEEDSTER-Bikes (Modelle 2022): Nutzung ist UMGEHEND einzustellen, da erhebliche Unfall-/ Verletzungsgefahr https://bit.ly/3H7wDrr (PDF)

Weitere aktuelle Meldungen:
https://bit.ly/31n95wE

#RÜCKRUF | #WARNUNG | 'Interne Testläufe' zeigen #RISSE am Gabelschaftrohr von #SCOTT #SPEEDSTER-Bikes (Modelle 2022): Nutzung ist UMGEHEND einzustellen, da erhebliche Unfall-/ Verletzungsgefahr https://bit.ly/3H7wDrr (PDF)

Weitere aktuelle Meldungen:
https://bit.ly/31n95wE

#RÜCKRUF | #WARNUNG | 'Interne Testläufe' zeigen #RISSE am Gabelschaftrohr von #SCOTT #SPEEDSTER-Bikes (Modelle 2022): Nutzung ist UMGEHEND einzustellen, da erhebliche Unfall-/ Verletzungsgefahr https://bit.ly/3H7wDrr (PDF)

Weitere aktuelle Meldungen:
https://bit.ly/31n95wE

Dreaming about what Cadillac could be if only…

https://speedster.news/pimp-my-cadillac/

#cars #cadillac #speedster #design #ai

Dreaming about what Cadillac could be if only…

https://speedster.news/pimp-my-cadillac/

#cars #cadillac #speedster #design #ai

Dreaming about what Cadillac could be if only…

https://speedster.news/pimp-my-cadillac/

#cars #cadillac #speedster #design #ai

Dreaming about what Cadillac could be if only…

https://speedster.news/pimp-my-cadillac/

#cars #cadillac #speedster #design #ai

Dreaming about what Cadillac could be if only…

https://speedster.news/pimp-my-cadillac/

#cars #cadillac #speedster #design #ai

Well, have to start somewhere…curious on how links render:

https://speedster.news/pimp-my-cadillac/

#cars #cadillac #speedster #design #ai

Well, have to start somewhere…curious on how links render:

https://speedster.news/pimp-my-cadillac/

#cars #cadillac #speedster #design #ai

Well, have to start somewhere…curious on how links render:

https://speedster.news/pimp-my-cadillac/

#cars #cadillac #speedster #design #ai

Well, have to start somewhere…curious on how links render:

https://speedster.news/pimp-my-cadillac/

#cars #cadillac #speedster #design #ai

Well, have to start somewhere…curious on how links render:

https://speedster.news/pimp-my-cadillac/

#cars #cadillac #speedster #design #ai

Who is the best/coolest #speedster outside of the Marvel & DC universes?
* Speedy Gonzales
* Sonic the Hedgehog
* Dash Parr of the Incredibles
* Someone else I'm not familiar with?
Looks like the Roadrunner appears in DC comics, so technically disqualified?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedster_(fiction)

A First Look atKvdW Speester

Back in 2001, a fellow by the name of Kees van der Westen had already made a big name for himself as an artist with metalwork and someone who loved espresso and the technology behind it. He’d designed one-off machines for some of the top echelon of the espresso world for almost two decades by that point, including machines showcased at La Marzocco, used at Espresso Vivace, and dreamed of by a yet to be started up roastery in Portland known as Stumptown. He was well into the run of building his fabled Mistral lineup of machines, using La Marzocco parts; mainly from Lineas.

van der Westen had spare machine parts in ample supply because he was the distributor and service agent for La Marzocco in Holland at the time. Lineas were La Marzocco’s sole machine during that period, but van der Westen also had a collection of old GS/2 machines – single and double groups – at a time when La Marzocco had long ceased production of the machine. As he puts it himself on his website,

“Through the years we acquired some of the old type paddle-groups from the GS machines. As we could not bring ourselves to dump these we eventually decided to use these in a fun-project: building a small series of one-group machines, especially designed to use these groups for their proper purpose. This machine was called Speedster.”

The Speedster of that era was about as old school inside as you could get. It featured the original GS’s same-size boilers used for both brewing and steaming. It was almost entirely mechanical, with no temperature stability or state of the art electronics. It did however feature three key things – the iconic and revolutionary La Marzocco paddle group; the aforementioned dual boiler setup; and the complete uniqueness of van der Westen’s design skills.

Original Speedster

One of the six original Speedsters built in 2001; features La Marzocco boilers, paddle group.

AboutThe Machine

There’s not much I could write about the technological innards of the Speedster that van der Westen hasn’t already fully detailed himself on his website – but I’ll give it a go, at least from a third party perspective. It’s also important to note that the machine has already seen upgrades and will continue to do so.

The Speedster ships quite complete. In the crate you’ll find:

• all necessary tubing, pressure tubes, connections, etc.
• water softener machine.
• the pump.
• single spout and double spout portafilter (or a chopped portafilter if you ordered one), teflon lined (chopped PFs are not teflon lined).
• Kees van der Westen custom tamper, height adjustable. Heavy, beautiful, mirror polish finish.
• custom Speedster espresso cups – two. These are ltd edition though.
• a cleaning brush (a clone of the Pallo design) in aluminum.
• spare gaskets, filter baskets, blind filter.
• aluminum tamping stand.
• Speedster t-shirt (again ltd item, once gone, no more).
• Speedster instruction manual including setup instructions.
• cleaner.

Little things like the brush, cups, t-shirt, and bigger things like the way-cool tamper make a big difference to the overall package. Seems complete. About the only thing missing is the grinder. By comparison a La Marzocco GS/3 comes with a plastic tamper, bottle of cleaner, two PFs and little else. And no grinder either.

The Speedster Espresso Machine is about as state of the art inside as you can get in today’s espresso world, and is quite different from the 2001 era Speedster, at least inside. The machine is built around a dual boiler, dual PID (proportional–integral–derivative) controller setup to deliver brewing water, heating water and steam.

The boilers feature the latest go-to technology in espresso: the 3.5 litre steam boiler is fitted with a heat exchanger to provide pre-heated water for the smaller 2.3 litre brew boiler. This technology was initially developed for the GS/3 to help with power consumption but it was also found to increase temperature stability, especially shot-to-shot-to-shot performance in all machines, Along with the Speedster, some of the most technologically advanced machines in the world feature this design, including the La Marzocco FB80 and GB/5 series, and the Synesso machines.

Both boilers are controlled via solid state relays, a much more reliable and efficient way to control the heating elements over the old mechanical relays. They are also virtually silent, and much less prone to break down (or wearing down) compared to the older style of relays most machines have.

Taking a peek inside the Speedster takes all of two minutes: four side bolts and three hex bolts in the back and both the side panels and top panel slide off easily. If you’ve seen earlier interior photos of the Speedster (2008 version), things have changed a bit. There are no less than four electronic Parker solenoid valves controlling everything from steam boiler refill to water mix, to injecting the preinfusion chamber unique to the Speedster (and Mirage line from van der Westen). Initially, the Speedster had the steam boiler PID on the right side of the machine, accessible through a maze of copper tubing, but that has since moved to the more clean left side. Also gone from the initial 2008 version is the internal adjustable mix valve the Speedster offered for hot water dispensing; instead there’s a very unique dual mode hot water option available via a front panel rocker switch.

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SpeedsterDesign

There is so much to the design of this machine that is unique and ground breaking.

Let me focus on that one bit for a second. The Speedster’s two ginormous dial handles up front were traditionally for steam (the left side) and hot water (the right side). But on the 2009 edition of the Speedster, the right side dial handle is for show and aesthetics only because accessing hot water on this machine is accomplished via a rocker switch on the right front panel.

Why a rocker switch? van der Westen heard feedback from many professional baristas regarding hot water from a machine. Some wanted a mix valve, pulling both water from a steam boiler (above boiling, usually 275F) and line water (72F) so the resulting water pulled into a cup could be below boiling or usually around 200F. Others wanted steam boiler only water (275F but “flashes” to 212F as it comes out of the tap) for the heat.

van der Westen devised a system in 2009 that provided both, via microswitches, solenoids and computer control and the result was the rocker switch activation for hot water. Flip the switch upward and the hot water tap feeds steam boiler-only water.  Flip it down, and you get mixed water – steam boiler and line water – for approximately 200F water at the tap head. Quite ingenious.

Here’s a few more visual features.

I focused on the hot water delivery to prove a point about this machine and about the person who builds it: Kees van der Westen is a details man. Pretty much every aspect of this machine, from the aesthetics, to the usability, to the technology inside shows a supreme attention to detail by an artist and engineer who “gets” modern day espresso.

This isn’t a machine designed by someone who’s building for 10,000 units sold in Spain, or 25,000 units sold in China, where niceties such as temperature stability, steaming ability or manual controls are not valued much. This is machine designed by someone who gets what the modern day professional barista demands from a state of the art espresso brewer. It shows in every single aspect of the machine’s design and function.

SpeedsterPreinfusion System

This is where the Speedster really starts to stand out. When it was first announced that the machine was going to be built again in limited numbers, the prototype machines that van der Westen showed at the Copenhagen World Barista Championships in 2008 were missing something obvious – it was no longer a paddle group machine. Instead, brewing was done via a three-position shift lever on the right side of the front panel.

Preinfusion Piston

Piston is fully engaged (sticking out of the machine) showing full preinfusion.

Here is another example of van der Westen’s brilliance in engineering design – two areas actually. He fully understands the allure and hands-on control that La Marzocco’s 20+ year technology known as the paddle group offered to a professional barista for crafting a shot of espresso. So do Synesso and Slayer – their machines feature paddles for hands on control of preinfusion. van der Westen also believes that the lever group design (for spring piston lever espresso machines) offers the best form of preinfusion and coffee saturation today, which is why his Mirage machine line up includes the Idrocompresso variant.

van der Westen found a way to marry three key desired methodologies in espresso machines – dual boilers, manual preinfusion, piston lever enabled preinfusion – into one machine controlled by solid state relays and PIDs – and this is what makes the Speedster entirely unique. The Mirage lineup are heat exchanger machines (single boilers with heat exchangers for the groupheads); the Speedster is a dual boiler machine that still encompasses all the best from two other machine technologies.

How it works is a bit difficult to explain but we’ll try here. When water for brewing first comes into the machine it actually goes through a heat exchanger in the steam boiler. It gets heated up quite a bit – hotter than what is adequate for brewing in fact – but the machine’s design takes that into account. The brewing water exits the steam boiler heat exchanger and goes through over 50cms (almost 2 feet) of copper tubing that snakes around the back-right side of the machine. The tubing eventually makes it into the brew boiler, where the water is now just slightly below usual boiler water temperature settings.

The brew boiler’s PID is constantly turning on and off the heating element to manage the temperature to 0.1F / 0.1C ranges. At this point the water is approximately 3-4F hotter than your customised brewing temperature (if you’ve programmed the front PID to have a pre-programmed offset).

When you move the shift lever away from its off position, a microswitch is disengaged and one of the machine’s two brewing water solenoids is re-engaged (the one right behind the groupcap) to keep the pressure-release path closed, and the other brewing water solenoid on the right front of the machine is disengaged, allowing water flow from the line pressure (3bar usually) to start flowing into a preinfusion chamber which sits just behind the right front panel.

While this small chamber (not unlike the size and shape of a lever piston’s water chamber) starts filling up with water, the water also flows at normal atmospheric pressure to the grouphead where your coffee is sitting. For approximately 5 to 6 seconds, if you don’t engage the machine’s pump, the coffee is saturated with water being pushed by nothing more than gravity. You also get a visual indication of this via the preinfusion chamber’s most notable design feature – there is a spring-loaded piston that starts to jut out from the front panel of the Speedster as the chamber fills up. As it fully extends, pressure in the grouphead ramps up from normal pressure to 3bar (about 60psi). It will hold steady at this point as long as you don’t move the brewing shift lever to its third position – the pump position.

Shifting the machine into ‘second gear’ means ratcheting the shift lever down to the lowest position and slotting it left into the locked position. At this point, a second microswitch is engaged and the pump starts, delivering 9bar through both the preinfusion chamber and solenoid to start the true espresso brewing process.

Shifting off the second gear lock position does one thing, and one thing only – it disengages the pump. If you don’t put the shift lever back up into the neutral or starting position, the machine keeps the group cap solenoid engaged (ie back pressure is not released) and the preinfusion chamber solenoid disengaged (ie, open flow to grouphead from boiler water); what this means is you can do a preinfusion, brewing via pump, and a post brew using line pressure, if you want. Whether this is a boon or not for espresso brewing quality is not for deciding here – instead, I mention it to show the possibilities a hands-on barista has for fully manipulating water flow and pressure during the entire shot process.

Putting the shift lever back into the neutral position does two things – it closes the brew boiler / preinfusion chamber solenoid, and opens up the back pressure solenoid to instantly relieve the pressure in the brewing group.

On last thing about this preinfusion system. There’s actually two ways it works. If you ratchet the brewing shift lever into the first position (first gear we call it here), you as the barista control the preinfusion and the preinfusion is quite slow since it is entirely based on line water pressure (60psi, 3bar), and not pump pressure (135psi, 9bar). But you can use the van der Westen-designed “programmed” preinfusion by simply ratcheting the shift lever directly into position two (second gear) and letting the preinfusion chamber fill up via pump pressure. It is a faster preinfusion, but a neutral pressure preinfusion none-the-less.

Let’s have a visual look at some of these features.

SpeedsterOther Highlights

The Speedster features three 900 watt heating elements – two in the steam boiler (left and right) and one in the brewing boiler. It runs on 220V, 20amp service, and requires special electrical hookup in N. America in a home environment – you cannot plug this machine into a standard 110V 15amp (or 20amp) plug.

The Speedster also requires plumbing in. You could run it off a water bottle setup with a Flo-jet handling the preinfusion, but to get the full benefits of the multi-preinfusion systems, running a cold water line from a T-valve off your kitchen’s sink is a requirement, not an option.

Little niceties about the machine include the use of POM plastic for the dispersion block inside the grouphead – something I don’t think any other espresso machine uses (at least that I know of). POM is extremely durable, temperature neutral, and very resistant to any kind of oils contamination from the coffee. The dispersion screens are a screwless design (similar to E61 machines) and the grouphead itself is a fully saturated design – the grouphead is in effect part of the brewing boiler – its volume of water is part of the brewing boiler’s overall volume.

There are so many more technological things to talk about with regards to the Speedster but the last we’ll discuss is something that is both elegantly simple and painfully obvious but you have to wonder why something like this is rarely done by other machine builders. The Speedster has a very simple and accessible boiler draining system. If you take the left panel off the machine, you can see two beefy pipes extending out from the two boilers at the bottom of each. These pipes come to the right border of the machine’s frame and have caps on the front and shiny red levers on top. When the machine is cooled down all you need to do to completely drain the boilers is remove the caps, attach hoses to the pipes and open the valves. No bendy-twisty actions to get to a bottom-capped boiler drain. No flipping the machine this way and that to access them. Simple. Elegant. Efficient.

These water drains are a perfect example of what this machine is all about – a complete, state of the art espresso machine designed by a company that pays attention to the smallest most minute details.

SpeedsterAesthetics

It was evident the moment this machine was taken out of its crate – the Speedster is something special, and part of that special-ness comes from the absolute attention to details this machine has been given by the manufacturer.

From the business side of the machine (the operational front), you feel like you’re operating a 1950s roadster, or perhaps even a racer-airplane and facing the dash or control panel. The portafilter evokes feelings of a joystick in a retro plane. The shifter on the right side is super slick and tends to catch most new users by surprise.

Speedster First Day

The Speedster (before offset was programmed in) from the user angle.

From the side, the roadster and retro-aeronautic feelings continue, but as you get around to the back of the machine, it feels like a 1950s flying wing or slight-steam-punk alien bug ship. All very cool.

The side panels. What really can I say, except to say photos don’t even do them justice. In person, they are a major wow factor. The high gloss polish on the aluminum panels is broken up by the carved out powder-coated yellow stripes and red lettering. Just stunning. Polish is inside as well as out.The plating on the machine, known commercially as “perlage” or engine tuned plating is first rate, and blemish free.

I own a a fair bit of hand built products. I had a locally hand built mountain bike for some time. I have a variety of hand built coffee and espresso machine products. I feel I can safely say this: There is no product I’ve seen that is hand built, one a time that has the level of fit and finish the Speedster has. Heck, even where there are metal and plastic washers (like on the drip tray frame bar mounts), the plastic washers are lined up perfectly with the metal washers – I know because when I went to go adjust the height of the drip tray and re-tightened the bolts, I put the plastic washers slightly out of alignment (easy to do).

There is not a single dirty /scorched weld on this machine. There are no gaps. Every single seam, angle, joinery, weld, curve and physical part on the outside of the machine is flawless. I noticed it right away in the drip tray’s design and build: given the angular, “floating on air” nature of the drip tray and drip tray cover, I half expected to see weld scorch marks in hidden areas or where metal has been joined with metal, but there are none. All the bends are precise. All the welds are flawless and polish-finished. All the pieces align perfectly.

You can see it from every angle on the machine – for as much attention that has been given to the internal construction of the Speedster, at least as much (if not more) has been given to the fit and finish. In preparation for this first look I scoured the machine front to back, side to side and top to bottom to find one flaw, no matter how small, in the build quality.

I found none.

Compare this to the GS/3. We have a paddle group model in the CoffeeGeek Lab and it is an amazing machine technologically, but the aesthetics are very meh, and the fit and finish is questionable at times. You can see weld scorch marks on the upper cup tray of the GS/3 for example. You can wiggle around the cup tray and drip tray because the fit isn’t terribly precise. The side panels on my original GS/3 paddle group had misaligned mounting bolts making it quite difficult to remove the left side panel.

The Speedster has none of these issues. It is in a completely different league when it comes to aesthetics, quality of build and fit and finish. I cannot say it enough: I have never seen an espresso machine with such a complete attention to every minute detail as I have with the Speedster. It sets a completely new standard.

SpeedsterUsability

Usually aesthetics and usability in an industrial product are mutually exclusive – or at the very least, a case of 60% one way, 40% the other way. Usually something has to give. On the Speedster, there’s very little give in the usability department when compared to the aesthetics. Let’s get the usability quirks out of the way first.

The drip tray is a gorgeous piece of the artwork puzzle on the Speedster. From the user viewpoint, it hangs in mid air with seemingly no supports. It cuts a wide arrow shape out from the body towards one of the Four “M”s (that’d be you), and is wide and spacious. But the top tray, the perforated part, is only held in place by gravity, a small “lip”overhanging the back end of the tray, and by virtue of the sides sitting on the angled basin of the tray. In short, it kind of slides around, mainly when you’re cleaning the tray. It is not an issue when brewing shots. This is an entirely minor thing and to show you how good this machine is, probably my biggest gripe.

The gauges are also a bit hard to read from the user’s standpoint. They are on the front panels of the machine but seem angled downward somewhat and you have to drop lower to fully read them.

The rocker switch for the multi-choice hot water gives the appearance of being flimsy (it actually isn’t – its more of a perception) and very minutely out of place on the machine. Most other elements are beefy (the steam and hot water handle dials, the shift lever), so the long narrow rocker switch seems different.

The grouphead and portafilter position is quite low – at the factory-setting, the drip tray is in its uppermost position (it is height adjustable by about an inch) and the spouts on the double portafilter barely clear an illy espresso cup by 3cm; cappuccino cups clear it by maybe 1cm. For my use this is perfect – I rarely brew into anything larger than a latte wide-bowl cup, but for some it may be an inconvenience – you won’t be fitting your 16oz mug under a spouted portafilter.

Probably the last thing to mention in the negative column isn’t really a negative at all – it is the result of something very positive about the machine. The steam boiler’s intake is fed by a 0.6mm gicleur valve to slow down the boiler refill and keep the temperatures rock steady solid in the steam boiler. This is by design. It makes the machine even more temperature stable than even the best from Synesso and La Marzocco (at least those without a 0.6mm gicleur on the steam boiler). The downside is when you first fill the machine it takes quite a bit longer than other similar sized boilers and when you access steam boiler hot water, the refill via the pump runs a bit longer. A very minor thing and an excellent tradeoff for amazing temperature ability.

Onto the positives in usability. Well, just about everything! The grouphead’s gasket accessibility is literally the best I’ve ever worked with. Accessing the PID for the brew boiler is a breeze – it is right up front, dead centre on the machines lower front panel. Use the shift lever for a week and it feels like the most natural way to control brewing espresso that has ever existed. The machine is quiet, rattle free, and extremely solid on the counter.

The hot water wand articulates into the middle of the machine – a very good design which at first may seem to go against the machine’s aesthetic look. But trust me, you want the hot water over the drip tray, not over the side of the tray. Articulation is quite extensive too – you can rotate it on a near 180-360 degree plane on both vertical and horizontal axis (and other axis too, I guess). What I’m trying to say is you can point the water wand almost anywhere on the right side of the drip tray. It is hot touch, but has a rubber grabber on it that is nice and big but not ugly (nothing on this machine is ugly).

Using the three position shift lever for brewing is something that at first seems weird, but quickly becomes natural for brewing espresso and as you fine tune your preinfusion and brewing technique, you’ll wonder why this kind of brewing system isn’t on every machine. It actually works quite similar to the way a paddle group operates – move to one position and the line valves to the grouphead open up. Move to another position and you engage the pump. After one week, the Speedster’s brewing control seemed incredibly natural.

Viewing a shot as it develops is extremely easy on this machine – there are no blocked ‘sight lines’. Because of the nature of the exposed grouphead and groupcap, the portafilter spouts sit out in the open, not obscured in any way by other parts of the machine. People sitting to the side of the machine can see a shot develop just as well as the operator or people standing in front.

Let me focus on one particular aspect of usability – steaming. This machine is of course a manual steamer, meaning you control the steam through a variable control dial handle, and there are no gizmos or froth aiders to help impede things. The steam boiler is rated to handle 3.0+ bar of pressure (most commercial machines top out at 1.8 or 2.2bar) meaning that it is a complete steam monster in terms of power – it comes factory preset to run at around 2.3bar, and you can easily modify the steam boiler’s PID up or down by removing the left side panel and accessing it.

The machine ships with two steaming tips – the stock one (the “Speedster tip”) is a bit of a limiter in that the four holes are small and restrict the full steaming pressure somewhat, making it easy to steam 12oz pitchers. The other included tip (the “Mirage tip”) has four bigger holes and will fully utilize the steam boiler’s ample steam production.

I definitely do not need the bigger-hole tip. With the slightly restricted tip, I was steaming and frothing in 24oz pitchers (starting with about 12oz of milk) in under 15 seconds. Doing 5oz of milk in a 12oz pitcher takes less than 10 seconds (I haven’t timed it yet, but it is closer to 7 seconds than 10). What amazed me was that, even for all that power (the GS/3 takes twice as long), I was creating beautiful microfoam and had great control over the steaming from the very first pitcher. Part of it is the valve system the Speedster uses – there’s actually quite a bit of control over the amount of steam you use via the dial. Where most steam knob dials go from nothing to full power with very little turn, you have a radius of at least 2 hours (ie from noon to 2pm on a clock face) adjustment possible on the Speedster to fine tune how much steam you’re releasing down the pipe. I have not found another machine with more fine tuning control over the volume of steam.

The machine is also extremely serviceable. As mentioned previously, 4 side bolts (twist off by hand) and three hex bolts at the back of the machine are all that are needed to remove before you can take off the side panels and top plate. I’ve done it in under 1 minute. Almost everything is accessible at this point, save for the water line connections. For me this is a huge usability gain.

Ordering aSpeedster

If you want a Speedster you can order it direct from Kees van der Westen, or order one through a local distributor.

Two things to factor in. This machine costs 4,975 Euros (approximately $7,800 Canadian dollars, or $7,200 US dollars as of this writing), and you will have to pay shipping ($350 sea, $620 air), duties and taxes (9% duty in Canada plus your local PST and GST), bringing the cost close to $10,000 Canadian dollars, or around $9,000 US once it is set up in your home, office, cafe or roastery.

EDIT 2024: Things sure have changed. This machine now costs between $12,900 and $15,000USD in the United States. It is close to $20,000 in Canada.

The second thing to factor in is a waiting list – a long one. You may have to wait up to six months to get a Speedster. van der Westen only builds a few each month and the waiting list last time I checked was over 4 months long.

Some distributors may charge a premium over van der Westen’s 4,975 Euro price + shipping + taxes, some may not, but it is best to go through a distributor because they usually include installation as part of the price, and local servicing and warranty is included.

If you order direct, they will take your name and put you into the queue. You may have to put a deposit down at that time. Once the machine is being built, they will ask for the full amount paid via wire transfer. The machines are shipped COD for delivery costs, so expect to pay the full delivery charge when it arrives. Machines are well crated (82kg incl. crate) and will ship to your nearest Intl’ airport, or if coming by sea, to a major shipping destination (again usually an airport).

There are plenty of variants you can order when getting the Speedster. They include, but are not limited to the following:

• Black powder-coated side plates (black where you see red and yellow on our model)(
• Chopped portafilter instead of spouted model
• Wide cup rail instead of narrow one
• Mirror finish body work instead of perlage style
• All black body panels, powder coated finish matching the legs

In addition, van der Westen debuted a lever version (yes!!!) at the Cologne World of Coffee Expo during the Summer of 2009. It is a prototype, but may go into production for 2010.

EDIT 2024: The Lever Speedster was never realised. But they did make an Idromatic version. See it here.

Here’s what a shot looks like with the Speedster, including preinfusion time.

This video shows a HD rendition of an espresso shot on a Speedster espresso machine, using a factory-modified chopped portafilter.

This particular shot was done using manual preinfusion, which does tend to muck up the shot timing overall – with pump pressure, it was around 22 seconds, but I’d call it about 30 seconds total including the preinfusion time. One thing I’d love to see on the Speedster in the future is one or two speedometer style gauges that show shot times for both full shot (including manual or pump driven preinfusion) and pump “on” time.

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ConclusionKvdW Speedster

I don’t know if I’ll ever post a full detailed review on the Speedster or not – hence this super long “first look”. It’s quite an exclusive machine and a major expense – possibly the biggest expense someone would make for their home outside of actually buying the home or buying a car.

At the start of this First Look I hinted this may be the best espresso machine in the world. Of course that is a subjective opinion and not rooted in any fact, but here are some real world things about the machine: The Speedster has been installed and operating for five weeks now and has been viewed, used and experienced by at least 30 people, including many professional baristas, restaurant owners, sommeliers, bartenders and cafe owners.

One thing all had in common – to a one they all felt it was the most beautiful and intriguing espresso machine they’d ever seen. At times I had them observe and use both the Speedster and GS/3 Paddle Group and while the more technologically savvy baristas recognized the GS/3’s ground breaking design and electronics, the Speedster was the constant first pick.

Usability is first rate. It’s obviously a hands on machine allowing a certain amount of latitude in how shots are brewed, but where you want automated control (in temperatures and pressures and stability), the machine has very few equals.

Other than that, the machine is just about perfect. For us at least, it is the best espresso machine in the world. Nothing else, save for perhaps other Kees van der Westen machines, come close.

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