In our latest video Luke is giving us an in depth overview of the incredible Flair 58 manual lever espresso maker .
The Flair 58 is a fully-manual, professional grade, lever espresso press that is focused on maximizing the workflow and the espresso from at-home extractions. This newest gold standard in manual espresso features Flair’s first industry standard 58mm portafilter as well as a more robust frame and lever for ease of extractions at higher pressures. The 58 also includes a Preheat Temperature Controller and a new valve plunger, which includes a puck screen. Just set your brew head to one of three heat settings to ensure proper preheat and thermal control in every shot.
Luke purchased a Flair 58 during his visit to the Melbourne International Coffee Expo after seeing one in action and being so impressed by the shots it pulls. The control and flexibility a barista has over their extractions by playing with pressure profiles is amazing. Luke plans to take his on the road as he travels Australia in his caravan in 2023 so expect to see plenty more of his Flair 58 in the year ahead.
VIDEO
Unedited Video Transcript
today I'm taking a look at the Flair 58.
now this is a manual press that does
have a preheat element to it this is
actually my own one I've been brewing
with it for quite some time now and it's
just blowing my mind about the quality
of the espresso you can actually get out
of this thing the engineering is it's
really cool and this one here is
actually been given to us from Flair now
we're going to give this away to one of
our coffee subscribers so if that's
something that you want to try and win
jump on our website and you'll find out
how we're going to give that away
so firstly what I'm going to do is I'm
going to pull this apart and show you
all the pieces that come in the kit then
we'll put it back together then we're
going to pull an extraction and just
show you what kind of results we can get
out of the flair I think you're going to
so let's get this thing pulled apart
so there you go all the bits out of the
packaging ready to assemble now there is
a manual but who needs that so I'm going
to start putting it together you've got
and you've got your main lever mechanism
and you've got to attach these two
and slide them in from the bottom
obviously you don't want to thread those
so just take your time to get them lined
and use you've got two Allen Keys
supplied so the big one is used for this
all right so that's the lever arm and
the base connected now the next part
that you'd grab is your heating and Brew
chamber now this one Pops in just like a
group handle really there's a couple of
little notches on either side and the
electronic elements are going to end up
and turn it around I've got that sitting
at the back just so it's out the way
then you've got a smaller Allen key and
you just need to tighten up the grub
screw on the front which will hold that
Brew head in place it's really important
to do that if you don't when you try and
lock in your group handle it's going to
now the next thing that you want to do
is find your little locating arm and pin
and we're going to use the Brewing gauge
and assemble this whole area together
now again this little keyways here which
allow you to lock in the um drop it in
the slot and just turn it around at a
nice right angle so that the hook comes
then you've got to pop on
this other little piece which will join
and then you pop in your little black
there we go and that's all secure
you've then got your handle which is
nice they give you a naked handle and
you've got like a double sized basket
there it's a tapered basket so you're
looking around 18 grams of coffee that
they give you a flare water park screen
and these are pretty cool they're new
we're going to speak about those in
different videos so it's really nice
that you get one of those you've got a
drip tray which is is needed for this
kind of unit and I'll explain whether
why that's so important in a second you
get a small tamper which is kind of nice
it's pretty small and it does fit it's a
58 so ideally if you're going to change
that basket you might want to get
yourself a 58.5 or something like that
and you've got a little lock which holds
this arm in place so that it doesn't
fall down when you're Brewing so don't
lose that one then you've got your power
pack which we're going to assemble now
this one here is in a couple of parts
there is another model as well which is
just one solid piece from here to here
so the important thing about this power
pack is that you do have to have it
fully connected before you turn it on so
don't plug this into power and then
connect it it's not ideal for the unit
so make sure you get it all ready plug
it in and we're going to have to turn
now you'll notice that there are a
couple of these other options they're
basically a silicon cover now there is a
model called a 58x which is the
non-heating element options and these
two pieces allow you to have the the
plunger attached under it so you could
fill it with your own boiling water to
get a preheat happening we all know that
thermal stability is the key to making a
great espresso so if you didn't have the
electronic option you would have to heat
those up heat the handle up and make
sure it's all really hot before you
start to brew but with this flare 58 and
the electric element in here with a
three-stage switch you can dial in the
right temperature and it's going to heat
up and help you with that retention of
heat before you start to brew so as I
mentioned you want to preheat everything
now when you when this arm is all the
way down the plunger is sitting as if
it's come right down into this group
handle so you do need to just just raise
just so that you can pop your handle in
and this is the same when you've got
coffee in there so I'm going to pop that
and I'm just going to lower it back down
and I'm going to press and hold the
once you've plugged it in and I've
selected option three which is the
highest heat setting now when that light
goes out that means that it's hot and
okay so it's just been over three
minutes and the three lights are now on
and It beeped at us to tell us that it
was ready to go now we need to lift up
our lever we're going to get our group
now warm which is great and it does have
um it's clean and dry I've got my 20
grams of ground coffee here and I reckon
that's going to be pretty much spot on
now I'm not using any sort of wdt or NCD
which again is going to change the whole
extraction that you get in here I'm just
oh try not to spill any grind
level it out a little bit
I'm going to use the tamper that they've
and give it a nice firm press
there we go so there is a little bit of
extra Grime that hangs around because it
is that 58 mil tamper so if you can
I think it's a bit of a token gesture
getting some of these um these tampers
uh they're never quite right you've got
Puck screen which we're going to pop on
now as I said we need to lift that
handle just up a little bit
lock it in and then you can push it back
down now the amount of water that we're
going to pop in here is pretty good it's
it's just about right for us to do a two
to one extraction so we're going to pour
it in this is pre-boiled 95 degree hot
water and as it goes in you'll see that
the element will actually hiss a little
there we go so we know that that is nice
and hot and ready to go we're going to
now this is where the control comes in
you can choose how much pressure that
you're going to apply to your coffee bed
if you lift this up all the way and
press it all the way down you could
provide nine bar or even more pressure
onto your coffee Puck it's really up to
you you've got total flexibility you can
do a little pre-infusion by going up a
little bit and then pressing down some
water onto that coffee or you could
simply just go all the way up and then
gently push down maybe with three bar to
start and then go up to nine it's really
up to you and you've got the control in
um the unit is super sturdy so it is uh
quite easy to use I don't feel like it's
ever going to tip over on me for this
example let's just lift it up and we'll
see what kind of back pressure we get
from the grind that I've set and I'm
hoping we can get it around five bars to
start and then we'll increase the
pressure from there so we're going to
lift it up and that's bringing the water
past the top seal and it's going to
start to sit on top of the coffee bed
and you can see the water level starting
and this is basically a pre-soc or
pre-infusion anything you want to do
you've got that full flexibility so I'm
going to now press down I'm just going
to go nice and gentle to start
here we go and you can see the pressure
just starting to build up
now let's have a look what's happening
down the extraction below there
you go that's nice and thick and juicy
that's sitting right on four bar at the
and I can increase that pressure again
now I'm at five and I can go all the way
and I can finish it off with a nice
gentle three bar at the very end
there you go and it just diminishes down
to zero pressure because the the
pressure you've created has to go
somewhere if you want to stop that
pressure just simply lift it back up and
you can hear that little spurt happen
and now that coffee hasn't got any more
and look at that that is pretty awesome
espresso a little smidge there of over
extraction mainly because I wasn't
watching now if we got our scale out and
we could weigh this exact liquid we
would have got a perfect recipe
um so it's just full control totally to
yourself now again you may love the nine
bar you might like the three hey you
have a play and you can work out what
now when you go to take it out I do like
to just lift this up and I find getting
another cup just to press any of that
extra water through is the best way to
to manage the Press so I'm just going to
grab another cup now so I'm just going
to pop that cup under there
and just press through the balance of
any liquid that might be in there
because it's hard to get that out for
the next extraction and if you don't get
it out it will essentially sit on top of
your next Brew so just get rid of it
there there we go it's all gone lifting
it up then allows you to remove your
and you can take your Puck screen out
and check out your Puck there you go so
no channeling that's come through really
nice it's quite firm quite even and hey
I'm pretty happy with that as an
espresso out of a manual press machine
so I've had my eye on the flare 58 for
some time and the reason I've been
looking at it for myself personally is
I'm going to be traveling around
Australia and I don't want to Lug a
really big machine around with me and I
think this is going to be a solution for
me to have espresso no matter where we
are in Central Australia or on the west
coast on a beach just being able to
produce an amazing espresso
now the key part about it that I I find
quite interesting is the power supply
now it's a Transformer which brings that
power back to 24 volt 96 Watts at 4 amps
now that might not mean much to you but
when you're caravanning and you've got
um a couple of batteries in there which
is basically 12 volt I'll be able to
convert that 12 volt to 24 volt and use
this no matter where I am I don't have
to be plugged into power I don't have to
run a generator I can simply run it from
batteries now I think that's pretty cool
and I can pump out espressos really
quick and have full control over my
pressure profiling which is something
that I really enjoy doing because my
home machine does have pressure
profiling and I don't really want to
miss out on that when we start to travel
so when it comes to build quality the
engineering's really amazing I can't
fault this you know the beautiful
finishes there's been a couple updates
with the new arms I really like the fact
that they change that the gauge is good
it's it's pretty responsive depending on
how much pressure you've got to put on
it it really comes down to you being
able to provide even pressure and over
time you do start to get really good at
that it does come in a range of colors
which is great some whites Grays and a
couple of cool funky ones as well and
the fact that they give you a naked
basket and a nice Timber turned handle
which matches the Timber on the Press
it's just finished really well the
products designed in the US it does it's
actually made in China which is fine
that's pretty much what happens with
most things these days so all round for
me it ticks a lot of boxes you know I'd
love to hear if you've got one of these
or you've had a play whether you maybe
had the previous models which didn't
have the electric heating element you
know what challenges you found whether
you liked it you know would you upgrade
to this perhaps model for me electronic
models straight away because having that
heat consistency is just the key to
making a great espresso I would swap out
the basket there probably pop in a VST
for myself getting up to my 22 and a
half gram recipe with that VST 22 gram
basket I'd definitely be looking at
doing some W bit DT and NCD use onto
that for Puck prep and then that does
give you a much better extraction and it
just looks gorgeous under that group
handle so that's how I use it so a
couple of little extra extra accessories
I'd advise you grab and look
realistically it's for the black coffee
drinker it doesn't froth milk so don't
go out and get one of these if you're
thinking that you want to make a
cappuccino or a latte because it's just
not going to do it so it's really about
that black coffee getting a beautiful
single origin and making a wonderful
espresso no matter where you are so I
can't fault it I love it you know if
it's something you've got any questions
about hey shoot me a question in the
comments below I'd love to answer that
for you if you're in Australia they'll
be on our online store I'm happy to help
you out with those if you're local to us
hey come in have a look we're in the mid
North Coast in New South Wales between
Sydney and Brisbane and we'll come in
so the big question where does the flare
58 sit in price well the electronic
model is more expensive than the
non-electric and it's around a thousand
dollar Mark The More Travel style units
which don't have the electricity in them
range between four to six hundred
dollars and you can get a travel case as
well so you can get a smaller compact
version if you want to Chuck it in your
luggage and take it with your traveling
so thanks very much for watching guys I
hope that's helped you understand a bit
more about the Flair 58 and whether that
is something that you would love in your
home coffee collection all right cheers
we'll catch you next time bye
