The new Pro 800 comes with lever valves for steam and hot water. The handles of the lever valves, as well as the handle of the hand lever and the portafilter, have been handcrafted from the noble wood of the American walnut tree.
While the large, pine-green pressure gauge, another visual highlight, blends perfectly into the classic design, the PID is discreetly hidden behind the water collection tray.
Get the best possible espresso due to the pre-infusion provided by the massive brew group and the special pressure process.
First the basics, from its massive 3.5 liter copper boiler to the fine detail of its mirror finished case, the pro 800 is definitely a beauty. Boiler temperature is controlled by a gicar PID but you wouldn't know that at first glance. In an effort to give the machine a clean look, the PID display and controls are hidden behind the drip tray.
The machine is plumbable or can run from its three litre water reservoir. When plumbed direct to a water line the machine is silent, the pump never operates, line pressure fills the boiler and boiler pressure fills the group. When using the reservoir the vibration pump operates only to refill the boiler. To change between reservoir and plumbed operation a switch behind the drip tray turns off the reservoirs water sensor, and a mechanical valve is turned to select the plumbed connection. Included with the machine is a braided stainless line for that connection. Now personally I prefer mechanical valves over electrically operated solenoids. It's a simpler setup that's unlikely to ever have a problem.
The pro 800 uses a 1600 watt heating element in a 3.5 litre copper boiler. A dip tube in the boiler uses boiler pressure to push water into the group That lever group is massive, weighing in at 7.8 KG. While some lever machines use a heat exchange boiler to feed the group, the dipper setup on the 800 does have some advantages. First the machines pump is never used to apply pressure to the coffee. It only runs to fill the boiler.
Some in the espresso community are curious why Profitec is using a copper boiler on the 800 when they use mostly stainless steel boilers on other machines like the pro 500 hundred and 700. The reasons are straight forward - on the 800, the group has a very large direct connection to the boiler to facilitate passive heating of all that metal. Pulling down the lever creates a lot of force on that connection and copper is more flexible than stainless, so deals with that stress better.
