La Marzocco Linea Mini – First Impressions

It’s finally here, the La Marzocco Linea Mini. It’s been little over a month since it arrived and I have some thoughts to share with you. While I still want to keep the Silvia around and am grateful for everything I’ve learned on that machine, the Linea is my endgame. As you can see from my latest videos, the workflow with a dual-boiler machine is much more convenient. I was getting tired of the while rewarding but rather inconvenient workflow with the Silvia and decided to pursue my dream – own a La Marzocco. No upgrades in between, I simply had to go with the Linea right away. Spending money on something else while still dreaming of a Linea would seem like waste of money.

The coffee I’m having from the Linea is unbeatable. I wasn’t able to produce such results with the Silvia with such consistency. The espresso is better (and not to mention the milk steaming and texture), that’s all expected from a La Marzocco machine anyways. Steaming milk is a joy, the texture is amazing. It’s peacefully quiet, literally a night and day difference between Silvia’s vibration and Linea’s rotary pump.

Some of my favourite shots I had were from the Silvia, it does really well at what it’s capable of and I agree you can make an exceptional espresso with it. There’s no way I’d ever discredit or devalue the Silvia, I love the machine. But both stable pressure and temperature are crucial for good espresso, and the Linea is simply superior to most domestic machines. It does both with an excellent stability and precision. It has the same big commercial rotary pump and a powerful motor both used in La Marzocco’s larger commercial espresso machines, consistently delivering stable pressure. The temperature stability is spot on. The integrated group as La Marzocco stated “allows the machine to achieve the temperature stability and energy efficiency of the saturated brew group in a reduced footprint” – which sums it up very neatly. The brew temperature is consistent and accurate, and you can definitely taste the difference right away.

The first shot I pulled and tasted blew me away, I didn’t expect the texture to be so different. While I had some really good shots from the Silvia, they were irregular and inconsistent. The shots in between were good enough, but not mindblowing. I’m leaving the Linea on 24/7, whenever I decide to pull a shot it leaves me feeling exactly the same way as the shot that blew me away at the start. The results are very consistent – I pulled 5 shots with the Linea and they were all perfect while with the Silvia, out of 5 shots maybe 2 were where I wanted them to be.

The Linea is both a domestic and commercial machine, it has to be capable of serving over 200 shots per day consistently. I love how it does that, because I can focus on other variables and produce better tasting shots repeatedly.

In it’s class the Silvia is really the best choice, but compared to the Linea, it doesn’t have that something. It’s really difficult to choose the right word. As @RealChrisBaca said, some home espresso machines make espresso that feels and tastes like it’s from a home espresso machine. It has that body and texture that I’m struggling to describe, Silvia simply doesn’t have that. That’s the best I could describe it with words, if you’ve ever tried or happen to try and taste in the future, you’ll probably know what I mean.

To conclude this, it was the best choice for me personally. I can look at other machines knowing I’m not tempted to upgrade, not tempted to even consider upgrading or replacing the Linea because the Linea is what I personally always wanted – it’s the endgame for me.

Many machines at this price point have more features, perhaps for someone even look better (which I personally disagree with, depending who’s looking at it), I’m not that person. It’s pure, raw, I love it.

If you have any questions about the Linea, don’t hesitate and please let me know.

Jaroslav