The Elektra Verve is a duel boiler coffee machine that is a real thing of beauty. It combines performance that you would expect from a commercial coffee machine with the best of Italian design.
The Verve has a rotary pump, a huge 5 litre water tank, insulated duel boiler, wifi connectivity and the capability to plumb the machine directly into your mains water and waste drainage. There are a mixture of textures and finishes from polished mirror like stainless steel through to timber surfaces including a turned group handle and tap handles.
In our video we provide a full overview of the machine and we go through the process of brewing up a coffee to show you exactly how it performs.
Video Transcript
00:00:00:07 - 00:01:24:20
Unknown
Today we're taking a look at the Elektra Verve. This awesome timber and stainless steel machine, dual boiler. Is it the next machine for you? Well, I'll tell you all you need to know. In the marketplace a lot of people start to think, do they want single boiler, HX, dual boiler and price really starts to jump into it very quickly. When you make the decision to go from a single boiler to a double boiler.
00:01:25:06 - 00:01:48:23
Unknown
There's a price jump from nearly three, three and a half grand up to the $7,000 mark. Now, there are a couple of awesome machines like this Verve that sit around the $6,000 mark that gives you a ton of value. So the biggest outstanding part of The Verve is a five litre water tank. Now, that is the biggest you're going to get in any home machine.
00:01:49:04 - 00:02:09:11
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It also comes with a rotary pump, which means you can plumb that into your mains water and never run out. You've got a drain so that you can have your drip tray go down into your sink. There's a fully integrated app allowing you to change the time the machine turns on and off your pre infusion times and a few other cool features as well.
00:02:10:00 - 00:02:31:02
Unknown
You've got the dual boilers, the rear boiler for your hot water and your steam is 1.6 liters. And in the front, you've got a fully saturated boiler and grouped together of 150 mill, which is PID controllable. So you can increase or decrease that temperature for that specific roast profile that you have. Now a lot of people think that with double boilers, your power is going to be crazy.
00:02:31:10 - 00:02:51:18
Unknown
But The Verve comes in at 1600 watts for that whole pack, which is so low. That is about the same power usage as some of the HX machines for around the three, three and a half grand mark. So with those specs alone, the Verve is sitting at the top of the list. It's a real standout, but there is this customization which is just next level.
00:02:52:02 - 00:03:19:01
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You've got this multicolored timber wrap that goes on the sides of the machines. You've got all the highlighted steam knobs, the brew levers, and these really beautifully turned, different shaped group handles. They're just an absolute joy to hang onto. In the drip tray you've got this little cup riser and you have so much room under here to do your really big mugs or your sixteen ounce coffees, if that's your kind of thing that you want to make at home.
00:03:19:17 - 00:03:35:25
Unknown
A lot of the machines out there don't have that much space. If you're going to do an espresso pop in your little tray and that's going to raise the cup right up. So your espresso is not falling a long distance into the cup. You've got your normal lever system here for your hot water tap and your steam as well.
00:03:36:25 - 00:04:06:25
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It's not a cool touch wand, but you do have the rubber on there to keep it nice and safe. And then you've got your brew lever, which has a pre infusion you change by the app. This one's at 3 seconds so there's your water hose to plumb from mains and your drain if you want to run that down into your sink. You get a standard 18 gram basket, seven or nine gram and your backwash as well as part of the kit. And you get a heap of paperwork, to tell you how to use the app and use the machine as well.
00:04:07:04 - 00:04:45:21
Unknown
The manual for this is also in the app if you need it and to finish it off, you get a sexy matching timber tamper from Electra. That is a really nicely finished tamper. Now to access the app, it is free Wi-Fi and you get a set of keys, you pop it in and turn it, grab your smartphone, open up your Wi-Fi, pick the Electra and because the app is actually in built and running through the Wi-Fi of the machine, you don't have to download an app so anyone's got easy access to your machine if they're going to use it and just walk through from the left.
00:04:45:26 - 00:05:12:19
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The first thing you can do is change your your pre infusion. Ours is sitting at 3 seconds. Then you've got your rear boiler, which you can increase or decrease. Currently we're sitting at 90 degrees for the front brew boiler. Swipe again and you've got a timer for when you can have this as night time mode. So when it's going to turn off at night and when it's going to turn back on in the morning. The next swipe is whether you're going to choose to run from the five litre tank or from your mains water.
00:05:13:05 - 00:05:29:07
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Remember if you're going to get a mains water plumbed machine, there's a few things you have to think about, like filtration, a pressure limiting valve and making sure that that filter suits your local water. So do a nice test to make sure you're going to cover that beautiful water quality to make this machine give you a great espresso.
00:05:29:12 - 00:05:49:00
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And on the last page, you've got a reminder about your water softener. Now, not a big issue here in Australia, but overseas that's something you need to think about. Then you got a little reminder there of how often you need to clean your machine. Then you've got how many shots the actual machine has actually made. And at 2000, I'm pretty sure that's a number when it's going to tell you to change your water softener.
00:05:50:08 - 00:06:05:29
Unknown
Then it's called the manual. So if you lose all that paperwork it's all here on the app. Easy to access. Now when you've got it in sleep mode, just a little tip, the light will stay on because it has to have power to keep the brain going to know when to turn the elements back on. So don't be fooled by that one.
00:06:06:21 - 00:06:29:06
Unknown
So to access the water tank, you do have to remove your cups and then you've got these two grills and you can't lift them straight out because they do catch on these side rails. So you've just got to sort of maneuver them up a little bit sideways and bring them out. Now, you'll note that this does have a water cover, but in most other countries, I believe this is not sold with this option.
00:06:29:06 - 00:06:53:07
Unknown
But in Australia, the supplier is giving them with them. So that's a fantastic feature. You can pull your tank out, fill it up if you need to and pop it all back in. Once you get the knack of it, it's pretty easy And then with the drip tray, there's a little trick to it. Take off your cup, espresso riser.
00:06:53:17 - 00:07:30:17
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Now this is your little dial that you have to turn, which automatically flicks back and that allows you to remove your drip tray. And you can see under here that little latch that does flick back. So if you don't hold it it will actually lock the tray in and you won't get it out. The one thing I noticed about the Elektra Verve is that they are so precise in all of their tooling and how they make this handle, the groove, the fit, how it fits into the actual brew head as well.
00:07:30:26 - 00:07:41:02
Unknown
It is very precise. It's not forgiving, but once you get used to it, it's really good. A lot of people have the E61. It's a little bit wobbly. These are beautiful and precise.
00:07:43:08 - 00:08:01:10
Unknown
So when I'm talking about precise is you've got your marker on here which holds your spring and identifies the point where you can only maximum fill with grind. You can't over pack your basket because you will not get this handle inside this head. So you definitely want to be weighing out the amount of grind that you're putting in your handles
00:08:01:20 - 00:08:24:04
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for the Verve. And you've got your dual gauge on the front there showing the steam pressure at 1.2 bar and your pump pressure as well. You can actually vary the pump pressure. You've got access on the left hand side with a screwdriver. It's currently set for nine bar, but you can reduce that right down and have it set at three or six or whatever you choose to brew your coffee with.
00:08:24:16 - 00:08:33:16
Unknown
So let's make a coffee. Nice, warm, clean handle before you start. I'm going to tare that off on our scale.
00:08:37:02 - 00:09:05:26
Unknown
Brilliant. Now we've got this grinder set for 16 seconds, and it can be pretty close to the 18 grams that we're looking for. But the grinding out, going out about half of your basket give it a bit of a tap and collapse and grind out the balance. Let's just check the weight on that 19.6. So we're a little bit over.
00:09:05:26 - 00:09:28:24
Unknown
So I just want to bring that back down to 18 grams. Otherwise it's not going to fit inside this basket. I'm going to use a spoon and a dosing pot just to take out that extra gram weight. There you go 18.1. That's pretty close. So we need to now get that back nice and level before we use our distributing tool.
00:09:29:08 - 00:09:48:27
Unknown
We've got the nucleus tool here today, so pop that in. Give it a good spin I'm going to use the tamper that came with the Elektra machine here. Nice and firm. Give it a bit of a turn. So no re tapping, just polishing it like that is awesome.
00:09:51:01 - 00:10:09:06
Unknown
Lock the handle in. Now we've got 3 seconds of pre infusion, which is what I call line linebar pressure. The pump hasn't been activated. Then you can hear the pump kick in and we get that awesome espresso coming out nice and rich, chocolaty and dark. This is a small cup. 220 mill, I think. So I don't want to go too crazy.
00:10:09:14 - 00:10:38:23
Unknown
We're looking for a one to one ratio there, which is about 20 seconds extraction. We're going to froth now these um. These levers here, they're nice, beautiful and timber. I found them a little bit slippery myself, but give it a good squirt to get that water out. It is a quite a dry steam on this machine. There is a little bit of a water build up there, so make sure you do give it a good purge. Get it spinning nicely with no hiss. Introduce that hiss.
00:10:38:23 - 00:11:11:07
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Once you got enough foam and not before 40 degrees, just keep that spinning to the temp that you're after. Make sure you give it a nice clean up. Right now before I pour one thing I do want to point out, this lever is beautiful. It is so smooth, it just glides. That's amazing engineering on this model. Alright tap swirl our milk and swirl our espresso.
00:11:12:09 - 00:11:45:19
Unknown
Here comes the pour. There you go, beautiful little rosetta. That was a really nice experience. And that's something you got to think that when you look at different machines, they spend so much time here changing the look the feel and the user experience that I've just had making this coffee that makes it stand out above all the other E61 style machines that just have the big lever that's exposed on the front.
00:11:46:11 - 00:12:04:23
Unknown
So if you're looking for something that, you know, you get up in the morning and you want to really enjoy making coffee, you want something that looks beautiful on your bench, try and think outside the box. This machine could be the right one for you. It's definitely a great experience. It makes a beautiful coffee and you've got all that flexibility there to change your brew recipe,
00:12:04:23 - 00:12:26:13
Unknown
with your pre infusions. Manually you can change that pump pressure. It's just ticking so many boxes out there at that great value of around six grand. So if you're looking for that machine a little bit different, I put your eye out and have a look at Electra Verve. Thanks, guys. I hope this is giving you an idea about this machine and how good I believe that they are.
00:12:26:24 - 00:12:36:20
Unknown
And is it your next machine? Well, if we can help you, make sure you reach out. If your not in Australia, sorry can't help you, but track one down. I'm sure you're going to love the experience. Cheers, guys. Catch you next time.
