First Run of Manument Leva Espresso Machines Entering the Field

The Manument Leva espresso machine in white. All images courtesy of Manument.

One of the most intriguing pieces of equipment introduced at last year‘s World of Coffee event in Berlin, The Manument Leva spring-lever espresso machine is now ready to enter the field.

The company has published a price of €8,000 (about USD$9,725, as of this writing) excluding VAT and shipping costs, while sharing news that the first limited run of Manument Leva machines is in production and on track to ship next month.

The Stuttgart, Germany-based company, founded in 2018, is currently accepting non-binding reservations from customers in the DACH region of Europe (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). Interested parties from outside that region will be placed on a waiting list.

The innovative machine’s design and features remain much the same as when the Manument was presented at WOC and Host Milano, at that time bearing the name Francesca. By lowering the long U-shaped lever, fresh water from the glass reservoir is drawn down into a patent-pending “multi-flow” water heating system composed of two heaters — one for coffee and one for steam. Lowering the lever also compresses a pair of precisely calibrated springs.

In keeping with the functionality of classic spring-lever espresso machines, as the lever travels back up, the springs relax, driving a piston that pushes water at 9 bars of pressure towards a 54-millimeter coffee bed, with pressure tapering off as the springs return to their open position.

The Manument veers off the traditional path by enabling flow profiling through use of a smaller lever to the right of the group that provides five steps of control over a mechanical valve that restricts the flow of water to the coffee. The user opens and closes the valve to increase or decrease the flow rate during the espresso extraction.

The steam lever, wand and steam heat controls are located on the left side of the group. As the machine only heats the amount of water necessary for one double-shot and one beverage’s worth of steam per each use, it heats up to operational temperature almost instantly, according to the company, and consumes minimal energy when not in use. The glass water reservoir is filled manually, though by the end of 2021, an option will be available for connecting the machine directly to a main water line.

“For the last few months we have worked tirelessly to technically optimize the world of the Manument Leva Machine,” Manument CEO Francesca Schulz told Daily Coffee News. “The machine is still the same as last year. We perfected small things in engineering and software and decided on the simple and descriptive name, Manument Leva Machine. We offer [a temperature range of] 88°C to 96°C, but have also built a range of 30°C to 40°C to experiment with extraction.”

Manument machines will begin shipping to DACH region customers in January 2021, to be followed later in the year by other regions around the world. Machines will ship with tampers by RB Design from Stuttgart, Germany.