Hints on Using the La Scala Butterfly

A different approach

You might ask, why write a "how to use" page for the La Scala Butterfly? Well, when I purchased my non-plumb-in version it didn't come with the intended instructions for use. Instead I got a more basic set that included a Declaration of Conformity (an individual approval document to say the boiler has been tested and meets the standard for that class of pressure vessel) and a document that really dealt more with the safety considerations of the machine and the environment in which it is to opertate. I got the feeling that this is an industrial device scaled down to provide barista quality coffee at home for those who are, it seemed, expected to know how to use it, rather than it being a household appliance aimed at a mass market that you would pick up at your local electrical goods store.

However Roberto Canever, from La Scala srl in Italy, assures me that La Scala provide much better coffee-making instructions than those that were included with my machine. In fact, he was most apologetic that I had not received the correct instructions (click here to dowlnoad a pdf ).

If, like me, you've migrated up from a Sunbeam EM6900 or a Rancilio Silvia, the actual operation of the Butterfly is fairly straightforward and perfectly logical. Certainly anyone who stumbles on the correct grinder settings and dosage for the portafilter straight away, will only have to remember what they did and replicate it to get the same results - the machine is that consistent.

My suggestions on using the La Scala Butterfly Lever
- pictured here with the amazing LeLit PL53 Grinder.
Having unpacked your machine and placed it on a solid level surface, you first need to fill it with water. I suggest using filtered water in order to keep the machine's internal plumbing as clean as possible. Slide forward, or remove, the cup tray and fill the tank. Note that the cut-out for the exit pipes determines the upper limit of the tank. Turn the machine on and the pump will immediately fill the boiler. Refill the tank at this stage as two thirds of the water is now in the boiler.

The Butterfly takes a little time to heat up. Once the gauge has reached 0.9 bar (about 10 minutes), you can make coffee successfully. I prefer to turn my machine on an hour before. That way I get the cups really warm and, if you've placed the empty portafilter in the group head, it is also well heated. As the boiler is immediately behind the front panel, cups will heat more quickly if moved to the front of the cup tray.

Before proceeding, it's worth remembering that properly extracted espresso should have real body and a thick, rich crema. Unlike unpressurised coffees, espresso also contains essential oils, proteins and sugars. The variables that must be brought together (and controlled) during the extraction process are heat, pressure and time (although the time taken relates directly to the pressure required).

HEAT. The water used for extraction is heated in the in the heat exchanger located inside the boiler. The high thermal inertia of the boiler provides a consistent temperature to heat the water as it passes through the heat exchanger. It is then circulated through the grouphead (thanks to its thermosyphon design) which is heated to within a few degrees of the temperature required for perfect extraction (about 92-94ºC). The consistency of heat throughout this chain is one of the factors in the success of the E61 group which has remained unchanged since 1961. Perhaps the only downside to the thermosyphon is that the grouphead can become too hot if the machine is left on for any length of time between shots, but this is easily remedied by flushing about 100 ml through the grouphead before inserting the loaded portafilter.

PRESSURE. The pressure gauge on the front panel measures the boiler pressure which direcly relates to the temperature of the water. My machine originally operated within a pressure range of 0.9 - 1.2 bar. I have since adjusted it (see below) to a range of 1.2 - 1.5 bar which produces a much better result - coffee with much more body and thicker crema, and that's because the extra pressure means that the water is hotter (I'm guessing around 94ºC). The other pressure factors over which the user has control are how finely the coffee is ground and how much it is tamped into the portafilter. In my experience, the Butterfly yields the best results with the tamped coffee (puck) making contact with the showerscreen in the base of the group head and creating an indent in the puck (1). As the showerscreen is slightly convex in shape (2), a similarly-shaped tamper is preferable.

Ideally, you want to achieve 30 mls of espresso in 25-30 seconds (30 seconds for my taste and coffee choice). I prefer it to be somewhat treacle-like in consistency and appear thick, almost fluffy, as it descends into the cup (3). The crema (4) should be rich and consistent. Since adjusting the pressure of my machine (detailed below), I hardly tamp the coffee at all. The science of what happens to the grounds as the hot water passes through is fairly simple; the grounds expand as the water extracts the goodies. So, if you tamp the coffee too much with the the grounds sufficiently fine for perfect extaction, the hot water will expand the grounds to create a plug that will not allow the water to pass through the filterbasket.

As outlined earlier, increasing the pressure in the bloiler also increases temperature. This is achieved by turning the the pressurestat adjuster clockwise - about 270º of arc to achive a difference of 0.3 bar. Click on the image for larger version. Coffeeco has a more detailed view of the inside of the Butterfly which identifies all the components.

If you increase the pressure too much, the safety valve will kick in and you will hear a distinctive hiss. A fair amount of steam will also escape from the top of the machine. Just back off your adjustment until this no longer occurs.

The Butterfly comes with one and two cup portafilters. My partner and I usually have coffee together. I originally used the two cup version but have since changed to using the one cup portafilter - it's a little slower but the results are worth the extra few minutes. With the one cup portafilter it is also a little trickier to tamp the puck as there isn't much between having so little coffee that the tamper hits the tapered side of the filter basket, and having so much that you can't get the portafilter to engage the bayonet mount of the group head. Working out a light tamping tecnique helps a lot. Certainly with either portafilter, there should be sufficient tamped coffee in the filter basket so that there is some resistance (caused by the contact between the puck and the showerscreen) when turning the portafilter handle after engaging the bayonet mount of the group head.

The grinder I use is a doserless burr grinder which provides fresher coffee than any doser grinder can, as no ground coffee is stored after the grinding process. If you have the Sunbeam EM0480, try a grind setting of 12 or 13 to begin with and adjust one notch at a time from there. Better still, buy the amazing LeLit PL53 Grinder... just $275 and none of the adjustment, clumping or scatter problems that make the Sunbeam grinder ordinary by comparison! Whichever grinder you have, the settings will vary slightly depending on roast dryness, ambient moisture in the air and even the amount of built-up coffee grounds around the burrs in your grinder... so be prepared to change your settings if you are not getting the results you expect.

Always use the highest quality coffee beans. At the risk of stating the obvious, if you have spent that kind of money on world-class machine, you're hardly likely to put crap coffee in it... or even mediocre coffee! The point of the exercise for me was to get to that quality of coffee that leaves those magic, delicate flavours dancing on your tongue for half an hour after finished your coffee.

TEXTURING. It takes about 50 seconds to texture 400 mls of refrigerator-temperature milk into silky smooth micro foam heated to 70ºC. In that time the volume of milk should double if you want a great cappuccino. The purists would suggest you blend the milk 50/50 low fat and full cream - certainly that blend will give the best texturing and the best micro foam for all that latte art. But I didn't buy my machine to do fern leaf patterns on top of the milk... I bought it for the taste of the coffee. And I get a great taste by using all low fat milk.

I open the steamer valve fully when texturing the milk with the Butterfly, to get a good vortex happening - with the tip of the steam wand just below the surface of the milk. You should be able to see considerable turbulence on the surface of the milk, which means that the steam is aerating the milk correctly for the production of tight micro foam. Never use anything but a stainless steel jug, of course!

With the two cup portafilter, the used puck should knock out easily, remain in one piece, be quite moist and should be able to be indented slightly with your finger before breaking. The single cup portafilter is more difficult to knock the spent puck out of, though.

Last of all, the cleaner you keep your machine the better it will work and the better the coffee. It's a good idea to expel some steam after cleaning the tip of the steamer wand, not only to ensure the steam holes remian clear but it also prevents having to immerse it in water to soften the dried or candied milk - which can create real problems if capillary action sucks any milk into the boiler.

These observations and descriptions are based on my limited use of my La Scala Butterfly over a period of fifteen months. As with anything, there is always something more to learn, so I will update this information as that occurs. Your comments and suggestions are welcome and if I can answer any questions about this machine from my limited experience, I'd be glad to. Just email me.

I found it difficult to find good images of the Butterfly anywhere and there wasn't one available for me to look at in the city where I live, so here are some more images of this impressive machine. Just click on them to see larger versions.

In Search of Great Coffee at Home | The La Scala Butterfly | The LeLit PL53 Grinder |
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