# Lelit PL62 Mara review



## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

Lelit Mara PL62 review

Firstly, this machine is the first proper machine I have used so have little to offer in terms of comparison, it is a review of Lelit 'pro line' Mara coffee machine. There aren't many reviews of the Lelit around so this is my 5 pence worth.

They have 3 machines in the range; PL62S the base model, in essence it includes less accessories and lacks some stainless-steel knobs, PL62 is the middle model and is the one I shall be reviewing, PL62T has a built in PID.

In case you are wondering, Lelit named it Mara after the roman prostitute in the movie leri, oggi e domani, not really how I would name a machine but hey ho.

I purchased my machine for £742 from Cater-Kwik, I did liaise with Peter from espresso underground initially, he was very helpful but could not get close to that price. CaterKwik price has now gone up to £982, so I would recommend talking to Peter if you are in the market for one.

It wasn't the quickest process dealing with Caterkwik, it took about 4 weeks until delivery, and in the middle, they told me manufacturing delays meant it would be another 6 weeks. It was however well boxed, Caterkwik insist you open and check the goods before signing for them, Mr DPD wasn't too happy!

Right, better review the machine&#8230;

Unboxing:

If you have seen pictures and thought "that is a nice-looking machine", those pictures do it no justice. This is a piece of art, mirror polished stainless steel everywhere, it oozes quality, no flimsy panels to be seen anywhere. One piece of frustration is that the power lead sticks out the rear of the machine by about 3 cm, which means it can't sit flush to the wall given that I weigh my coffee you can imagine how much this frustrates me!

Accessories are pretty standard, single and double 58mm portafilter, single, double and blind baskets. Provided with a solid good quality 58mm wood handle tamper.









Initial set up:

This has a 1.5 litre tank, the tank is positioned at the rear of the machine under a removeable steel panel. The machine has two tubes leading into the tank, you attach the supplied filter on the longer of the two tubes. Very easy to remove/insert the water tank.









Turn her on

Unsurprisinngly its easy to turn Mara on, after which you are met with two LED lights, one to say the machine is on, the other to signify that it is heating up. Much like the best prostitutes it tells you what it thinks you want, telling you it is ready, after just 10 minutes (this is a E61 type machine). I've come to just ignore the LED lights now.

Espresso

This is what it is all about, as this is my first proper machine I have been weighing input and output, using a brew ratio of 1:2. It has taken a while to balance the machine and grinds however I have reached a point where I get 28 gram outpoint around the 25 sec mark. For the first few seconds it sits at 4 bar on the mamometer, then extracts at just about 8 bar.

At this epok, could I advise those married readers out there that when your spouse sees you weighing your coffee to the nearest 0.05g (see related scales review) it may mar their view of you somewhat.

Her "What ARE you doing?"

Me "Oh just weighing my coffee before and after extraction"

Her "&#8230;."

I digress, the coffee produced is delicious, good crema atop, it has amazed me how significant the taste of the same bean is given different grinds/extractions. My only criticism of the machine is despite the 3-way solenoid valve I seem to be getting soggy pucks (may be operator error mind you).









Milk/water

The water spout is well, a water spout, you twist the knob and water flows from the spout, not particularly fast but useable, personally I use the kettle, as that is easier to fill.

The milk nozzle exceeds my ability at the moment, it is more than capable of producing good quality micro foam. It heats the milk in a matter of a few seconds and creates a significant whirlpool even at my beginner level. It has an anti-burn wand, this means you can move the wand during/after frothing with ease.

Final thoughts/consideration

I know that people always say this about their own equipment but I love this machine, it is good looking, good quality and makes good coffee. What more do you want from a machine?

Pro's

Great quality

Good accessories provided

Great coffee

Great wands

Con's

Power lead extrudes a couple of cm from rearHeat up LED pointless

Soggy pucks

Apologies about the photo's, I cannot seem to rotate them!

Ian


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

Great review, I'm glad you really like your machine! It looks good and so does your shot









Re photos, I found if I cropped even a little bit off before posting they then tended to stay the right way!


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## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

Nice review and nice machine! Glad you're getting good coffee right from the 'get go'. Is it dual boiler or HX?


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## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

You say ready from the get go, still getting to grips with the nuances of espresso making.

The shot in the photo in the review took 38 seconds, despite everything 'seemingly' the same, my money is on tamping.

It is a HX machine, would have liked a DB however I was getting the Lelit at such a steal I couldn't resist.


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## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

Great review ;-)


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## Roobarb (Jan 8, 2018)

In am in the market for this kind of machine and this is one of the units that I have shortlisted. Thank you for your useful review.


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## Beth71 (Jan 4, 2017)

I'm resurrecting this thread as I'm thinking of taking the plunge and buying Lelit Mara (great review btw







), but I think I saw someone else had mentioned that the instructions for it state that you shouldn't descale the machine under any circumstances... My question is what's the reasoning behind it? Surely, at some point the machine will need descaling even if you're using soft bottled water, for example. Have any Mara owners descaled their machine?


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Beth71 said:


> I'm resurrecting this thread as I'm thinking of taking the plunge and buying Lelit Mara (great review btw
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You can descale it, but it's a real hassle. Ideally fittings need to be removed so you can get all the descaler out and flush it through...the thinking is it's best not to let them scale up in the first place. The espresso machine manufacturers live in the La La land of soft water and never needing to descale. So use scale filters, best water you can and try to never have to descale.

A much more up to date review can be found at the link below, you might possibly find it useful:

https://coffeeequipmentreviews.wordpress.com/2017/11/20/lelit-mara-pl62s/


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## Beth71 (Jan 4, 2017)

DavecUK said:


> You can descale it, but it's a real hassle. Ideally fittings need to be removed so you can get all the descaler out and slush it through...the thinking is it's best not to let them scale up in the first place. The espresso machine manufacturers live in the La La land of soft water and never needing to descale. So use scale filters, best water you can and try to never have to descale.
> 
> A much more up to date review can be found at the link below, you might possibly find it useful:
> 
> https://coffeeequipmentreviews.wordpress.com/2017/11/20/lelit-mara-pl62s/


Good to know, thanks.


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## Glossopian (Nov 8, 2020)

I have just seen one of these on amazon, with wooden handles for £699. Is it a scam or a bargain?


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## Glossopian (Nov 8, 2020)

It is apparantly an ex demonstration machine, hence the price. I've ordered it! Turns up next Thursday hopefully...


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