# Bezzera Unica



## DanielJ (Jan 5, 2014)

I bought a Bezzera Unica at the end of February from Bella Barista and just thought I would share in case anyone else out there was interested in them, especially as I don't think there are many of these machines out there.

The Unica is a Single Boiler, E61 group head machine with a PID. My reasons for going for this machine was that I never take milk of any sort in my coffee nor does my wife so the need to steam just didn't factor as a purchasing criterion. As such I felt HX machines were more complicated than I needed. They require you to heat a pretty large volume of water; then there's the whole cooling flush routine; I just felt it was adding complication for capability I wasn't going to use. What I did want was stability and consistency - so the Unica being an E61 group head with a PID seemed like an ideal machine for me.

Two months in and the machine is living up and exceeding my expectations. I have it paired with a eureka mignon grinder and I literally cannot believe the difference (I had a dualit before). The machine produces very consistent, rich shots of espresso with beautiful crema.

Using the machine is a joy. It takes about 30 mins to heat up properly, which is very important. The pid is straight forward to use and is very useful interms of letting you understand the difference you are making to the shot and what is the machine. It has also been very interesting experimenting with different brew temperatures and I have found myself making changes to this based on the beans I am using and helps produce far more satisfying shots in a very controlled way.

The machine itself is very well built. Gorgeous stainless steel and the beautiful E61 grouphead make it quite something to behold. You can really tell the components have been fabricated with care. The body is simple yet very well made. The switches are possibly in a slightly daft location by he drip tray beneath the steam wand, but as I have it on a timer switch I don't use the power switch. The PID on the other had is exactly where you want it accessible and easy to use. It has a very capacious drip tray that is also easy to remove and clean. The water tank is hidden under a very nicely made stainless steel cover - though I do miss being able to see the water level. Its always very frustrating when the auto-shutoff kicks in when the water runs out. I would prefer to have a little warning.

I have done a little steaming. To do this you switch the PID to steam mode, it then heats the boiler to the temperature set by you. This actually takes very little time. The couple of times I have done this, it has taken between 35 and 45 seconds. You then have (what seems to me and admittedly very inexperience steamer) a good volume of powerful steam. I was certainly able to steam a jug of milk quickly and easily. Getting back to coffee temperature simply a matter of purging the boiler with cold water and waiting for the temperature to settle which takes all of 20-30 seconds.

My only one niggle is the thought that the boiler maybe a little small. The Isomac Zaffiro (which doesn't have a pid) has a 0.8l boiler whereas this machine only has 0.5l. Occasionally you see the temperature tail off abit through the extraction. This said, a combination of letting the machine heat up properly and adjustment of my grind and tamp seems to avoid this.

In short if you don't take milk in your coffee or have a need to make milk based coffee for others, this is a brilliant machine. You gain all the benefits of the E61, brilliant control and stability from the PID and all in a beautifully built machine.

Hope that helps - please feel free to ask any questions.


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

Informative write up. Thank you.


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## SteveBristol (Aug 13, 2014)

Hi DanielJ

I was looking at a BZ09, while looking for some information, then I saw your thread, from your review it looks like it's worth paying a bit more. I rarely have milky drinks so the single boiler isn't an issue. Is the Unica still living up to the results in your earlier post? Also could you let me know the height between the portafilter spout and the driptray?

Thanks


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## tocateclas (Nov 29, 2014)

Hi DanielJ, thanks for sharing.

I'm buying an espresso machine and I have narrowed my choice between the Unica and a similar priced HX (Bezzera BZ13 or Magica, Lelit Mara...). I make two lattes every morning and about 4 straight espressos in the afternoon.

Of course a HX machine will be more convenient to steam milk and brew without break but the Unica seems to be ready to brew after steaming in less than a minute: just change mode on the PID, switch the pump on and let the steam wand open for about then seconds and grind your coffee while the temperature is recovering. Is it as easy as it seems? If so, I can not see inconvenient in making a couple of lattes with the Unica.

Still finding the boiler too small?

What I really like from the Unica is the E61 group and the PID. Still experimenting with different brew temperatures? Conclusions? I have never tried a machine with PID so I'm not sure if the investment will be worthy. The Bezzera Magica (E61 HX, no PID) costs about 150 pounds more, but I feel the Magica is too "big" for making just six coffes per day. Hard choice anyway...

Last question: is the Unica easy to maintain? Any issue with pid or pump pressure? Have you ever descale it?

Thanks!

Sorry for my english, not my first language...


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## charb0y (Mar 23, 2019)

just got the beautiful Unica delivered and sadly the "+" button on the pid doesn't engage at all well. So it can take me 2 or 5 minutes to switched between steam and brewing. I feel no little click on the plus button like i do with the minus "-" button. Should there be one, can anybody tell me?

Frustratingly , it's a bank holiday weekend, so have to wait until tuesday a to call CoffeeItalia to ask for a fix


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## rallakias (Nov 13, 2016)

Of course it should click like the minus does. You'd better get it fixed!


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

charb0y said:


> Frustratingly , it's a bank holiday weekend, so have to wait until tuesday a to call CoffeeItalia to ask for a fix


Good luck with your warranty claim. Let us know how you get on.


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## batkovan (Nov 2, 2018)

charb0y said:


> just got the beautiful Unica delivered and sadly the "+" button on the pid doesn't engage at all well. So it can take me 2 or 5 minutes to switched between steam and brewing. I feel no little click on the plus button like i do with the minus "-" button. Should there be one, can anybody tell me?
> 
> Frustratingly , it's a bank holiday weekend, so have to wait until tuesday a to call CoffeeItalia to ask for a fix


 How did it go, did they fixed it?

I'm having exactly the same issue with my brand new bezzera unica pid. My "+" button does not click at all and on top of that it does not functions so I in no way can switch from coffee to steam and backwards. Except when the machine itself switches from coffe to steam(yeah it does that also), maybe the malfunction of the "+" is faulty of that selfswitching also. Pretty disapointed with bezzera now..


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## batkovan (Nov 2, 2018)

Update - the Dealer gave me two options

a) to send it back to him for a fix

b) if I'm feeling enough confident to open the machine myselfe and he will instruct me via phone what to do. He supposed the pid-box is little bit loose thus the pid-buttons don't make good contact with the plastic display on the front panel. He was right.










I have loosened those screws, wiggled the pid-box little bit and retightened again - now both buttons are clicking.

However I'm struggling with the extractions very much and I am nowhere near the shots of my gaggia classic. Here a typical one






If you are someone who can make visually (near) perfect shots with this machine please reply in this tread all the details like brew pressure, pid settings, pump model and so on.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

It looks like you are not preparing / distributing the basket well.

Which grinder do you have?
What do you do? How do you distribute and level? 
How hard do you tamp? Do you use any particular motion?

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## batkovan (Nov 2, 2018)

I'm using hand grinder kinu m47 with small 37/42 conical burrs.

Prep: wdt with a needle, leveling distributer 10 rotations, tamp - I've tried hard and light same result.

I do the prep the same way I did with my gaggia cs. On the e61 however (same coffe, same basket vst 15, same brewpressure) I have to grind much finer to get the same dose for the same time(say 15g/42g 35 sec)

I noticed when the brewpressure is reached(8 bars) on my gaggia the pump becomes silent and only the backflow from the opv is audible and the poor looks perfect even with a single basket>>






when the bezzera reaches the brewpressure the pump does not become silent it is even more noisy because the opv kinda starts to squeal. I can live with the noise but I never imagined that the extractions on e61 will be so difficult, the engineers of the gaggia classic really did something amazing.

With the gaggia I had 9 out of 10 almost perfect shots. With the bezzera 10 out of 10 are awful looking.. still drinkable though.


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## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

Assuming that coffee is fresh.... my instinct is brew temp - does it taste sour?

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## batkovan (Nov 2, 2018)

Tried 1 month old and yeaterday roasted coffee - same result. Tried different temps 90 to 95 celsius on the pid though, no idea how much it is in the e61 grouphead althoug I'm planing to buy these days e61 thermometer. But I have to admit I never let the machine stabilize like half an hour or so. I'm switching it on 5 minutes before brewing like with the gaggia. I will try tomorow letting the machine for 1 hour on before making an espresso, thanks for the hint.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Also, is the pressure on the Unica set to 9 bar or more?

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## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

batkovan said:


> Tried 1 month old and yeaterday roasted coffee - same result. Tried different temps 90 to 95 celsius on the pid though, no idea how much it is in the e61 grouphead althoug I'm planing to buy these days e61 thermometer. But I have to admit I never let the machine stabilize like half an hour or so. I'm switching it on 5 minutes before brewing like with the gaggia. I will try tomorow letting the machine for 1 hour on before making an espresso, thanks for the hint.


There's your answer

The e61 requires 35-45 minutes to heat up. It's a huge lump of metal and when it's heat isn't the same as brew water temp it will be cooling the water all the way to the shower screen.

After 5 mins on an e61 I wouldn't be surprised if by the time the water exits the shower screen it would be less then 80 degrees

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## batkovan (Nov 2, 2018)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> Also, is the pressure on the Unica set to 9 bar or more?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 8 bars at the moment but I tried with the factory setted 12, aftet the dealer let me oppen it for the pid fix I dialed the opv at 7,6, 10 and lastly 9 bars, each was tested for 1-2 days. On the gaggia again I found less chaneling and more even extraction with a bit lower brew pressure that is why I am runing now at 8 bars. On the e61 I can not make any judgment about that since it looks the same with every brewpressure I tried.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Try warming up the machine for at least 40 mins and see where you end up at. Please report back, I'm curious to know if you can get to the bottom if it.

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## batkovan (Nov 2, 2018)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> ..Please report back, I'm curious to know if you can get to the bottom if it.


 To get to the bottom of it is my goal.

I let it warm up today for an hour but nothing changed really - I have tried 16g in vst15 coarser grind with light and strong tamp and the same combo with finer grind(always with wdt)- with the coarser grind it rant of course faster, but the extraction was again with lots of dead spots. Overall not satisfying results. There is a light down the tunnel though I tried the single basket and things didn't look that awfully bad. Wich is little bit strange since with the single one I do not do wdt and am tamping twice with 41mm tamper to get all the grinds in the narrow part. Meaning the problem with the double shots should be my prep and/or the grinder and/or the vst15. 
At 8 bars with LM strada>>






I did some mods with effect only to the noiselevel of the machine so far - exchanged the pump with ulka ex4(the least noisy of the e line), the one in the bezzera was olab 22000. I have also got rid off the purge valve( I don't encourage anyone to do this though) since it adds to the noise and until brewpressure is reached a lot of the water which should get to the grouphead is backflowed to the watertank through it. And I read sometimes it contributes to the pulsing of the pressure.

















It looks like this now from the pump through the opv and to the boiler









shouldn't be a big deal if you have always water to tne inlet of the pump and if somehow air is introduced to the pump for so long that it brakes well I have the original olab one and invensys 65w also.

I'm thinking about adding a bulky and sturdy easy to adjust expansion valve set to 8 bars and letting the squealing opv do it's job at 12 bars(basically shunting it since it will open only if the expansion valve fails ).

I added also a jumper to the pid so that I can tweak the pid parameters - it is now set as suggested for bezzera unica from another tread in a German coffee forum - PID Default P:2,5 I:0 D:4.0 ( set at the moment P:0,7 I:0,07 D:7,6)

If I even once succeed to make a decent double shot out of it will post every detail but for now all that I have done has no merit to the extraction.


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## batkovan (Nov 2, 2018)

I bought a 500g bag of freshly middle roasted Peruvian beans the day before yesterday and yesterday after everybody was asleep I had the time to test the double shots extensively 

After all the testing I've done I'm still thinking, at least for my combo of grinder and machine, that the gaggia cs was more forgiving. I get the feeling that the e61 amplifies even the slightest error in the prep.

Couldn't make a perfect shot, but brought the extraction towards good/very good.

I filmed one regular>>






As you can hear the expansion valve installation is still work in progress.


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## batkovan (Nov 2, 2018)

I sourced a sturdy opv(found also in the vibieme junior hx) and fitted it in - no more squealing >>










By the way @kennyboy993 you are right about the temperature. I didn't know where I am temperature wise, never mind the pid, until I fitted the e61 group thermometer. 15 min after switching on - 94 degrees on the pid display(which is the temp in the boiler) and the group head thermometer is like little bit above 70.

I adjusted my workflow accordingly - since I neither want to wait 30 min for the machine to heat up nor to waste water with heating flushes I froth the milk first (my wife drinks latte exclusively) which helps bring the group head more quickly around 90 degrees Celsius (approx. 5 minutes). From then on the temp of the group head is stable and I can do the shots.

If you however are making just espresso you will either need to wait at least 30 min or if in a hurry do a heating flush(one or more) but even so without group head thermometer it will be like shooting in the dark.

Even though it is a SBDU machine with pid, the e61 thermometer helps me a lot to get to know it better.


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## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

Glad you sorted it pal - those thermos are pretty useful aren't they


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## batkovan (Nov 2, 2018)

Yep, very usefull for e61 regardless of the machine type.


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## charb0y (Mar 23, 2019)

batkovan said:


> How did it go, did they fixed it?
> 
> I'm having exactly the same issue with my brand new bezzera unica pid. My "+" button does not click at all and on top of that it does not functions so I in no way can switch from coffee to steam and backwards. Except when the machine itself switches from coffe to steam(yeah it does that also), maybe the malfunction of the "+" is faulty of that selfswitching also. Pretty disapointed with bezzera now..


 Ah sorry, for slow reply as didn't get a prompt. Yes took it to the distributor's repairs and they jiggled the pid, same as *batkovan *response. It lasted a few weeks, so opened it up myself again and re-adjusted. it's been a year and no need to re-adjust.

I definitely got a bad batch. the E61 was leaking heavily. The distributor's repair guy replaced either brew valve or preinfusion valve , as it was too long , so letting the water flood through when lever as at 4 o'clock. one of the outside panels was also bent. Took approx 2 months to deliver that i just knew the return would take an eternity. Will not be using this distributor ever ever again.


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## Legs (Nov 25, 2020)

Wow - this is very interesting reading.

I was about to get a Bezzera Unica PID MN until I read this. I don't like the prospect of having to turn on the machine for 40 mins before pulling a shot! And Having to adjust the OPV...

What are your thoughts on comparison with the Vibiemme Domobar Lever HX?

Thanks

Will


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Legs said:


> Wow - this is very interesting reading.
> 
> I was about to get a Bezzera Unica PID MN until I read this. I don't like the prospect of having to turn on the machine for 40 mins before pulling a shot! And Having to adjust the OPV...
> 
> ...


 Same deal. It's not the machine. It's the type of group, E61, sported on both.


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## Legs (Nov 25, 2020)

So is this just something you have to live with if you get a pro-sumer machine? The bigger the group the more stable the temperature (so better more reliable shots) but the longer it takes to heat it up?


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Legs said:


> So is this just something you have to live with if you get a pro-sumer machine? The bigger the group the more stable the temperature (so better more reliable shots) but the longer it takes to heat it up?


 You could say that. Some machines have other means of heating up the group - say, with electrical heating cartridges, but, ultimately, for an E61 group that heats up traditionally with a thermosyphon, then yeah, that's it. Some machines will increase the temperature of the boiler at startup and therefore warm up quicker (MaraX, Bianca, Elizabeth (Ring group, not E61)).

However, not all prosumer machines have an E61 group. You can flush water through or wrap a towel around the group to warm up quicker if you want. Other people have the machine connected to a smart plug. Others leave the machine on all day, which doesn't work any more expensive than if you turn on from cold multiple times during the day.


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## Legs (Nov 25, 2020)

Can anybody recommend a nice bottomless portafilter that will fit a Bezzera Unica (E61 group). I saw somewhere that not all E61 groups are made equal - is this right?


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

@BlackCatCoffee - might advise you on this and even be able to sell you a nice one 🙂


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

We can indeed.


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## 8144 (Oct 9, 2014)

bit late to the party but where can I pick up a thermometer for the e61?


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## Deegee (Apr 5, 2020)

Our very own @MrShades runs an online business that has them, should fit your machine, but I'd check first.

https://www.shadesofcoffee.co.uk/mod-products-for-e61-based-espresso-machines


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## 8144 (Oct 9, 2014)

Deegee said:


> Our very own @MrShades runs an online business that has them, should fit your machine, but I'd check first.
> 
> https://www.shadesofcoffee.co.uk/mod-products-for-e61-based-espresso-machines


 Thank you. I'm due to get the Unica this week so assuming it will fit that?


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

condy01 said:


> Thank you. I'm due to get the Unica this week so assuming it will fit that?


 It would - But why do you want that? The Unica is a SBDU machine, not an HX machine. You don't need to temp surf it. I don't think it will add much value - but up to you!


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## 8144 (Oct 9, 2014)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> It would - But why do you want that? The Unica is a SBDU machine, not an HX machine. You don't need to temp surf it. I don't think it will add much value - but up to you!


 It was mainly off the back of this comment: "

If you however are making just espresso you will either need to wait at least 30 min or if in a hurry do a heating flush(one or more) but even so without group head thermometer it will be like shooting in the dark.

Even though it is a SBDU machine with pid, the e61 thermometer helps me a lot to get to know it better."

New to this e61 lark so thinking that any tool at my disposal to help might be worth it!


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

condy01 said:


> It was mainly off the back of this comment: "
> 
> If you however are making just espresso you will either need to wait at least 30 min or if in a hurry do a heating flush(one or more) but even so without group head thermometer it will be like shooting in the dark.
> 
> ...


 @BlackCatCoffee can correct me here, but, as far as I know, this machine has a thermosyphon which keeps the group nice and warm as the same temperature of the boiler? Feels weird to have a group head thermometer. By all means, go for it if you must, but personally, I think you'll be wasting your money.


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> @BlackCatCoffee can correct me here, but, as far as I know, this machine has a thermosyphon which keeps the group nice and warm as the same temperature of the boiler? Feels weird to have a group head thermometer. By all means, go for it if you must, but personally, I think you'll be wasting your money.


 That is correct. Leave it long enough and it will be stable but..

From reading what they are saying I think he is keen to have the thermometer to know exactly when the group is up to temp and ready to brew?


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## 8144 (Oct 9, 2014)

BlackCatCoffee said:


> That is correct. Leave it long enough and it will be stable but..
> 
> From reading what they are saying I think he is keen to have the thermometer to know exactly when the group is up to temp and ready to brew?


 For a relatively small cost in comparison to the machine itself and other accessories I don't see why it wouldn't be beneficial? As I mentioned, I'll be completely new to using an e61 so I figure anything which may help is a good thing. Happy to take advice from other more experienced users though.


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## 8144 (Oct 9, 2014)

Plus once you know how long it the group head takes to get to the desired temp I could always take it off and add a flow control value? Or am I being silly?? Lol


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## fastesi (May 8, 2021)

batkovan said:


> I sourced a sturdy opv(found also in the vibieme junior hx) and fitted it in - no more squealing >>
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 Hi a quick question i i have the same machine but is a pain to adjust the opv so looking at this it seems you have 2 opv istalled how that works for you ? leave the original one on full pressure and regulate from the other one ? TIA


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## batkovan (Nov 2, 2018)

more than a year later..

@fastesi I assume you already did what you wanted to do but yeah it runs smooth. Adjusting the OPV is pain either way to me, if you want painless adjustment of the OPV look for ECM machines where the OPV regulating screw is brought up on the top and is easily adjustable with screwdriver without opening the machine. The reason to put a second OPV was because the original in my machine was creating some resonances and thus squealing at certain pressures like 4 to 6 bars. So i let the original one set to 10 bars to function as safety ventil for the better and sturdy one which operates the brew pressure and is set to 6 bars.


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