Olympia Club

The Olympia Club was a bit of a "moon shot" by Olympia to add a semi-professional/small cafe espresso machine to their smaller "high end" home lever Cremina.

The obvious difference is the group had a spring loaded piston, like a "real" commercial espresso machine, where the Cremina was basically a Pavoni "direct push" style group.

The Club wasn't really large enough to be a commercial cafe machine in the American sense, but in European small villages it could work in a local bar or small hotel.  The boiler is much larger than the Cremina, allowing for multiple shots instead of a couple before reload, and even had a water inlet to allow allow it to be plumbed in.  (Having to open the boiler cap and constantly refill doesn't work if you're trying to make espresso for a group of people.) 

It even had a hot water wand for those pesky Americanos. 

To add to the luxury, Olympia added a pressure gauge. 

Otherwise, it shares a lot with the Cremina. 

Starting with the same impressive Swiss build quality.  From the heavy duty industrial brown, powder coated frame, to their proprietary adjustable pressurestat, and alloy plated copper pipes, Olympia spent money in places the average user wouldn't even normally see underneath the austere, Bauhaus inflected box.  

The piston/group seals and gaskets are even the same as the Cremina.

But the much higher cost, coupled with the much lower sales, apparently took the fun out of the Club for Olympia, and they ceased production after just a few years.  (Iterations of the Club began in the late 60s and ended in the late 70s.  In an apparent cost cutting move, Olympia removed the pressure gauge at some point before finally giving up!)

We're not sure how many of these actually made it to the States with a native 110 volt configuration, but we found this beauty in Europe, and couldn't resist converting it to US current.  After a fair amount of work, we did.  

The boiler was opened, and completely descaled (not an insignificant task after 50 years) before installing the new 110 volt heating element.   

We used silicone seals from Orphan for the group rebuild.  (You can make Pavoni seals "work," but they are a little different from the Oly spec seals, so we've never been comfortable putting them in a machine this "precise.")

The metallic copper colored body is really nice, with only a few minor scratches and chips.  There is one scratch across the middle of the back panel that starts on the left edge and lightens as it goes across.  Hard to see in the picture, but it IS there.  But the Cremina road rash often found on the corners from years of banging around a kitchen is not an issue on this Club.  Perhaps people who "splurged" on these (they were ALWAYS "expensive") tended to look after them a little more than Cremina owners did.  Regardless of whether that theory holds, this is in impressive condition, and from the front view, really gives the "new for the '70s" vibe.  

The stainless facia panels on Olympia machines can get scratched from "typical" use, and are really hard to polish out, so seeing one like this in almost like "original" condition, makes this machine really sparkle.

The espresso making experience itself IS different than the Cremina in an obvious way.  As a spring lever instead of a direct push, the grind and dosing are probably gonna be harder for most users to dial in.  You'll probably find you're grinding a little coarser, and dosing a little lighter (leaving a bit more "head room" on top of the puck) to get close to the crema extraction you may be used to pulling with a Cremina or Pavoni.  

On the other hand, you will likely realize you end up with a lighter, more "refined" shot.  (We think it may even be a little "sweeter" as well, but that's obviously subjective.)  In any event, the "home" sized spring levers usually result in shots with less "mouth feel."  The lower brew pressure (limited by the spring size) seems to extract less oil from the beans.  A phenomena common on all similar small spring levers, from Elektra to Zacconi. 

But there are plenty of of lever heads who swear they prefer their Club shots to the Cremina.

As with all things coffee, it's a matter of taste.  

So maybe it's an excuse if you're an aspiring Olympia nerd, to own both!  And have an Olympia for every mood!

One final note is that Olympia made these before the advent of "vacuum breaker valves."  Which means when the machines cools there will be residual pressure inside the boiler (for at least a while.)  That also means you may have to open the steam valve once it begins to heat up first thing in the morning, to "bleed the false pressure" before it will warm up all the way.  (The pressurestat will think it's got more pressure in it than it really does, and cycle off the heating element prematurely before it's fully up to temp.)  Olympia "solved" this years later with the advent of their "new style" boiler cap, which includes a built in vacuum breaker.  (They were back ordered at the time we listed this, but are normally available from Olympia, and retroactively fit all Cremina and Club machines if anyone is interested in "modding" their vintage Olympia.)

Comes with three portafilter baskets ("single," "double," and "extra size double.")  And a new walnut handle tamper.