Olympia Maximatic (Coffex/Livietta)

A super clean '85 Olympia "Maximatic."  Seriously.  It's gorgeous.  You may be able to find a physical flaw if you look hard enough (ok, there is the obligatory Olympia corner paint chip on the front left edge of the brown case) but there's barely a scratch on this handsome 40 year old.  So we're dubbing it the "Immacumatic." 

Inventing our own name is appropriate, because the Swiss company's foray into pump driven espresso machines in the early '80s included marketing these under multiple aliases.  We joke it's the Olympia "that shall not be named." 

European models were known as "Maximatics."  The US version was called the "Coffex."  And to add to the confusion, the Pasquini Company in Los Angeles put their own name on the ones they sold, calling it the "Livietta."  (This one.)  

(Pasquini contributed to the opaque history of the "name" by somewhat cynically selling a later machine as the "Livietta 2," which sadly had zero connection with Olympia.  But the checkered past means you may luck into an "original" Livietta getting past ebay flippers, and find a bargain.)

Olympia changed the group shortly after production began, going from 49mm (Cremina size) to a more appropriate 54mm, so in the process, adding even more variation! 

(The company was obviously hoping to use the Cremina portafilters with them early on, before realizing the limitations of the small group mated to the unlimited water volume of an electric pump!  And possibly American complaints about small shots?)

Why they didn't go to the "commercial" standard 58mm at that point probably had do with scale.  The compact machine would look badly out of balance with a full sized group head bolted on!  And yeah, cost more in brass castings.  Regardless of the motive, that choice has meant the only reliable way to get portafilters and baskets that fit the odd 54mm size, is to buy them directly from Olympia.  Locking people into an Applelike closed ecosystem can be a little annoying, and expensive.  The trade-off is Olympia stuff is still genuine quality.)  

Like all Olympia machines, these were always relatively expensive, so sales were limited to the "high end" market, and you just don't see them very often.  So it's understandable why even vintage espresso fans seem to know so little about them.  

Regardless of which name you have on yours, the takeaway is they're all the same.  

And remarkably, basically the same Maximatic as Olympia sells today!  40 years later!  The only major difference being the addition of a pressure gauge.  

The fact they so few people are familiar with the history, doesn't mean the machines weren't amazing right out of the gate!  They were (are!)  They lived up to the Olympia build and design quality their now legendary older brother Cremina has made famous.  Including the use of "commercial" components, and their usual astoundingly efficient design. 

Even more impressive than the Cremina in that regard, Olympia managed to shoehorn in a bunch more stuff into a footprint only slightly larger.

It's funny that the Swiss were committed to their aesthetic of "less is more," even in an age when Americans were all about "bigger is better."  Olympia's no nonsense efficiency has aged well, and makes even more sense to a generation of limited space.  

In fact, these early Maximatics may still be the most compact "semi-pro" machine ever built.   As you've probably heard, a heat exchanger means you can "brew and steam at the same time."   But that feature has always seemed a bit ridiculous when you'd need two people working at the same to time to pull that off, while elbowing each other in the process!) 

The "real point" of the heat exchanger machine (a separate tube runs through the main boiler with brew water and heats as it passes through, while the main boiler itself provides steam) is that it's a de facto "double boiler." 

That means there are two places that hold water.  A reservoir under the lid at the back for the brew pump, while the steam boiler is filled through the cap on top. 

Maintaining levels in both is important.  Running the brew reservoir dry merely stops water flowing out of the group (though you may end up with temporary "vapor lock" as a result and need to cool things down) but running the boiler dry risks damaging the heating element.

Fortunately, monitoring the boiler level is what the sight glass is for on the right side of the fascia panel. 

Olympia also incorporated a "three way" exhaust valve.  Another pioneering feature on a "home" espresso machine.  Like the big boy machines at commercial cafes, the valve opens after you stop the pump and vents puck pressure off through a tube into the drip tray.  That helps prevent "blow back" accidents after unlocking the portafilter!   

Olympia's proprietary heavy duty pressurestat is easily adjustable (controls boiler pressure which equal temperature adjustment.)  These features, and more, made the Maximatic as close to having a "professional" espresso machine at home as was possible at the time. 

And they still can pull an amazing shot.  As many Olympia nerds attest.  But as with all vintage machines, the Maximatic has a couple of it's own unique quirks. 

We would argue the most obvious is the vibration water pump, made by the Italian Fluid-O-Tech company, and may be the most powerful vibe pump we've seen in an espresso machine.  It's "commercial quality" and built to last, unlike the cheaper Ulka pumps used in most home machines today.  Olympia added a flow restrictor in line to tame it down, but water seems to flow faster than a lot of similar home E61 type machines.  That can translate into a "20 second shot" instead of a "25 second shot."  

That's very dependent on your grinding, tamping, and dosing.  It's probably less forgiving in that regard than a Cremina.  With a Cremina, or any "direct push" lever, you can "muscle up" if the grind is too fine, and usually get some espresso in your cup.  On a Maxi, you can actually grind fine enough to "choke" the machine (i.e. the pump runs, but nothing comes out, or worse, dribbles around the side of the portafilter seal!)  

So we think a Maximatic requires users to experiment more with the right grind and dosing to find maximum crema with the beans you're using.  They seems to want a coarser grind than similar machines, and leave a wetter puck even when you get it right.  

Those are all considerations for deciding whether you want a Maximatic or not.  

But as we said at the beginning of this long description, if you want one, this thing is the one! 

Even though it was gorgeous when we got it, as usual, we ended up tearing it apart and putting it back together.  A complete group rebuild, de-scale, sight glass seals, cap seal, and new heating element means it should be good to go for a long time.  (The heating element actually "worked" in a regular outlet, but was blowing a GFCI.  That meant there was a short, and the usual pinhole leak in the original element.  One of the few common things to "watch out" for with vintage Olympias.)  

Considering the cost of new Maximatics today, the value of an earlier model in this condition is pretty clear. 

The Coffex/Maximatic/Livietta was a lot of machine for the money in it's day.  And at this price, it still is.

There's an intrinsic "Joy" that seems to be built into this era of Olympia espresso machines.  Being able to use such a precise instrument to make espresso makes getting up in the morning way more fun.  There can be a little endorphin rush just seeing one sitting on your counter.  

It should be hard for any mere "physical possession" to deliver that kind of "experience" on a daily basis, but ask an Olympia owner if we're making it up.  

Unfortunately, as with Creminas, the Maximatics only seem to be getting harder to find and more expensive.  We wish that wasn't the true, but it is.  Perhaps the only "good" thing about that is in a couple years it may seem "cheap." 

So, get one while you can.

Comes with new matching "Olympia Brown" spring pre-torqued tamper, and a double basket.