Espresso Machine Overview: Lelit Mara X
Close your eyes for a moment and try to picture the Lelit Bianca in your head, you know the one—it's the big dual-boiler with the flow control, the fancy PID, and wood touch-points. The machine you've been drooling over. Now, try and picture a machine that looks the same, but more compact, cuter (because littler things have a way of doing that), and just as powerful. You're not just imagining it, it's the Lelit Mara X! It's not a dual-boiler and its reservoir only, but it's got the bang for your buck that you're looking for, with excellent performance to boot.
A Tradition of Versatility
Lelit continues its innovative streak with the compact Mara X Espresso Machine, altering traditional assumptions about heat-exchange machines. With versatility as its priority, the Mara X allows you to prioritize brewing or steaming with the utmost accuracy and flexibility, all in a compact footprint.
Prioritizing how you use the Mara X is easy. Remove the drip tray to reveal the priority mode switch. Switching from 0 to I boots the machine’s steaming capabilities in Steam X mode. Switching from I to 0 sets the priority for Brew X mode for more accurate brew temperatures.
Steam X mode has a fast recovery time, making back-to-back lattes easy.
After switching back to Brew X mode, you can choose from three pre-set temperatures: Low (197F), Standard (201F), and High (205F). Changing the temperature can impact your coffee based on the type of roast, flavor profile, and origin. For instance, selecting the low-temperature setting helps extract darker roasts properly since higher temperatures can over-extract the coffee, leaving it bitter.
The Mara X is also versatile aesthetically. It comes in white and black matte finishes with maple wood accents. The stainless steel variant comes with black finishes.
A Class Above Traditional Heat Exchangers
Unique to the Lelit Mara X is a dual-temperature probe that targets brew temperatures first in the group head, making it process temperature more efficiently than standard e61 group heads. The Mara X also sports the Lelit Silent Pump, making it quieter than most vibratory pumps. The silent pump also offers low-pressure ramp-up as a form of soft infusion. The front panel has a low water light indicator and a handy dual-pressure gauge.
Lelit comes with a generous accessories package that includes a wood dual-spouted portafilter with three precision baskets (single, double, and triple), a cleaning brush, a resin filter, a 58mm wood tamper, a cleaning kit, a small cup riser, a measuring scoop, and a blind backflush disk.
Lelit has something for everyone, letting you carve your path on your unique espresso journey.