The E-61 brewing group from FAEMA
History of an Innovation
They are rare, groundbreaking developments that last for decades virtually untouched. The development of espresso technology can be roughly divided into three eras. It all began with Luigi Bezzera's patent for a brewing system that works with steam pressure, first presented to the public and marketed in 1901.
The huge, towering boilers were the dominant technology of the next two decades. In 1938, the barista Giovanni Achille Gaggia presented the development of a brewing group based on a piston system, which ushered in a new dimension in espresso preparation. For the first time, it was possible to serve espresso with a consistent crema in a shorter time. At first, Gaggia only operated his system in his own bar in Milan. It was not until 1948 that the Gaggia company was founded and within a few years was selling machines all over the world. In the 1950s, springs were added to the piston system, so the barista was no longer forced to stand at the machine during the entire brewing process. Since the technology did not develop significantly, the manufacturers outdid each other in design, among other things with the help of the many metal workers and tinsmiths who returned from the war.
The change came in the early 1960s. The engineer Ernesto Valente developed a machine for FAEMA that really changed everything. For the first time, the required pressure was no longer generated mechanically, but by an electric pump. Part of the new development was also a separate system for coffee and steam, using a heat exchanger integrated into the boiler. The first machine with the new system was named after the solar eclipse that took place in the year it was introduced, Eclisse 1961. The legendary FAEMA E61 was born and with it, the new dual-circuit machine type.
The FAEMA E61 brewing group in detail
The E61 brewing group - revolution of the espresso machine - "E61" is the model name of an espresso machine from the Italian company FAEMA. It was launched in 1961 (E61 - Eclipse 1961 after the solar eclipse that took place in the same year) in a modified housing of the older "President" model and in the now less well-known, much more "angular" housing "Diplomatic".
With the E61 model, Faema introduced several groundbreaking innovations into espresso machine technology as the first semi-automatic espresso machine, which are still used today and are probably only comparable in their scope to the development of the lever machines by Gaggia.
The E61 was the first dual-circuit machine with a heat exchanger . Fresh water was now used to make coffee instead of "dead" boiler water. The pressure was generated using an electric rotary pump instead of the usual lever. As a side effect, the machine could also be operated from a tank without being connected to the water pipe.
The most striking external feature was the large brewing group, made of solid brass and chrome-plated and weighing around 6 kg. Internally, it was designed in such a way that it was constantly heated with circulating hot water - which was fed via a heat exchanger inside the boiler using a thermosyphon system (similar to a hot water heater). When making espresso, a mechanism made up of springs, eccentrics and expansion cavities ensures that the brewing group is immediately relieved of pressure after the brewing process has finished and a so-called pre-brewing (pre-infusion) takes place.
Pre-brewing means that hot water under high pressure is not immediately directed onto the pressed coffee, thus destroying the pressing, but rather the water reaches the coffee via the pre-infusion mechanism at a considerably lower pressure, slightly soaking it and giving it time to swell. The high pressure that then sets in (approx. 9 bar) now hits a pre-swollen, more stable "coffee puck" that can be extracted better. The old hand lever machines also worked with pre-brewing, but for mechanical reasons. The spring preload and the path ensured that the ground coffee was gently moistened. The E61 brewing head should also have this pre-brewing, but the pre-brewing time on the hand lever was built in as a path, the duration of which was fixed at 4-6 seconds. If necessary, the pre-infusion was simply extended by holding the lever in a middle position. It all came down to strength, exact timing and the experience of the barista - the result could be either sensational or sobering. 10 brewing processes produced 10 different results... The E61 brewing technology was much better at this!
The success of the E61 can be explained primarily by the replacement of the strenuous and sometimes accident-prone hand lever and the strong increase in working speed caused by the automation of the brewing process. The machine replaced the large hand lever machines that had previously dominated and dominated espresso bars in the 60s and 70s, leading to a strong spread of espresso machines worldwide.
The E61 was produced in an edition of many thousands of units until 1966 and was finally replaced by the E64 and E66 Diplomatic models, which externally showed much more of the cubic design forms of the late 1960s and, in addition to a modified brewing group, had an enlarged upper and lower cup rack and a time-controlled and thus fully automatic espresso dispensing system at the touch of a button.
When the patent expired at the end of the 1990s, the brewing group experienced a renaissance as a replica in catering machines and household machines from the semi-professional sector. The term "E61" is therefore often equated with an espresso machine - but only describes the design and function of the brewing group.
To celebrate the company's 40th anniversary, Faema itself launched a dual-circuit machine in 2001 under the names "E61 Jubile" and "E61 Legend". The external shape of the housing is largely the same as that of the historic Faema E61. However, apart from the brewing group, the technology has been modified and includes a smaller boiler and optimized thermal paths for better temperature stability.
Even today, the massive E61 brewing group is a guarantee for high-quality extraction technology and good temperature stability. Optimized by digital temperature control PID and increasingly also dual boiler systems, the E61 has a firm place in modern coffee machine culture.
