Lelit

Lelit was founded in 1985 in Castegnato, in the province of Brescia, and built its reputation on a narrow brief: home espresso machines with café parts in a small footprint. The machines carry women’s names (Anna, Kate, Victoria, Elizabeth, Bianca, Mara), the grinders men’s (Fred, William).

In March 2022 Breville agreed to buy the whole Lelit group for about €113 million. Lelit kept its name, its Italian base and its range. What changed is the shop window: Lelit’s own web shop now runs on Breville’s platform and sells direct in the United States, the United Kingdom and France, among others.

The range climbs by boiler. Anna is the entry point, a single brass boiler on the smaller LELIT57 group. Victoria and Kate are single boilers on the 58 mm group, Kate with a grinder built into the same body. The Mara X is the heat exchanger: one steam boiler that also heats the brew water, with Lelit’s two-probe control on top. Elizabeth and Bianca are dual boilers, and Bianca adds a paddle on the group that changes the flow during the shot. The newer MaraX3 brings an electronic version of that control, which Lelit calls Pagaia, to the heat exchanger line.

Most of the range is built around the LELIT58 group, with its own filterholders, IMS baskets and tampers, so accessories carry over from one machine to the next.

What they are good at. Putting a commercial-size group and a lot of control in a machine that fits under a wall cupboard.

What to know before buying. The machines are generous on hardware and plain on displays. The Mara X reports its state through LEDs and a gauge rather than a temperature readout, and some upgrades, such as a pressure gauge on the group or a flow paddle for the Mara X, are sold as kits rather than built in. Read the boiler sizes too: in France the dual boiler Elizabeth is listed a little below the Mara X, with far smaller boilers.

Who it suits. Home baristas moving up from a first single boiler who want steam on tap and room to grow. The Mara X V2 first look covers the heat exchanger in detail, and choosing an espresso machine places it among the alternatives.