DOLCE VITA ESPRESSO

We are located near the city of BURBANK.  

Please call or email
818 745-6700
dvespresso@gmail.com

FAQ BELOW!

Leave a message if nobody is available you can text us at 818 452-8058 or send an EMAIL.    PLEASE describe what your machine is doing or is NOT doing!  Give full details on how it is acting up and the best number to reach you at.  We will service you the SAME DAY OR NEXT DAY, guaranteed!

**USED MACHINES?   YES!  We've got some JURAS and others!  CALL US!

*****WE WANT YOUR USED / BROKEN ESPRESSO MACHINE!

BREVILLE:  We get calls for Breville all day long.  Breville is a Chinese made private label machine that needs frequent repairs / parts are not available.   Only Breville repairs Breville, they are in Torrance so call them.  

BEST RECOMMENDATION:  We favor Intelligentsia Black Cat Espresso.   To be sipped as a pulled double shot ONLY.  TRADER JOE! - BION, Trader has an EXCELLENT selection of beans as well for cheap!  Super!

***Stuff we DON'T repair***

NO BREVILLE, or it's GOD-AWFUL CLONES.

No Nespresso / Keurig / Verismo 
No Saeco/Gaggia Super-Automatics
No Delonghi

No Lavazza, any model

NO FF, Cuisinart, Krups, no drip machines 

No  Reneka / UNIC / KLUB

BUILT-INS: Maybe - cleaning ONLY.

NO MODBAR / SCANOMAT / BREW EXPRESS

 Gaggia Classic / Brera: YES~~!
We are experts at rescuing Gaggia Classics
 Call / email us 

EXPOBAR
Home Machines
SEE BELOW!

BOSCH / MIELE
Home Machines
We are starting to repair these,
Call / email us for more info.

DeLonghi
Call Carl Andaya @ 562-208-2326 

ROCKET, BEZZERA, ECM, PROFITEC, QUICKMILL and similar - ADVISORY:    Congratulations, you bought a spanking new beautiful chrome espresso machine and it works great!   Dual boiler, electronic / PID with ability to do profiling, etc. so be it, Enjoy!  HOWEVER BE ADVISED that we get a LOT of these HEAVY home E61 grouphead machines in for service, and repairs on these can be expensive due to their complex electronics and congested interiors of many components.     Please use bottle or reverse osmosis water ONLY with these!    

EXPOBAR HOME MACHINES:    We service a LOT of Expobars.  These home machines have unique fittings, connectors and hoses which need to be periodically replaced.    MAJOR NOTE: A lot of older dual boiler dual gauge home Expobar machines (and many others) have a rather dated temperature management scheme; the single band PID controls ONLY the brew boiler.  The steam boiler is controlled by a conventional pressure switch.  Another dated design in Expobar machines (and many others) is the overpressure water coming off the pump, empties through a nozzle into the front tray requiring it to be emptied often causing much wasted water.  We have a nice mod for this in which the OPV water is sent back into the tank through a second flexible hose eliminating the tray nozzle.   We work on a LOT of Expobars!

SAECO / GAGGIA AUTOMATICS:    These machines when working properly do the job intended however they just do not stand up over time and will not last due to leaks and deterioration of their many plastic parts, hoses and flash boilers.  (For local service on your Gaggia Accademia, Platinum and other Gaggia automatic reboots: L.A. Electric in Tarzana @818-774-9503 is one service center we recommend.   GET A JURA INSTEAD.

GAGGIA CLASSIC:  The Classic/ Coffee with its aluminum boiler is subject to corrosion and blockages from hard mineral-rich L.A. water requiring a descaling.   This is an extremely common repair that we do.    Another problem with the classic is its use of a uber-flimsy steam needle valve which fails frequently.   Use ONLY RO water with all Gaggia/Saeco machines.   

PAVONI LEVER MACHINES:  The Pavoni Europiccola, Elektra microcasa, Gaggia Factory and similar are ALL mostly inefficient, dated, unstable, difficult to work on vertical machines with midget portafilters that are conversation pieces at best with a great tendency to leak and corrode into rusted out junk after a short period of use.   Crikey, there's a lot of them out there also!    Stefano Espresso Care in Oregon / parts for LaPavoni and Elektra home lever machines.  Try L.A. electric in Tarzana for service.

PASQUINI LIVIA:  The Pasquini Livia 90 is a vintage machine made by BEZZERA and is a very high quality small vertical boiler home machine either manual or automatic.  Most require total rehabbing to get them back into shape and WE DO THIS!   We now offer a special rehab package for your tired Livia in which we replace gaskets, solenoids, electrovalves, pumps, switches and pstats as needed.

RANCILIO SILVIA:  The 2013 upgrade of the Silvia boiler has introduced an expensive boiler /element combo which is $250+ just to BUY IT, however the good news is that if the element fails all you need to replace is THAT separately.  The prior boiler whith integrated non-removable element is no longer available!   Use ONLY RO water for the Silvia.  

****RANCILIO SILVIA ADVISORY: Folks, it seems there’s a LOT of older Silvias out there IN REALLY BAD SHAPE.  It’s amazing what we’re seeing lately with many BURNED-OUT SILVIAS with multiple issues not worth fixing.  Some of the problems we are seeing are severe frame corrosion, boilers that cannot be unbolted to access the heating element and internally wires, connectors and switches that are burned up - and often ALL of these at the same time!   For Silvias with the ABOVE issues, we may decline to fix yours and instead, offer you one of our used Silvias with a warranty.  It’s our option.

NEW SILVIAS IN TOWN!  The Silvia Pro and Pro X models (with steam gauge) are dual boiler PID machines.   Check them out. 

YOUR SILVIA POPPING THE GFCI?   We get calls on this constantly!   95% of the time this problem is caused by your GFCI.  ***This can be confirmed by plugging it into a non-GFCI outlet.   SOLUTION: Replace with a higher rated 20A new GFCI.

LAVAZZA ESPRESSO POINT:   Strictly a Flintstones dinosaur machine.   Please do not be hypnotized by this pretty chrome contraption cabinet machine with the little swing out door!  Plus it's even got a key on top, so Beyoncé can't sneak in to use it when you're not home.   In reality, this is a primitive, prehistoric OBSOLETE Coffee Machine which is largely unrepairable.   It takes useless un-recyclable OEM plastic pods only available from Illy by mail!   We consider it scrap metal / dumpster bait. 

ESE POD MACHINES:   Another weird-assed coffee machine.  Mostly made by SPINEL / LA PICCOLA.   With their condom-like packets that quickly go stale, this is another forgotten evolutionary branch of the coffee machine that well...deserves to be forgotten.  ESE PODS are only available online through ILLY and a few others. We DO service the Spinel commercial models.

SPAZIALE VIVALDI ET AL:   The Vivaldi, Mini , Dream and LUCCA machines are high-quality, unique difficult to service machines with an abundance of oddball 4mm hoses that leak and are sold mostly by Chris Coffee out of NY/ Clive Coffee.  Call us and describe the problem you're having, we'll try to fix it.    

ZACCONI RIVIERA/ BABY BIG:   ORPHAN.  No parts are available.

OLYMPIA CREMINA / Pasquini Livietta : Cerini Coffee, in NYC  718-584-3449 and other vintage.  The Cremina is a midget portafilter lever machine for the ken and barbie set - we consider it long gone obso.

COMMERCIAL LEVER MACHINES:    NOBODY uses commercial lever machines anymore!   These machines with their powerful lever springs can be quite hazardous if improperly used as well.  We can rebuild your lever groups if need be with the many gaskets needed, but this is quite expsnsive $$$ to do.  Still want to go there?  Hah! 

FRANCIS FRANCIS:  A Quality machine, back in the day....we do not service any longer.  Plus their electronic thermostats can and WILL go bad.   Call Sapori in Portland MAYBE they will look at it.  https://www.saporifineflavors.com/

BREVILLE and its clones:  Chinese-made private label espresso machine mucho flimsy plastic inside not made to be serviced & parts generally N/A - lucky if yours last a year or two.  Read the horror stories on Amazon.  Plus there's multiple Breville CLONES out there, even worse -  get thee behind me!

ASCASO DREAM:   We are sorry to say,  the Dream Machine is one of THE worst junker machines ever made, with a POS boiler / element guaranteed to burn out early no matter what.  The steam valve / wand is a runner-up POS as well and under no circumstances should you repair it let alone BUY it.   

VINTAGE /ANTIQUATED MACHINES:  Most of these prehistoric Gaggia dome with eagle machines look like they went down with the Titanic or SHOULD have!  Try Dome & Hammered machines.  Deluxe Copper/Brass @818-768-6300

FRANKE / SCHAERER / WMF / EGRO / EVERSYS  AUTOMATIC:  These high volume automatic machines are usually installed in cafeterias, schools, hotels and similar and are $$$$ to service.   For ALL of these call the mfg for service/support info.  

*****WE DON'T WORK ON THIS  EITHER