La Marzocco GS3 Espresso Machine Manual Paddle Version

Highly recommend Clive for all your coffee supplies and expertise!

Asking for a review when I have not received notification that my machine arrived? That upis difficult to do.

Awesome is the word that sums up the gs3 mp best. I am particularly impressed with the steaming capability, producing a velvety smooth texture in very short order. The only issue I had with the setup was getting the pump to draw water from the reservoir. It was easily corrected by priming the pump with a syringe full of water. Wi-fi functions work perfectly - can turn it on/off from anywhere! Temperature stability is phenomenal.

I LOVE espresso but am brand new to making it. I wanted an end game machine that would insure I was the only limiting factor and that would give my clients & colleagues the best espresso tasting experience possible, once my skills were honed. The GS3 IS THE MACHINE! The first shot was a disaster due to the coarseness of my grind.. The 2nd shot was pretty good. The 3rd shot brought out all the sweetness in the coffee and every shot since then has gotten better and better and this is only 2 days in! Pulled some shots for my espresso loving colleagues and was told it rivaled the high end coffee shops that they frequent. Love, Love, Love this machine!

As if the machine wasn’t enough, Clive Coffee and, specifically, Sean’s customer service is probably some of THE BEST I’ve experienced, ever. The second time I called, Sean responded by showing that he remembered our first call and my name. Phone and Chat messages were answered very quickly and followed up by an email transcription. Advice was frank, polite and non-pressured. My research started with the Linea Mini, flirted with the Breville and landed on the GS3. Through out, Sean was always helpful, patient and fun. I appreciate that Sean was my first point of contact, stuck with me through the purchase and is still assisting me with follow up. I considered buying the GS3 directly from La Marzocco as they had a finance plan but, in the end, went with Clive because of Sean’s top tier customer service. I feel confident that Clive will be there, for all my future coffee needs and am looking forward to being a long-term customer.

Excellent machine that replicates the machines in the best coffee shops. Uses many of the same parts from these $20K+ machines. There is a cost of this machine, and that's for maintenance and repairs. While the machine has been reliable, it requires regular maintenance checks once or twice a year. And parts do fail on occasion as with any machine. I've had regular maintenance cost $100-$200 per year and recently some major work done to replace a few parts and solve for leaks, costing about $600. Be sure you can find a good service organization, because it's not practical to send it in for service.

The machine is rock solid however because Clive sells so many brands they are not experts on this machine. Ask to be referred to LM rep for home equipment or look him up online. He is amazing help when you need it. Also check your local repair Company(s). Don’t just ask Clive for Local Service company name but also call that company. Many times it is a commercial repair company that won’t come to a home. Due diligence on entire ownership is really important. I am very happy with my purchase but the journey was arduous.

I started out with a 499.00 breville, from there I started to understand manual set ups. 2 months later I bought a breville dual boiler and took 2 classes on grinding and dosing. 7 months after I was getting it right I bought a Quick Mill 67. 3 months after mastering that it was GS3 time. In my opinion once you understand the Whole theory the GS3 just helps you make perfection every single pull. It’s just amazing. I still have the breville, QM67 but I’m always using the GS3, it’s just that good and Clive is also just that good of a company to help you shape your next experience. Craig Oku

This machine is incredible and WAY better than any machine I’ve used. It is super consistent and solid. The steam pressure is incredible and has upped my foam game to a new level. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking to buy their last espresso machine!

The GS3 was always my dream machine ever since I bought my very first espresso machine (ah, the Saeco Aroma) 8 years ago. Since then, I have owned the Rancilio Silvia, Rocket Giotto Premium Plus, the La Spaziale Lucca A53 Mini, and now - the GS3 MP.

I can say with confidence after using the GS3 MP for 2 months, that it is such a solid, fun machine and a noticeable upgrade from even the amazing Lucca A53. My first tuned-in shot had such a rich color, with beautiful body and of course crema. I was worried about the steam wand being too powerful, with the large 4 holes as well as the big steam boiler (as I only steam enough milk for 1 drink at a time), however I was easily able to dial down the steam boiler pressure thanks to the digital menu settings, and the stock steam tip will steam a few ounces of milk perfectly and quickly (and of course, will steam much more if you prefer).

Being able to time both the total brew time (thanks to the auto-timer on the GS3) and separately the shot time (via Lunar scale) while having control over the pre-infusion is really cool (the Acaia Lunar drip tray mod was well worth the money).

The front-accessible water reservoir is great, since I like to keep cups up on the cup warmer (some machines have the reservoir under there which means you're taking off all of your cups every few days), and the reservoir + drip tray hold a lot of water which means less filling. The cool-touch wand is truly cool-touch, unlike most other steam wands which are still very hot after using them. The included baskets cover all of your needs - ranging from 7g up to 21g. The wood accent panels and bottomless portafilter are absolutely beautiful.

The machine is big and ships on a pallet - you WILL need 2 people to unpack and carry this baby, so be aware of blocking off a day to receive and set it up with a helper. My machine arrived damaged (no ones fault), however Clive was all over it and a tech was at my house in only a few days to swap a part out for free which I was very thankful for.

All in all I could not be happier. I paired it with the Eureka Olympus 75E grinder (upgrading from the Mazzer Mini) and the 2 work so well together it's ridiculous. Now the best coffee shop in town is in my kitchen :)

The La Marzocco seems to be a tank. It is consistent and very reliable. Temperature profiles don't seem to vary much at all. The controls are pretty intuitive once I picked up on a few basics. My only complaint is the steam valve. It does not always stay open when I press it to a position. So I sometimes have to hold it in position to maintain steam release. It does not always do this. So I can live with the condition. I have the manual paddle. It provides exceptional control of all variables. The shots I extract are excellent. i.e., in my opinion among the best I've had anywhere in the world. Overall this is an excellent machine. OI strongly recommend it.

I upgraded from the Alex Duetto II (also purchased at Clive). The Duetto can make an amazing shot, but with the GS/3 it's hard NOT to make an amazing shot -- the consistency is hard to beat. I mostly make macchiato's, but the machine's steaming abilities for back to back latte's was impressive as well.

Also, as usual, the service at Clive Coffee is second to none! Mark and his staff are not only extremely knowledgable, but they were patient with all of my crazy questions.

I'll keep this to a short, summary review, but I have exactly ZERO buyer's remorse in making this investment. Much detail about this product has been written on well-known Web sites such as CoffeeGeek and Home-Barista, so check these out too. My experience is that (1) the positive remarks have all proven true and (2) La Marzocco has effectively addressed the few early glitches that were reported. LM is clearly committed to this product.The amount of engineering packed into the GS/3's very compact frame is pretty remarkable. But I will characterize it as the best kind of sophistication - that is, the kind that makes outstanding and consistent results straightforward to achieve. Oh, you can tweak parameters and adjustments (easily) all day and night if you like, but you can also just leave the defaults alone and it will provide terrific results.In fact, even when I've made truly awful blunders in grinding, dosing or tamping, somehow the GS/3 still turned out remarkably good shots. Using a bottomless portafilter, I've seen every disease a pull can exhibit - sometimes all at once - but even these taste better than what you'll get at most cafes. And if you do it right, the sky's the limit.It's been surmised that the use of stainless steel throughout (instead of brass, which is much easier and less expensive to manufacture) goes some distance to explain the outstanding clarity of flavor. I suspect it's just one example of where LM reportedly spared no cost to build the best single-group machine possible, and they pushed current technology forward in order to accomplish it.Getting started was very easy [...] If you've ever made espresso before - no matter how or with what - you'll find yourself up and running very quickly.