Flair The NEO Flex: UPDATED Direct Lever Manual Espresso Maker for Home with a Pressure Gauge and Two Portafilters – Brew Cafe Quality Espresso
$99.00
Price: $99.00
(as of Jul 22, 2024 21:59:05 UTC – Details)
Product Description
The Flair NEO Flex for Simple, Affordable Espresso at Home
The NEO Flex takes note from our established line of lever espresso models – providing the experience of handcrafting cafe quality shots in a fully manual format – all while keeping the price at less than $100. Enrich your mornings without the splurge, with the NEO Flex.
Brew Two Ways
Pick your Portafilter: The Flow Control or the Bottomless 2-in-1
The Flow Control Portafilter
Easy to spot, easy to use. Our bright red portafilter is the key to simplified espresso brewing. Its restricted exit port works to slow the flow of water through the brew head – and generate the needed pressure for espresso brewing – even if a coarse grind size is used.
The Bottomless 2-in-1 Portafilter
Level up your morning brew with our black portafilter. Paired with a high-quality espresso-capable burr grinder and freshly roasted beans, you’ll be able to take total control of your extraction. This portafilter relies solely on a dialed-in coffee bed to create the needed resistance within the brew head. Genuine espresso, genuinely satisfying.
Integrated Pressure Gauge for 9 BAR Brewing
Now including an integrated pressure gauge, the NEO Flex allows every user to dial-in their espresso at the exact pressure they want to brew at. Brew in the espresso zone and use the pressure gauge to ensure consistency.
Cafe-Quality Espresso at Home
Brew espresso on the NEO Flex that rivals your favorite coffee beverage from your favorite local cafe. The NEO Flex’s lever system has the ability to handcraft delicious espresso anytime and anywhere.
No Preheat Thin Walled Cylinder
Easy to use and brew with, the Flair NEO Flex has a thin-walled stainless steel brewing cylinder, which does not require any preheating before brewing. Just add your boiled water and brew delicious espresso.
For Espresso Beginners and Beyond
The NEO Flex provides a simplified way to brew espresso at home, with the ability to grow – or go – with you. Its lightweight-yet-durable polycarbonate frame is perfect for espresso on the road, or as a permanent fixture on your countertop. Brew how you want with the NEO Flex.
Technical Specifications
Product Weight 4.5 lbs (2.04kg) Product Height 11.5 inches (29 cm) Dose 17 grams Maximum Output 40 ml
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Customer Reviews
4.3 out of 5 stars
527
4.5 out of 5 stars
1,060
4.5 out of 5 stars
1,060
4.6 out of 5 stars
310
Price
$99.00$99.00 $140.00$140.00 $229.00$229.00 $325.00$325.00
Standard Brew Head
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PRO Brew Head
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Pressure Gauge
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Stainless Steel Tamper
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Flow Control Portafilter
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Bottomless Portafilter
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Color Options
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Metal Frame
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Burr Grinder Required
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Carrying Case
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HANDCRAFT ESPRESSO AT HOME – The Flair NEO Flex is a 100% human-powered, manual espresso press. With the Flair NEO Flex espresso machine, you have a complete manual espresso maker that can produce professional quality shots of espresso from your home, or wherever you are. Add 60ml of boiled water and a dose of up to 18 grams to yield a 40 ml shot with beautiful crema.
KEY PRODUCT UPDATES – The updated NEO Flex now features two key updates, an integrated pressure gauge for direct feedback while brewing your espresso, and a new thin brewing cylinder that requires no preheat. Just add your grounds, your just boiled brew water, and you’ll get delicious espresso at home.
CHOOSE YOUR PORTAFILTER – The Flair NEO Flex comes with two different portafilters to provide users the ability to select between convenience and control. Start with the red Flow Control portafilter, which doesn’t require a high-quality burr grinder, and which automatically generates the pressure needed for a great espresso extraction. When ready, switch to the Bottomless 2-in-1 Portafilter to dial in your espresso for full control. This portafilter requires a high quality burr grinder.
BREWS REAL ESPRESSO – The lever system of the NEO Flex is capable of generating between 6-9 BAR of pressure, exactly that needed to extract café-quality espresso. This lever system also offers complete control over your extraction! Brew at different pressure profiles to ensure your espresso is exactly as you want it. The NEO Flex is real espresso, at home or anywhere.
ESPRESSO WITHIN REACH – The NEO Flex is an all-manual, lever-based espresso maker. The NEO Flex is constructed from a lightweight poly frame, which is strong and durable, but also light enough to take or store anywhere. And, because the NEO Flex draws on Flair’s existing lever-based espresso technology, you know that you’ll get delicious espresso in your cup every time.
EASY TO CLEAN – The Flair NEO Flex is easy to clean and comes with a patented, removable brewing head. When done brewing your espresso, just removed the entire brewing head, separate the parts, and rinse with cool water. No complicated washing or cleaning required!
Customers say
Customers like the ease of use, appearance and performance of the coffee maker. They mention that it’s simple to use, looks good and produces excellent results. Some are satisfied with portability, and quality. However, some customers dislike the material and disagree on value and ease of cleaning.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
8 reviews for Flair The NEO Flex: UPDATED Direct Lever Manual Espresso Maker for Home with a Pressure Gauge and Two Portafilters – Brew Cafe Quality Espresso
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Mountain Cat –
First impressions – higher quality than expected
There are a lot of online reviews of the Flair system so I will focus on my initial impressions of the quality of the Flair Neo, rather than making espresso with it. I will update this once I have a handle on pulling a good shot, and after receiving the bottomless portafilter.My normal espresso machine has to be sent in for service, and I wanted to have a high level espresso machine to use on the road with our camper van. The Flair + a hand grinder seemed like the perfect solution. This being the cheapest model in the Flair lineup, I was interested to see how it would stack up to the higher end models that I have seen reviewed.Upon opening the box, the first thing I could tell is that this is a high quality unit. The grey finished metal frame is quality all the way. It’s also great to look at, especially with the red and stainless color of the group head / portafilter.The way the frame attaches and detaches is pretty smart — very stable and yet takes a second to take apart for storage. This will be great for travel. There is also a screw with a washer that they include in the box for permanently attaching the two parts of the frame for added stability if you don’t need to take it apart for travel. Without the screw, there is some play in the frame and the handle, but nothing that should cause any instability because once you put 30-40 pounds of force on the lever, nothing is going to move.Included is a red pressurized portafilter. I am somewhat of a geek when it comes to making espresso, so the pressurized portafilter would not be my first choice. I prefer to use the correct grinder and grind settings to dial in my shots and get the maximum flavor out of my espresso. Therefore I plan to get the bottomless portafilter accessory that they offer (there is currently a promo for a free one, but afterwards it is $24, a reasonable price). However, that said, there are times that the pressurized one may come in handy, such as trying a different batch of coffee without having to take the time and waste coffee to dial it in. Plus, being so small, this is an easy thing to keep around while traveling.The plunger for the group head mechanism is made of high-grade plastic. For me, this is probably the biggest disadvantage, as I would prefer 100% stainless. However, the good news is that in the future, if I purchase the pressure gauge, it includes a stainless plunger. This plunger makes contact with the hot water, although it does not directly contact the coffee. I would like to see a stainless steel plunger instead of the plastic one, at least available as an option but without the pressure gauge.The rest of the parts are the plastic funnel (a nice touch) and a plastic hollow tamper. This tamper is not a “real” tamper, but it can do the job. They sell a “real” tamper as an accessory that fits the portafilter size.Speaking of which, here is a general tip I learned that helps one figure out how much force to apply for tamping: press down evenly with increasing progressive force and feel the coffee compress as the tamper moves down. Once you feel the coffee no longer moves, stop. Don’t force it. This will create consistent tamping no matter what the coffee or grind level.The final part is a thick plastic tray for placing your cup. This just sits on the frame, and isn’t really needed. Nice that they include it but I might not bring it with me for travel.The NEO does not include the case that the higher end models include. I was fine without it, as I will create my own that also has room for a grinder and fits where I need it to.I look forward to getting my feet wet and learning to pull good shots with the Flair. Overall, the Neo — with the optional bottomless portafilter — is a good value and seems to offer the same quality as in the higher end models, and since the components are the same, obviously the espresso pulled will be of equivalent quality.UPDATE: After a little while with this Neo I quickly realized I wanted the Pro 2 version. The main reason was because the Neo can’t accommodate the pro’s group head (available separately), which was only apparent to me after purchase. The capacity of the Neo is a bit small, and the shape of the basket combined with the bottomless filter makes it difficult to avoid a bit of a sideways splattering mess. The Neo is wonderful, but the pro has truly blown my mind and was well worth the upgrade. After a little bit of a learning curve, I’m now pulling shots consistently better or at least on par with what I often get at the very best third-wave espresso bars.
davidtriune –
Sexy plastic coffee juicer
Lattes on this will blow your mind. I primarily make lattes. Smoother workflow than expected; preheating is a non-issue with the kettle steaming trick.The super narrow filter gives a ton of body to all my shots compared to my wider portafilter machines, which complements milk EXTREMELY well. But also the flavors are so blended now that all my lattes taste the same. this is both good and bad: I lose the nuances of flavor on one hand, but on another hand it makes both expensive and cheap beans taste good. I can just go for the cheapest beans now in bulk!I suggest:-lengthen the lever and slap a grip on it. i’ve tried the flair 58 with both of these which, along with metal, make it 10 times easier to pull and keep pressure steady. i highly recommend wearing grippy gloves as keeping a constant 9 bars will be challenging for most people. it’s sort of like holding a plank for a minute-workflow is still a lot slower than an electric machine but mainly due to lack of volume per shot-i surmise the perfect middle ground for lattes is 46mm, so widen it just a little. I’ve tried lattes from 51 54 58 and now 40mm basket widths. i think sitting between 51 and 40 would give you the best balance of body + clarity.I admit between the plasticy feel, the terrible grip, tiny shot volume, this still feels like a toy. But wait! all of my suggestions are already in the pro 2. i guess they already had it all figured out. well, minus the price tag since I don’t think a basic lever machine should cost more than a Breville Bambino. i will be getting that to test out once on sale.
Ryan Santos –
An amazing achievement if you know what your doing.
Deduction of one star. Not for the product but for some somewhat misleading marketing materials suggesting that this a quick and easy to use product. It’s not. It absolutely does produce real espresso for a crazy low price but in order to do that the user actually has to understand some principles and techniques and probably pull some practice shots to get the technique down. That’s what I’d want to communicate to potential buyers. If you want a machine that you can use out of the box with little to no effort those exist but this isn’t it. The money you save comes at the cost of some learning investment. But if you are actually interested in espresso as a craft and willing to learn and source the right beans, right grinder and the patience to get the routine down this is an unbeatable bargain.
ulises reyes –
Me encanta el café aunque sà tiene su chiste utilizarla
ELISA MARY SANTOS –
Gostei é muito boa
Luis Lugo –
I like having the manual control to make my coffee and this Flair Neo Flex model does that for me, at what I thought was a reasonable price from Amazon Canada. However, I later found out about the Canadian distributors of Flair products and the price for this item is about CAD 80 cheaper!Too late for me but hereâs the lesson learned: check your local distributors.
Clayder Conrado –
Es una experiencia única, es normal que las primeras veces no hagas buenas extracciones, con ensayo y error aprendes cuán molido debe estar tu café, cuan compactado debe estar el café en el portafiltro y por último cuánta fuerza necesitas ejercer. Se Lee tedioso pero es muy divertido y sobre no te vas arrepentir del gran sabor que tiene un espresso. Influye mucho la calidad del grano, asà que compra un buen café de especialidad.
sideburner –
The Flair Neo serves as a great introduction to espresso.While some may talk about pressurised portafilters as the work of the devil, and not “true espresso”, they serve as a useful start, particularly if buying pre-ground coffee.You may consider upgrading to the bottomless portafilter at a later stage, as I did, via the Flair website (or your preferred supplier, if you wish to avoid any import costs), and this will give you something closer to approval from the purists.Couple of points to bear in mind here, your basket size is 46mm, so isn’t compatible with some of the standard espresso tools you may find.While I’d strongly recommend a burr grinder if you wish to go for buying whole beans, even with the bottomless portafilter, you do not need to go as fine as for a fully automatic espresso machine. Bear this in mind when considering which grinder you wish to purchase, as it may mean you don’t have to pay quite so much.So, what kind of coffee do you get out of it? Is it any good?In short, yes, it is good. I tend to pull shots at a roughly 1:2.5 ratio rather than the standard 1:2 for a regular double espresso (~14g in, ~30-40g out usually around 30 seconds or so).I’ve tried a range of coffees, and had some silky smooth espressos with chocolate notes I’ve found wonderful. I’ve had others that have bombarded my tastebuds with berry fruit notes and a bright acidity like that of a fresh green apple. So there’s plenty of variety there depending on what coffee you like.Workflow is a little complex, you need to preheat and so on, which takes a while to get going, but you can be efficient and grind your coffee while the kettle is boiling. If you enjoy the ritual of making coffee, this is definitely a great product for you. I’d say it’s worth the time and effort, but it’s up to you to decide for yourself.