Profitec GO - Blog Review

The GO is the first ever single boiler to be released by Profitec Germany.

This machine is already proving to be incredibly popular, combining design and technology for the home coffee enthusiast.

As always, with our reviews, this blog will follow our standard process, based on the following criteria:

Introduction
Box opening
Review of contents
Build quality
Set up
Controls
Brewing espresso
Steaming milk
Conclusion

Until now, all Profitecs machines have been either HX (Heat Exchangers) or DB (Dual Boilers), all built around the traditional E61 group head. But given the rising demand for espresso machines that are available at a slightly lower price point, coupled with a compact and softer design aesthetic, Profitec have opted to release the GO to make their machines available to a wider audience.

The Profitec GO is a single boiler espresso machine designed for home / office use. It’s compact, sleek and very functional. It also comes with features that are rarely found in espresso machines under the £1350 price mark, so it’s somewhat of an exception to the rule.

There are other single boilers on the market, such as the Rancilio Silvia and the ECM Classica, but both machines are much more industrial in style and also lack the features that the GO offers.

Out the Box:

The GO is very very well packaged, with zero movement in the box, which is very reassuring. The machine is neatly packaged in a plastic layer, sat in a foam base & cover and also has a foam cover for the steam knob, ensuring that there is no scope for damage in transit.

Review of Contents:

On the top of the box, there is a parts container holding a 58mm double spout portafilter, double and single baskets, a backflushing disk (for cleaning the group head), a cleaning brush, a heavy-weight tamper, a user manual and a piece of tubing to fit to inside the reservoir if you opt to fit a filtration component to the machine.

The machine weight is around 13kg, so it’s not the heaviest machine out there and relatively easy to move out the box. Height wise it is 381mm, so it fits easily under a standard kitchen unit.

Build Quality:

The GO is extremely well built, so the level of a high end Profitec, Rocket or ECM. It’s been very well put together, with excellent attention to detail. We specifically noted the fine lines and quality of the finish across all metal connections and panelling.

The PID is the exact same product Profitec use on all their other more expensive models, so no scrimping on quality there. It is well installed, sitting neatly in the bottom right of the front facing panel under the group head.

The pressure dial sits to the left of the group head, showing the pressure in group whilst brewing your espresso. This should sit at around 9-9.5 bar.

The reservoir cover is made of high quality stainless steel, and sits neatly and firmly on top of the reservoir area. Inside, the reservoir is a 2.8L container, with a valve on its base connecting it to the piping linked to the boiler.

The drip tray is made from the same quality stainless steel, and has a very neat cut out for the ‘P” for Profitec designed into the front right corner, adding a nice touch to a very functional area of the machine.

Set Up:

The machine has very little in need of setting up. All you need to do is fill the reservoir with filtered water (remove the reservoir cover and either pour water directly into the container or remove the container and fill it), put the portafilter in place and hit the power switch to on.

The boiler will then start heating up, this takes around 5 mins to get to 95ºc. The PID is set to 92ºc, which is arguably a little low. For lighter roasts you should be at around the 96ºc mark and for darker roasts around the 94ºc mark, but this will vary from roast to roast.

To adjust the temp in the boiler, press both the '+' and '-' buttons on the PID at once and hold for 3-4 secs, once in temp mode the display will show 'T1', then press '+' once and the brew boiler temp is displayed. You can then use '+' and '-' to adjust as required. Once you reach your desired temperature, it automatically stores it and defaults to the mode ready for brewing.

Brewing Espresso:

Once you have ground your shot of coffee, dosed and tamped as required, insert your portafilter into the brew group. Your temperature set on the PID should be sitting at your required setting, so you are ready to do your first shot.

Place a cup under the group and hit the top button for BREW. Once pressed, your PID doubles as a shot timer and your shot begins. If your tamp and dose is about right, you should see your shot start at around 6-8 secs. To end your shot, simply press the top BREW button again.

TIP: You also have the option to adjust the pump pressure, giving you extra control over the pressure your espresso shots are pulled at (Lower pressure for slower shots and high for faster shots). This tends to range from 7-9 bar, with decent machines being able to achieve the top end of the scale (Which the GO can do easily). You can adjust the pump pressure via the valve on the top of the machine labelled P.

We found the espresso to behave very well for a single boiler. The shot time was on point and the extraction was balanced at a stable temperature.

Steaming Milk:

The PRO is a single boiler, so it has to carry out a little adjustment to get up to pressure for steaming milk. You do this by hitting the STEAM button which one one down from brew. Once done, the PID converts into a reading for the boiler pressure. You need around 1.5-2 bar of pressure to get good pressure for texturing milk.

This takes around 1-1.5 minutes, to move from brew to steam (temp / pressure), which we think is a pretty fast time wise.

Before you start steaming milk, you will need to purge the steam wand of any build up of water, which usually takes around 2-4 secs. Once done, turn it off again and wait till your steam boiler pressure is up to the right number.

The steam pressure is very strong for that of a single boiler, so you should find you can get sufficient pressure within the range the PID provides.

I found the steam pressure to be very effective and I could steam both dairy and oat milk easily in no time at all, and to a high standard.

TIP: Make sure you return the boiler to brew temp / pressure after steaming.

The GO comes with a slick feature, where when you want to move back from steaming milk to brewing coffee, you need to quickly and efficiently drop the temperature and pressure to brew again.

You can do this by ending steaming, and hitting the steam button OFF, then removing the portafilter and pressing the brew button to ON. This activates the boiler to de-pressurise and lower the temp back to your setting for brewing, and it’s very accurate in matching that temperature.

Conclusion:

The Profitec GO is a very impressive little machine for the home, easy to use, stylish and very compact. It can produce surprisingly excellent espresso for a single boiler, the result of having a quality PID to control its brew and pressure temperatures.

Moreover, it has very impressive steam power, considering it only has a single boiler performing two tasks. Plus the steam wand was easy to use and results were great.

So, if you are looking for a quality and stylish espresso machine for your kitchen that delivers on quality and is super easy to use, the GO is the machine for you. It is about as good as you will find out there at the sub £800 mark.