Flair Signature PRO (2) Espresso Maker Review

The drip tray consists of two parts:

• a recessed piece for holding excess liquid
• a perforated piece to rest your cup

Installing it into the base is as simple as stacking one piece on top of the other.

Step 2: Attach the Lever

The lever fits right into the base like two connected puzzle pieces.

All Signature models come with an optional screw that you can use to attach the lever to the base more securely.

The folks at Flair suggest doing this if you plan to keep your Flair as mainstay on the counter. Personally, I’ve never used this optional piece.

Step 3: Preheat the Reservoir

The preheating process for the Flair Signature PRO can be done using one of two different methods:

1) The traditional method

2) The steam method

Note: the method nomenclature is completely made up by me, and not necessarily the same nomenclature others use.

The Traditional Method

The traditional method (as I’m calling it) involves attaching the silicone preheating cap to the bottom of the portafilter, pouring hot water into the portafilter, and then waiting approximately 30 seconds before dumping the water into the sink.

I’ve found that you have to repeat this process 3-4 times to get the water to maintain sufficient temperature for the shot’s extraction.

Obviously, this wastes a good amount of water and is quite time-consuming, so it’s not necessarily the most efficient of the preheating methods at your disposal.

The Steam Method

The steam method is a hack that many Flair Pros (the people, not the model) swear by.

As you’re preheating the cylinder, you should begin to dose your beans (15-17g) and dial-in your grind.

This step actually isn’t much different from what you’d do with any other espresso setup, but there is one slightly tricky part, which is actually adding the ground coffee to your filter basket.

You see, once you get past 15 un-tamped grams of coffee, the filter basket easily starts to overflow. So you’re pretty much forced to use the included funnel when dosing AND tamping.

It seemed weird to me that there was nothing mentioned about the filter basket’s capacity. I actually figured Flair would have over-compensated for this with a larger basket, but this wasn’t the case.

So to summarize: measure out your 15-17g using a gram scale, then grind the coffee directly into your filter basket with the funnel attached.

If there’s clumping, put your palm over the top of the funnel and give the basket a few shakes until the clumps go away. 

Unless I tamped the coffee with the grounds funnel still attached, I’d end up with a complete mess of coffee grounds all over the place.

Step 4: Tamp the coffee

With the funnel still in place, tamp the coffee. Since the tamper fits perfectly within the funnel, you can avoid the mess I described above.

Step 5: Place the screen on top of the filter basket

Add the included screen to the top of the filter basket so it is flush with the top.

Step 6: Attach filter basket to the cylinder and add hot water

Next, attach the filter basket to the cylinder, and place the now fully-assembled brew head on the holder.

Fill the hot water up to the line inside the cylinder.

Step 7: Place piston in cylinder and pull the lever

Now you’re finally ready to brew! Carefully add the piston to the top of the cylinder and pull the lever. Don’t forget to put your demitasse on the drip tray so it can catch that sweet, sweet espresso!

I reviewed the Flair Signature PRO across 8 different rating categories that I feel are most important to the end user. 

Let’s take a closer look at each.

Appearance

Just like the Flair Classic and Flair Signature Plus, the PRO is a work of art. 

I was a big fan of the chrome and copper combo in my Signature Plus, but I think I’m an even bigger fan of the black and copper color scheme in my Signature PRO 2.

Regardless of which version of Flair you own, I think most people would agree it’s a pretty attractive device.

The Flair PRO is an improvement over all previous models in that almost all parts are comprised of stainless steel.

Aside from the piston gauge, your water only makes contact with stainless steel parts. As far as I’m concerned, the Flair PRO is about as good as it gets in this rating category.

I think it would be disingenuous to say that the Flair Signature Pro is easy to use.

It definitely takes practice, even if you’re well-versed in the basics of brewing espresso.

With the attachable stainless steel spout and pressure gauge however, there is a lot more room for error over previous Flair generations.

The pressure gauge makes it painfully obvious how much pressure you need to apply in order to pull your shot of espresso, while the stainless steel spout prevents any potential residual sprays from channeling in the cake.

Still, the preheating ritual coupled with all of the small parts that need to be assembled with each brew make it one of the more difficult ways to make espresso when compared to other options out there.

The Flair PRO is capable of pulling top-quality shots of espresso, but only if you create the right conditions for it to do so.

Without fresh coffee, a quality burr grinder, and good water, the Flair PRO is not going to be able to do anything remarkable.

With that said, if you are able to address these espresso prerequisites, you’re on your way to some fantastic shots of espresso.

The reason I fell that I can’t give it a full 5 stars is because of the pre-heating process. The Flair PRO obviously does not have a built-in PID, so all temperature regulation is up to you.

I often have to go through 3 pre-heats just to get the portafilter to a sufficient temperature. 

If the Flair folks figure out a more practical solution to temperature control and preheating, the Flair PRO will undoubtedly be perfect in this category.

The Flair is relatively easy to clean, considering the whole machine can be disassembled quickly into each of its 13 parts.

Despite having more parts than previous models, it is actually easier to clean than its predecessors.

The portafilter/grounds basket is wide enough that you can easily knock the coffee puck into your compost bin.

With the Signature Plus, this was more of a chore for whatever reason (I often had to use a spoon to remove the used grounds).

There are still a few nooks and crannies, particularly around the plunger and portafilter, that are a bit harder to get into, but overall the Flair PRO is still very easy to clean.

I wouldn’t recommend using soap or a dishwasher with any of the parts though. A warm water hand rinse should do the trick.

If you follow Flair Espresso on Instagram you’ll occasionally see these crazy pictures and videos of customers using their Flairs in outlandish places like mountaintops, canoes, airplanes, and [insert remote and picturesque setting here].

Look, I’m not hating on these people for pulling shots of espresso in remote places, but to me, the Flair simply isn’t that practical for on-the-road brewing.

Yes, it comes with a carrying case, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still heavy AF.

What backpacker in his/her right mind would ever take this thing to the top of a mountain?

And why bring an espresso maker over other true essentials?

Yes, I like coffee, but let’s be real here, it’s definitely not an essential

Could you bring the Flair PRO with you on a trip somewhere? Sure.

Is it the perfect portable espresso maker? Eh, it’s probably one of the better ones, but it certainly isn’t perfect for travel.

To me, portability isn’t a selling proposition for the Flair PRO, or any Flair model for that matter.

But please feel free to disagree with me. You do you.

With the Signature Plus, I was a little bit more critical of the price.

After many of months experience using both the Signature Plus and PRO however, it’s dawned on me that the price is very easy to justify considering the quality of the shots you can pull with a Flair.

The bigger question is whether you should opt for the nearly twice-as-expensive PRO over the Classic or Signature Plus.

In terms of shot quality, the PRO does not pull shots that are noticeably better than the Signature Plus, and I’d expect this to be true when comparing the PRO to the Classic as well.

So for shot quality alone, I probably wouldn’t splurge on the PRO.

However, I think the materials and pressure gauge are good enough reasons to spend the extra money on the PRO. 

After all, without understanding the amount of pressure you’re pulling your shots with, it will be hard to dial-in on the right grind for the best results.

Of course, you could use a bathroom scale to measure pressure with the Flair Classic and Flair Signature Plus…

But who in their right mind would put a bathroom scale on their kitchen countertop just to measure pressure?

Not this guy…

I have a good feeling that my Flair PRO will last me a very long time.

With its replaceable stainless steel parts, lack of pumps and other electronic components, I expect my Flair PRO to last even longer than me.

I’m even more in love with my Flair PRO 2 than my Flair Signature Plus, and I consider myself extremely lucky to have been gifted one to do this review.

The bottom line is that I think the Flair PRO 2 is worth the extra money for someone who does not already own any of the Flair espresso makers.

However, if you already own one of the older generations of Flair, I wouldn’t recommend upgrading to the PRO 2 just yet.

Of course, you could always sell your older generation Flair and apply the proceeds to the upgraded PRO 2, but I frankly think it’s worth waiting for a future model that has more mind-blowing upgrades.

If anything is clear, it’s that Andrew and the Flair team at Intact Idea are true innovators and iterators.

I expect them to continue to improve the Flair as time goes on, so really, there is likely already a better version of the PRO 2 right around the corner.

One improvement I would really like to see in the Flair is the preheating process itself. I’m not exactly sure how it would be done, but temperature stability is still the biggest issue that I think the Flair faces.

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