My Long-term review: Flair 58 +2

The Flair 58 is the machine that redefined what manual espresso could be. When I first reviewed it back in 2022, I called it excellent, but not quite the ultimate machine it set out to be. That was after a few weeks of testing.

Four-plus years and three iterations later, I see things differently. Not because I was wrong back then, but because some things only reveal themselves after hundreds and hundreds of shots. You start to notice patterns. You get pickier. And if you’re the kind of person who plugs thermocouples into Artisan software to measure temperature gradients in a brew chamber (guilty), you start forming opinions that a quick review simply can’t capture.

This is that kind of review.

I’ve owned the original Flair 58, upgraded to the Flair 58 +, and most recently installed the +2 base with its integrated temperature controller. Along the way, my relationship with this machine has gone through multiple honeymoon phases (and multiple reality checks).

Has Flair finally built the ultimate manual espresso maker? Or is the F58 still frustratingly close to outstanding?

The Arc of a Love Affair

Let me be upfront about how my feelings have evolved, because I think it mirrors what a lot of long-term Flair 58 owners experience.

It started with genuine fascination. The Flair 58 was unlike anything else Flair had made; a complete redesign with a proper 58mm portafilter, a real lever, and electric preheating. The first shots were exciting. The workflow felt professional. I was smitten.

Then the honeymoon started to wear off. Little annoyances crept in. The enormous power brick. The fiddly electronics sitting on the counter. The extra step of managing leftover water after every shot.

When Flair released the 58+, it reignited the love affair. Cleaner wiring, some refinements. And then the +2 arrived (or in my case, the +2 upgrade base) and the passion flared up again. (Pun intended.)

But honeymoon number two has also settled into something more nuanced. After this long with the platform, I see both the brilliance and the blind spots more clearly than ever.

What’s Actually New on the + 2

First, a quick note on the lineup: when the Flair 58 + was introduced, there was both a standard model and a “Plus” model. Flair has since collapsed the category, and the Plus 2 is now the only Flair 58 you can buy. With that in mind, the 58 +2 is an incremental update, not a redesign. The brewing mechanics are identical to the original. What changed is everything around the brewing.

The integrated preheat controller

This is the headline feature. On the original, the temperature controller was a small plastic unit attached to the wire running from the group head. That wire then connected to another cable plugged into the external power supply, a chunky brick reminiscent of an old Windows XP laptop charger. It all worked, but the mess of wires and plastic dangling off the machine wasn’t pretty.

On the Plus 2, the controller is embedded directly into the base and the power supply has shrunk to something the size of a MacBook Air charger that plugs straight into the wall. The difference is night and day.

Streamlined wiring and refinements

The wiring has been streamlined with rear exit points, leaving less spaghetti on the counter. The plunger valve now has a hook system that stays in place, so you don’t have to reconnect it every time. This sounds minor on paper, but you really feel it in daily use

(Sidenote: This is not new to the +2 – I think even the standard model got this upgrade in 2023 or 2024).

There’s also an articulating shot mirror with a magnetic mount that lets you watch your bottomless extraction hands-free. Super sleek touch!

And the darker wood accents on the portafilter handle, T-grip, and palm tamper give it a more luxurious feel compared to the lighter wood of the original. Matte black frame and dark wood… so nice.

The price has also gone up significantly, from around $480 for the original. Check the official site for the latest price.

What hasn’t changed

The three preheat settings, the 58mm portafilter system, the lever, the brew chamber capacity (90ml in, up to 55ml out), the off-grid capability, and the fundamental thermal design remain unchanged.

The magnetic mirror that was introduced there with the first Plus-model is still there, and still appreciated.

The Preheating Problem (Yes, Problem)

Here’s where this review diverges from my original take. Back in 2022, I was genuinely impressed by the preheating system. It really does get the brew head super hot, and compared to manually preheating a Flair Pro 2, it felt like a huge step forward.

But after doing more rigorous testing, I’ve become a bit more skeptical about how well it actually serves your daily shot.

James Hoffmann already pointed out the existence of a temperature gradient in his original Flair 58 review from 2022, noting that the first water to hit the puck is colder than the last. He was right about the gradient, but my concern actually goes further: it’s that the initial brew water may not be hot enough in the first place.

To test this, I plugged two thermocouples into Artisan and measured the water temperature at the top and bottom of the brew chamber simultaneously.

(A small caveat: it’s difficult to hold both thermocouples precisely at the exact same spot for longer periods of time, so there is some margin of uncertainty. But the overall patterns were clear and consistent across multiple tests.)

It’s pretty clear that there’s a dramatic difference between top and bottom. And due to how the brew chamber is designed not all water is going to participate in the brewing process. So if you just walk up to the machine, pour in water and proceed to brew, brew, you will probably be brewing at a temperature that is a lot lower than the advertised temperature setting on the device.

But of course it’s not just that simple, because there are actually several different ways you could be using the machine. Here are a few scenarios:

Scenario 1: Preheat with the lever down, then add water

This is how many people probably use it. The machine beeps to signal it’s ready, you pour in your hot water, and you brew. But the water at the bottom of the chamber will only be around 87-88°C. That’s quite low, especially if you’re brewing medium or light roasts.

Scenario 2: Preheat with the lever raised, then add water

This is better. The raised lever allows more even heat distribution throughout the brew chamber during preheating. Readings at the bottom come in a few degrees higher, around 89-90°C. An improvement, but still not ideal for lighter coffees.

Scenario 3: Preheat with the lever raised, add water, then wait 3-5 minutes

This is where things get interesting. After letting the water sit in the preheated chamber for several minutes, the readings become much more consistent throughout, somewhere between 92 and 96-97°C depending on exactly where you measure. This range is much more suitable for light roasts.

But now you’ve added a multi-minute waiting step to a machine whose whole selling point is convenient preheating.

The underlying physics are straightforward: hot water rises, so you’ll always get some thermal stratification. But it’s also a design issue. The heating element is positioned closer to the top of the brew chamber, which makes the gradient worse than it needs to be.

How the Robot handles it differently

For comparison, I also logged temperature data on the Cafelat Robot. The approach there is dead simple: the basket sits at room temperature, you pour in boiling water, lock in the portafilter, and brew as fast as possible. No preheating, no electronics, no waiting.

What the data shows is a gradual, predictable decline. The water starts at around 93-94°C and slowly drops to about 91°C over the course of 20-30 seconds. That’s it. If you can consistently get from pouring water to pulling your shot in roughly 20 seconds, you’ll get consistent temperatures every time.

The Flair 58, by contrast, asks you to manage a more complex thermal situation. If you take the Scenario 3 approach (which gives the best temperatures), you’re essentially temperature surfing.

Do you wait:

• 2 minutes?
• 3?
• 5?

Each extra minute changes the reading, and hitting the same window consistently takes practice.

Anyone who has used an old school machine like the Gaggia Classic Pro knows this kind of guessing game, and it’s a bit ironic that a machine designed to eliminate thermal management has reintroduced it in a different form.

3 settings?

The three temperature settings are still there, but frankly, I only ever use the highest one. Depending on your preheat routine, even that can give you a rather low temperature, more suitable for dark roasts.

In my opinion, Flair should ditch the lower options and simplify.

If they redesigned the heating element position (moving it lower or distributing it more evenly) they could genuinely solve the gradient problem. As it stands, the preheating is good but not the set-and-forget solution it appears to be.

The heated brew chamber is still nice, though, because compared to other manual espresso makers I feel a lot more comfortable doing extended pre-infusion. I know that if I grind too fine and do a 3-bar pre-infusion for 30 seconds (similar to a Slayer shot) then my brewing temperature is not going to collapse. It will on other devices.

The 58mm Question

In my original review, I noted that the Flair 58 produces espresso with a lot of clarity, almost too much at times. Four years later, I stand by that assessment, and the wider coffee community has caught up to this observation.

There’s been much more discussion since then about how larger baskets tend to produce sharper, cleaner shots that can sometimes border on astringency. It’s less about the diameter itself and more about puck depth. With a 58mm basket at lower doses (14-16 grams), you get a thinner puck, and that translates to more of that cutting clarity compared to a 20-21 gram dose where you have more depth to work with.

Various solutions have emerged (step-down baskets, convex baskets) and the beauty of the 58mm platform is that you can try all of them.

That kind of flexibility simply doesn’t exist with most manual machines.

But if I’m being honest about what I’d want from the next Flair? I’d rather see a Flair 51 or Flair 54.

A smaller basket diameter would address the clarity issue by allowing more puck depth at standard doses.

But it would also solve another persistent problem: frame flex. Anytime you go above four to six bars of pressure, the body flexes slightly, and the portafilter tilts forward. The extraction stream runs off-center, which looks very uncool from a bottomless portafilter.

A narrower basket would diminish this tilt effect. It could also allow for a shorter lever and a smaller brew chamber overall. There could be a lot of advantages to a different form factor.

Of course, you’d lose the 58mm accessory compatibility, but even at 54 and 51 millimeters you still have plenty of choices.

Living With It: Workflow and Durability

The daily workflow has held up well over the years. One of the smartest improvements Flair made early on was replacing the original built-in dispersion screen with the valve plunger design. Now you just place a puck screen on top of the puck, a much cleaner approach.

It’s worth noting that puck screens are everywhere in espresso today, but Flair 58 was really the product that introduced them to the masses. The + 2 refinements (tidier power supply, integrated controller, smoother plunger mechanism) make the overall experience more polished. There’s less stuff on the counter, fewer cables to manage, and the machine just looks more like a finished product.

Build quality has held up well. The wood accents still look great after years. I did have some O-ring tightness on the plunger valve of my original unit, but the newer plunger design is noticeably smoother and nicer in daily use.

I also have to give credit to Flare for making the 58 compatible with different upgrades. It was cool that I could upgrade my original Plus model with the new base with the built-in heater very easily.

The Cons

After years of daily use, these are the things that still bug me:

• Excess water management. After pulling a shot, you have to press out the leftover water from the brew chamber. With the Cafelat Robot, you just remove the basket and let it drain; much tidier.
• The temperature gradient. As covered in detail above, the preheating system doesn’t deliver even temperatures throughout the brew chamber. For light to medium roasts, you need workaround strategies that add steps to the workflow.
• Frame flex. Above four to six bars of pressure, the body flexes and the portafilter tilts forward, sending the extraction stream off-center. It’s cosmetic but it looks bad through a bottomless portafilter.
• Counter clearance. The lever is tall when raised. You need roughly 65cm / 25 inches of clearance under your cabinets, which rules out a lot of kitchen setups.

The Competition: Still the King?

The Cafelat Robot remains the Flair 58’s most direct competitor, and I own both.

Where I’ve landed after years with each is here: neither is the clear winner, but the Robot feels like it’s reached its final form. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with it. Yes, the arms/hands can feel sharp in your palm and one should probably reposition the pressure gauge for better readability.

The Flair 58, by contrast, still feels like a work in progress. The temperature management could be better. The frame flex issue persists. The 58mm diameter, for all its accessory advantages, might not be the ideal choice for flavor. These aren’t deal-breakers; they’re the kind of things a thoughtful redesign could nail.

Both machines work with the Bookoo Bluetooth pressure gauge, which connects to a scale and gives you those satisfying pressure-over-time graphs.

But the heated group head does allow for different shot styles that the Robot cannot (or should not) attempt; blooming shots, Slayer style etc. So while Robot is also popular among espresso geeks, the data driven, experimental, uber-geeks will probably still prefer the Flair 58.

I should also mention the Leverpresso, which travels much better than both the Flair 58 and the Robot. If I only needed one or two shots a day and portability mattered, it would be a strong contender. But it’s not quite up in that Premier League of levers even though it’s very close, in my opinion. Workflow holds it back slightly.

Who Should Buy This

The Flair 58+2 is for the espresso geek who doesn’t just want direct lever control but also wants access to the full universe of 58mm accessories. Different baskets, different screens, different distribution tools. This is the platform that lets you experiment with all of it.

That’s actually the key distinction from the Robot. With the Robot, you get its oddly designed basket and that pretty much dictates what’s possible, dramatically simplifying your options. Or should I say, your temptations.

In a way, that’s healthy; it forces you to focus on the coffee and the brewing rather than the endless espresso upgrade game. The Flair 58 goes in the opposite direction: it’s a playground for tinkerers.

For existing Flair 58 owners, the accumulated improvements from the original to the +2 are substantial. The compact cord system, the smaller power supply, the integrated plunger hook; it’s a more holistic, more refined machine today. If you still love your Flair 58 after years of use, the Plus 2 is worth the upgrade.

But I’ll also be honest: many hardcore manual espresso geeks who’ve been pulling lever shots for this long will eventually wonder about upgrading to an electric machine. Many machines gives you precise digital temperature control, pressure profiling you can save and repeat, no purging, no preheating rituals. You just set a temperature and brew confidently. That’s the natural next step for a lot of people in this hobby.

Pro tip! If you’re just getting started espresso, check out my guide to the full espresso machines category to understand your options.

What I’d Like to See Next

If Flair asked me what to build next, here’s what I’d say: A Flair 51 or 54 with a narrower basket for better puck depth. Redesign the heating element position so the brew chamber heats evenly from bottom to top, eliminating the temperature gradient. Add support so no frame flex is possible.

Make the excess water drainage more elegant; take a cue from the Robot’s basket-removal approach.

And consider whether three temperature settings are necessary when most users immediately dial to the hottest one. The dream machine? A Flair crossed with a Robot. A deep basket, proper preheating that actually eliminates thermal management, and accessory compatibility. Why not?

The Verdict

The Flair 58+2 is the best version of a platform that’s still the most capable manual espresso maker you can buy.

The +2 refinements fix the original’s most visible flaws (the ugly power brick, the messy electronics) and make the whole package look and feel more like a finished product.

But four years of frequent use have also revealed things a quick review can’t. The temperature gradient in the brew chamber means the preheating system, while convenient, doesn’t fully deliver on its promise of thermal management. Not for medium or light roasts.

And there are small workflow frictions (the water purging, the frame flex) that a future redesign could genuinely solve. Is it still frustratingly close to outstanding, like Hoffmann’s original verdict indicated?

Honestly, yes. But the “frustrating” part has shifted. It’s no longer about ugly electronics and a terrible power brick. It’s about thermal engineering and form factor choices; harder problems, but ones I believe Flair is capable of solving.

For the super geek who wants direct lever control and access to every 58mm accessory under the sun, the Flair 58+2 remains the machine to beat.

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