What the PC-16 Is

The La Pavoni Professional PC-16 is a manual lever espresso machine, made in Italy and largely unchanged for decades. A 38 oz solid brass boiler heats the water; you pull the lever to drive it through the grounds in a metal portafilter. It includes a mounted pressure gauge and dual frothing options, and it demands technique in the way modern pump machines do not.

What Touches the Water

Water is heated and held in the brass boiler and travels through the brass group head into a metal portafilter. As far as we can verify, the hot water path is brass and steel throughout. The black handles, knobs, and base trim are plastic, and they stay on the outside of the machine where no water goes. We could not verify every internal seal, and gaskets in the group are standard on any espresso machine.

The Plastic-Free Verdict: Metal Hot Path

The PC-16 keeps hot water in metal from boiler to cup, which is more than most modern espresso machines with plastic tanks and tubing can claim. It is also a machine you buy for the craft: lever espresso has a learning curve and rewards it. Note that brass contains trace lead by nature of the alloy; if that concerns you, a stainless-boiler machine is the alternative, though few exist at this build quality.

Who It’s For

• Espresso enthusiasts who want full manual control
• Buyers avoiding plastic water tanks and internal tubing
• Anyone who values a machine that can be rebuilt part by part for decades

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