Looking to buy an Alex Duetto, probably going to buy in the next day or two so as to have it for a thing this weekend. Background: I've thought this one through and after considering a number of machines am going with an Alex Duetto 3.0 espresso machine.

Issue: I want to minimize exposure to lead and other bad metals. Stainless steel seems to be the way to go IF it's good quality. BUT... there's a new plating material the Italians have called T.E.A. that is (according to them) better than Stainless Steel in terms of keeping bad metals out. Here's what the company says about it:

Storage alloy environmentally friendly, which meets the NSF Standard 61 limits

The deposit TEA ® is a very stable intermetallic alloy electrodeposited replacement of the classic nickel-chromium deposit on electronic articles for industrial fittings (for example ball bearings, valves, manifolds) and devices for the food industry (for example for coffee machines) that meets the limits imposed by the current international regulations apply to water intended for human consumption, in particular of the rules:

- NSF 61 Section 8- pH5 Hot Commercial (82 ° C), Industrial termodirosanitaria, which can be considered the stiffest test of the entire legislation.
- NSF 4, UNI 10531 and UNI 11460 for professional coffee machines and other devices "food zones"

The TEA ® process results shiny deposits, with extensive resistance to wear and corrosion warranties (Vickers hardness of 400 - 200 hours of neutral salt spray according to DIN 50021, ASTM B 117, UNI ISO 9227)
Test run on ball valve 2 '' body yellow sphere with TEA deposit (TEST NSF 61 - sez. 8 pH5 Commercial Hot - 82 ° C) Nickel <5 mg / l
Tin <10 g / l
Lead <5 g / l The body was treated with the deleading process RUVECO ®


The TEA ® Storage is a trademark owned by La Tecnogalvano, which replaces the traditional deposit of nickel-chromium in electronic plumbing. TEA ® is electrodeposited an alloy stable at ordinary temperatures, it has a hardness of about 400 DPH and may be subject to recrystallizations only at high temperatures of 500 ° - 700 ° C.

The absence of porosity in this alloy, provides corrosion resistance and permanence of lucidity the long run, to an extent similar to deposits of nickel and chromium of the same thickness, with the enormous advantage of being chemically inert.

Thanks to this procedure it is possible to obtain shiny deposits of TEA ® directly on copper, copper alloys, nickel, silver, at current densities of 0.1 to 4 A / dm˛.
The color of the deposit is constant irrespective of the variation of the concentrations in solution of the products; even if deposited on the TEA ® alloy surfaces satin mechanically or with the base of satin nickel allows to obtain the desired decorative effect.
All the above mentioned characteristics do not affect the corrosion resistance, which is equal to that of a chromium deposit with identical thickness
I'm leaning Stainless Steel but figured I'd put it out to the experts on the Salon for an opinion before pulling the proverbial trigger.