I couldn't resist this post - on a coffee forum, Matadero's ongoing quest to engineer the perfect home made espresso machine has been attracting a lot of attention. Naturally, most of us aren't technologically gifted anough to understand his drawings...
...let alone why you would bother to do this when there are tons of perfectly good tried and tested vending machines out there. But, I have to concede, it's a bit like trying to build Concorde in your back garden - when it flies, it's going to be really satisfying. Carry on the good work, Matadero!
If you're looking at buying a machine for the office to please your workers, then bean-to-cup is perhaps the best way to go.
They'll be grateful for the improvement in quality from Mellow Birds, they'll work faster, and the office will smell of lovely fresh ground coffee every day. For those who don't know, bean to cup technology is basically a step down from the top class dedicated espresso maker, but a step up from the kind of machines you get at motorway service stations, or in large offices.
There are all kinds of pitfalls, as you'd expect with an automated process - details like water hardness, frothing attachments without multiple boilers, and 'rapid steam' should all be investigated before you leap in at the deep end and fork out a few hundred quid - or a thousand or more for a small to medium sized office.
Here follow a selection of machines by different manufacturers - check them out.
The Gaggia Event Platinum
The entry level Gaggia - this maker is synonymous with good coffee - and this machine uses nice clean simple technology - a stainless steel boiler, a bean grinder with an option to add pre-ground manually, and a milk frother. The range goes up from here, prices starting around £500.
The Krups Automatic B-to-C maker
This basic model is suitable for home and small office - the shiny pot you can see attached is the milk container - an automatic frother is incorporated. There are allegedly some glitches with beans sticking around the edge of the hopper, but if it's looks and a named brand you're after, then this model (at £500-odd) won't break the bank. The Jura Impressa Z5
There's a lot of chat about Jura. They're meant to be really nice. They certainly look wonderful - Swiss design and workmanship more or less guarantees good quality. But does all that glitter really deliver a without-par cuppa? There are no reviews around, except in forums, so you'll have to see for yourself - at £1,600, that's quite a gamble. But if you know you like and want the best, you can't do much better. The Franke Saphira
I did say "much". Programmable, fast, and a more or less professionally-made by your favourite barista taste in the coffee - this is the top end machine. But can anyone justify the layout?
Starting at around twice the price of the Jura, this is a machine for the serious coffee-holic with no time but plenty of money.
It has been called: “majestic,” “ingenious,” and “sleek.” Those are only a few of the words that have said, describing this commercial coffee machine - the Clover, an $11,000 device that brews regular coffee one cup at a time.
The machine works using an extremely fine filter on top of a piston that sinks into the machine. Over time, the piston will rise, creating a vacuum that forces water through the grounds. Finally, the coffee flows into a single cup. Now for some more facts:
you have the ability to determine the brew time and temperature (which changed by just a couple degrees or seconds, can make a completely different cup of coffee)
an average cup goes for about $22, and can make it’s way up to $100 (in one coffee shop in London)
it’s made of stainless steel and copper
costs $11,000
usually takes several hours to assemble by hand
80 of these machines will be installed in Starbucks stores, by the end of 2008
CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz says: “In my 25 years at Starbucks, the Clover machine unquestionably delivers the best brewed coffee I have ever tasted”. That pretty much says it all…
