Very Exciting Things are afoot at the plan cafe!
In short, It’s no secret anymore that the cafe is considering acquiring a new 2/3 group espresso machine, and that I’m therefore now researching candidates!
Our (very) old existing 2 group semiauto machine is loved and loathed, nurtured and chastised, inspiring and disappointing. It’s faulty, unstable, unfiltered and unfixable. But even though it’s all over the place, I still can’t help defending it – it’s capable of making very nice espresso, with care (and frequently does so!). But I don’t believe that it can make truly great espresso (a term I don’t use lightly), nor can it even be trusted to make consistently good espresso – and it’s on its last legs. Hence, the plan has decided to put the old dear out to pasture, and the quest is on to find a suitable and worthy replacement. The trick is to find something that can (potentially) guarantee the transition between inconsistently good …and consistently great!
Getting something just because it’s shiny and new with flashing lights, would make the endeavor as pointless as it would be costly, in many ways.
I think the key priorities are:
VERY temperature stable
Easily adjustable, accurate and displayed temperature settings (either for all, or individual groups)
Reliable, consistent, and well built.
Reasonable availability of good service, repair and parts in our area (Cardiff UK)
Cost
Temperature surfing our old HX machine for each coffee is interesting and often successful, but it’s tricky, time consuming and very inaccurate. Having accurate temperature settings might take some of the ‘romance’ out of guessing the heat of the water, but I think it’s much more important to get the best from each coffee as often as possible, and to avoid heat-related extraction disasters. Besides, I think even the most modern, stable machines will need some degree of surfing – but it will be more a case of fine tuning, rather than thrashing about wildly and hoping for the best.
So far, I’ve compiled the following wish-list (in particular no order) of what currently seem to be the very best, most revered and respected commercial espresso machines around that feature adjustable temperature, all of which might be capable of taking things to the next level, and which may or may not meet all the criteria on the above list:
Synesso Cyncra
La Marzocco FB/80
La Marzocco GB/5
Dalla Corte Evolution
Kees Van Der Westen Mirage/Minstral
Nuova Simonelli Aurelia (WBC temp upgraded version)
La Spaziale S5
San Remo Verona TCS
La Marzocco Linea (upgraded with PID?)
La Cimbali M39 Dosatron Thermo Drive
La Spaziale S40
Faema Emblema
Slayer
…And I’m trying to gather as much information, opinion, pricing, comparitive advice, and additions to the list as I can.
Many of the contenders above will definitely be over budget, but it’s important (and fun) to consider them anyway! Others are within it, and some might be within the threshold as semiautomatic models.
A superior semiautomatic machine could certainly be a worthwhile investment over and above an lesser automatic. Semiautomatics demand good practice, attentiveness and skill from the barista – important things to instill in staff if you’re aspiring to produce the best. But they also require a constant monitoring of skills and standards, and an understanding of the techiniques required to prepare espresso properly; so as a long term investment for a cafe, an automatic could perhaps best guarantee consistency. But hey, there are superautos and beantocups for that! It all depends…
Any thoughts, suggestions or preferences anyone?
UPDATE:
Ouch!!!!!!!! There’s THIS on the way..!