The blog for espresso professionals. Our commitment is to everything espresso along with the environment, sustainability and social consciousness.
Check out the latest video. If you recall - on our last road trip we were investment casting the brew actuators and group covers. Well now we complete the polishing of the stainless parts then travel to Evert Sodergren’s studio to pick up the finished actuators which he’s wrapped in Peruvian Walnut and hand shaped for us.
Check it in low-fi if you have a slower internet connection on YouTube here.
Posted under About Us, Equipment, Marketing/Branding, VideoEarly in our machine development we addressed the functional & mechanical aspects of the espresso machine and later we moved onto the aesthetics and ergonomics. It was important to us that the machine enable the barista to expand their coffee making skills and that the coffee they made was excellent, but we also wanted the machine to be a part of the theater of espresso preparation.
Too often machines are simply assembled from Italian ‘off the shelf’ parts and wrapped in a new plastic body…and called NEW. We wanted nothing to do with that and set out designing almost every part from scratch - then found teams of craftsmen and experts in their individual trade to craft these parts for us, thus ensuring a true industrial craft espresso machine.
A ‘craft’ is defined as: An occupation, trade or pursuit requiring manual dexterity or the application of artistic skill. To make or produce with care, skill, or ingenuity.
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One of the challenges of developing a product from scratch is converting improved concepts of function into new physical forms that are robust and practical–and anticipate the brewing needs of the growing boutique coffee segment. Traditional European manufacturers of equipment have a huge stake in equipment fashioned to perform a particular way. Most notably the “Italian Tradition” of espresso brewing.
Posted under About Us, Culture, Marketing/Branding, Pressure Profiling, Professional Techniques
Are you from the Pacific Northwest or do you live here (I mean in the vicinity stretching from Seattle to Portland and surrounding areas. . . this region is sometimes referred to as Cascadia by sociologists, marketers, and even liberal separatists)? If your answer is yes, then this is not for you. This is for everyone else, the people that live in the rest of the world.
Posted under Coffee Retailing, Culture, Environment, Marketing/Branding
Are you opening a cafe or planning to in the near future? if you are, then I may have the perfect location for you: right next door to Starbucks!
Pictured here is a location that is actually available right now. It offers the opportunity to go head-to-head with the industry’s Goliath–and your new store is smack in the heart of Seattle. The Dragon’s lair, if you will!
At first this may seem utterly counter-intuitive. Who in their right mind would open a competing cafe next to the biggest, most successful specialty coffee retailer in the world? A company identified as one of the most powerful brands on the planet by Brandz.
The answer of course is You! And especially if you plan to open a Third Wave Cafe–with a focus on quality products and training, and a hands-on approach to preparing coffee and serving customers.
Posted under CoE Coffee, Coffee Retailing, Culture, Direct Trade, Environment, Marketing/Branding, Social Conscience
News has reached us that Dr Ernesto Illy, the founder of Illy Coffee (as-we-know-it), has died at age 83. I met Dr Illy only once–back in the early 1990’s, when specialty coffee equalled Starbucks, at least in Seattle. At that time, if there was one other company that stood out for its fanatical integrity around coffee, it was Illy. Illy was an enigmatic brand because it’s name represented far more than just a lightly roasted espresso blend from Trieste. It represented a man–Dr Illy.
Dr Illy was a surprising mixture of product promoter and scientist. The famous book he co-authored, Espresso: The Chemistry of Quality, is seldom read but often quoted. This is because ( I assume) it is a highly empirical work, based on extensive laboratory studies, in a realm that far prefers the Art to the Science of espresso. Terms like polyphasic colloidal foam (meaning crema) make his book a conjurer’s guide for anyone who wants to approach coffee from a scientific angle and impress friends and neighbors with a magical coffee lexicon. Yet anyone who takes even a few minutes to learn something from Dr Illy’s work stands out in a field where most people like to talk about “tiger striping” and detect hints of blueberry syrup in their roasted beans.
As much as Dr Illy brought science to the general field of coffee, and especially espresso, he also brought good will to the Illy brand of coffee. I remember one time at Olive Garden in South Center, Dr Illy ordered an espresso after dinner, because Olive Garden was a large client of Illy USA. When the slightly insecure waiter brought the sloppy concoction to the table, Dr Illy tasted it, smiled knowingly, and proclaimed it, “excellent”. I just loved that because it was the right thing for him to say at that moment, for that less-than-perfect coffee, and he knew it. The waiter left the table with new found confidence.
Dr Illy was a wise, good man, with a big streak of fun that ran right to his very core. He will be missed and remembered for as long as espresso is prepared and enjoyed. (Eric)
A tour of Seattle cafes reveals that some prominent wholesale roasters are both coffee suppliers and cafe operators. This is especially true in the emerging Third Wave segment. Notably, Stumptown, Caffe Vita, and Zoka roast coffee as well as operate their own cafes.
The dual role of these companies raises a question: Should someone who plans to open a cafe view the cafe operations of a potential coffee supplier as a competitive threat?
The answer to this question might seem obvious. Afterall, a roaster has a huge advantage in terms of their coffee price. The highest quality green coffee can be had easily for $3-4 per pound even in small quantities. And with the economies of scale that go with roasting commercially, each additional pound of coffee that is roasted diminishes unit costs. Fixed overhead costs remain constant and at higher volumes, green coffee generally gets cheaper the more you buy. Meanwhile buying higher quality pre-roasted coffee can cost $10-14 per pound. This seems like a wide spread. However, there is more to this than meets the eye.
Posted under Cafe Reviews, Coffee Retailing, Equipment, Marketing/Branding, Professional Techniques
Within the walls and halls of specific cafes around Seattle, around the country, and even Canada, something verging on a Revolution in mind and action is occurring. This revolution is based on paying attention to the finer details of coffee preparation, but it also includes pouring time, energy and resources into developing awareness and formulating action around social and cultural issues–issues that we might ordinarily think go beyond the role of the traditional coffee house. Developments in this direction are happening with remarkable intensity, and cafes focused on this are beginning to show up everywhere, while some old favorites are transcending their previous practices to emerge anew. Its not just those of us who love great coffee who stand to benefit either. It is the whole world. The coffee individualists who carry the banner for this new movement are usually well-informed. In addition to cafe operators, their number includes baristas, equipment developers, and commentators. The most active of these are totally engaged. They are pushing the boundaries at all levels, including the standard ones around coffee preparation, equipment and new culinary experiences around coffee. But there is even more to it than this. Read the rest of this entry »
I am sure by now most of us have heard of the Panama Esmeralda that Caffe Artigiano was selling for $15 per cup. This post isn’t discussing the taste of the coffee, but rather the marketing of this coffee and what I noticed at Artigiano.
I have been to the Hornby location many times to study Artigiano and what goes on there. On occasion I would order a CoE coffee on the Clover and would choose my coffee off a faxed menu that came from…?…somewhere. The coffee was fine - but to be honest, I have never noticed another person other than myself order a CoE while I happened to be at the cafe. Also, if you’ve never been to this location - the Clover is hidden behind a wooden box with a mirror in front of it (?). So, great coffee, reading a description off a faxed menu, made on a Clover, hidden behind a box = 1 cup of CoE sold during the 15 - 20 minutes I’m in the cafe.
Next - I was in Vancouver in August and decided to drop by the Hornby location again to try out the Panama Esmeralda. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted under CoE Coffee, Marketing/Branding