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April 2005 Newsletter
Office coffee: the words still send a shiver down
my spine. A
plastic cup of lukewarm grey dreck with particles of
allegedly
non-dairy (hopefully non-fatal) creamer floating in
the scum on
the surface. Produced from the archetypal Café Bar,
actual
relationship to COFFEE yet to be
determined.
That was over 20 years ago, but is still true in
some offices.
Many others have moved on, if only in the
boardroom, to at least
filter coffee and sometimes even
espresso. In the last 3 or 4
years, espresso coffee in the
general workplace has become a lot
more common. As a part of
this, I'm getting a lot of enquiries
about machines suitable for
office use.
My recommendation is to always go for a superauto
machine unless
there is a posse of aspiring baristas working
there. "Proper"
espresso machines require knowledge and
technique to make good
coffee, and few offices have people with
the necessary
experience. The recommendations below are based on
my experiences in the local market with many users of superauto
machines.
Two prominent manufacturers are missing from the
list;
Saeco/Gaggia and Jura. Saeco is excluded due to their
appalling
service backup (at least in Victoria.) Jura misses out
because in
my experience their machines run too cool, below the
temperature
required for good espresso. I don't know why this is
so, or
whether it can be corrected by changing settings, but I
have seen
it too often to ignore it.
Small Office (up to 10
people).
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Solis Palazzo |
I like
the Solis Pallazo machines sold by Diamond C services, www.diamond-c.com.au .
Internally they are Saecos but build quality and service backup is
top knotch.
Medium Office (10 -50
people.)
2 candidates here: from Crown Coffee, www.crowncoffee.com.au, the
Quickmill Super Cappuccino 5500 and from Lygon Imports www.lygonimport.com.au
the San Remo Automat. Both have internal all metal brew groups and a
variety of adjustment parameters to allow excellent
brewing.
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Quickmill 5500 |
San Remo Automat |
Large
Office (50 people & up.)
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Schaerer Model
C | Here there is a wide choice of machines, including
high end Saecos, Schaerer, Azkoyen, Acorto and many others, all
representing a major investment and requiring top service backup.
My advice here is to first investigate the service and supply,
then choose the machine. With all of the above, it's also important
to remember that without the best coffee beans (my job!) the end
product will still be dreck.
One of the reasons I emphasise the service side of
superautomatic espresso machines is that setup and maintenance by
someone who knows what they are doing is critical, especially with
the professional level machines. Any change in the brewing
parameters, even something as simple as a change of beans, can lead
to less than optimum brewing performance.
There is a "Dual Special" this month, because I
managed to get a
deal on a dozen Chinese made solid stainless
steel 58mm tampers.
These are available for $22.00 each inc.
GST. They're not in the
same league as the ones Greg www.coffeetamper.com.au
makes, but they are good value at this price.
The special coffee is one I've been after for a
couple of years,
as a special treat for those who love
"chocolatey" coffees.
Uganda Bugisu AA
$36.00/kg
A full bodied, low acid coffee with complex
dark chocolate
flavour and distinct cocoa aftertaste. The
addition of milk and
sugar produces the definite impression of
milk chocolate.
Finally, a quick warning: due to increases in
world metal and
energy prices, espresso equipment prices will be
going up in the
near future. I've been quoted 5% increases
effective next month,
but if commodity prices continue to rise
this may be just the
beginning.
Alan
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