Small Start up - Automatic Espresso Machine - Recommendations

[CarmelaCoffee]

Hey all,

I wanted to get some recommendations on automatic espresso machines that I could use for my small coffee shop. Anything that has been successful in the past for small biz owners would be very helpful. I am open to leasing or purchasing.

Thanks,
-J

 

[CarmelaCoffee]

Hey all,

I wanted to get some recommendations on automatic espresso machines that I could use for my small coffee shop. Anything that has been successful in the past for small biz owners would be very helpful. I am open to leasing or purchasing.

Thanks,
-J

I'm assuming that this question gets asked a lot but could really use some advice.

-Thanks

 

[ljsedivy]

Probably the best you can afford. I'm starting a tiny coffee shop in a tiny little town. But I do get people coming in for my 20-year portrait studio and almost 2-year old women's apparel & gift shop. I did the craigslist thing because I'm nickel-and-diming this thing together.

Sorry, I'm probably not much help.

 

[topher]

Why automatic? A former boss put 3 super autos in 3 of our stores. They cost about $13000. I told everyone that I was washing my hands of it. He is gone and we are yanking those machines and installing manual machines in all 23 locations. I understand what he was thinking...he wanted something that was idiot proof..in my opinion the problem is they do not produce as good of quality as a manual machine. Hope this helps.

 

[expat]

Topher, that's 13k each! Right?

 

[Redswing]

I suggest you find a couple local roasters and ask them what they suggest.

 

[CarmelaCoffee]

I suggest you find a couple local roasters and ask them what they suggest.

Thanks all. Much appreciated.

 

[topher]

Yes...13k each. We are looking at a few other options at the moment.

 

[CCafe]

I have a short list of super's I would recommend. PM if you want more info.

By the way $13K is on the cheaper side. Some machines run as high as $35K. I just done playing with an Eversys that runs in the mid 20's, I have to say that is one cool toy. It really is a technicians play toy with all the options that are available to you.

 

[Musicphan]

Several years ago I was managing a coffee shop within a mega church... all of the staff was volunteers so it was uber tough to get consistency. We ended up going with a 2 head Linea and Swift grinder... it really worked great. For the espresso extraction we simply taught them how much espresso should come out within 25 seconds. We simply used a timer and volumetric shot glass ... steaming milk was a bit more time. Overall I could get a volunteer to produce decent drinks within a few days.

 

[namballe]

i would recommend a Nuova Simonelli Aurelia 2 group. (jmo)

 

[Zorthog]

Things to consider when buying an espresso machine are number of drinks per day (with an estimation of number per hour also), how many baristas will be working simultaneously, counter space... That can help determine the boiler capacity and such. You don't want to wait for the boiler to heat up with a line of folks. From what I’ve read here and there is if you buy used, you should ask the seller how long the machine sat and where it was stored (A/C or non A/C garage or storage shed…). The reason is if the boiler had water in it and the thing sat for a bit then you will have to clean the nasty water left in the tank and the lines that probably has a new type of lifeform growing in it.

 

[CCafe]

The reason is if the boiler had water in it and the thing sat for a bit then you will have to clean the nasty water left in the tank and the lines that probably has a new type of lifeform growing in it.

You need to do this regardless. If you live in an area with more than 3 grains of water hardness (roughly a good chunk of world) then you'll want to have that boiler cleaned before you go and run with it in your store. Otherwise you're taking someone's cave like boiler and using for your own, YUM!

As for lifeforms growing in your machine with water that is sitting doesn't happen all that often. I have never cracked open a boiler and found a new ecosystem just waiting to be discovered and I've been doing this for almost 14 years. However I can't say that for people who install water filtration behind coffee brewers and espresso machines.

The worst I've ever seen was a drop in cartridge behind a Bunn U3. Had to shove a 1/4" copper tube down the side of the cartridge to break the suction created by the gelatinous blob not wanting to leave the housing. It literally was one giant Jello cartridge. That's what you get when you put a filter behind a water bath brewer and you constantly are heating your cartridge well above 100F.

 

[Coffeefix]

For a small coffee shop I would not recommend a fully automatic (B2C) machine, in fact I don't think I'd recommend one to anyone!
IMO (almost 30 years working on all types of machine in the UK) you get a lot more for your money with traditional espresso machines.
Fully automatic machines are often challenging to set up (protected by keys, engineer pass codes, multi level menus), usually have built in grinders that have to cope with the warm conditions, use complicated mechanisms to move the ground coffee around inside the machine (your arm is pretty good in this respect), need more cleaning/servicing and they are slow when compared to someone with a decent traditional machine. Some are better than others at simply making coffee but I've not come across one that constantly produces great shots of coffee... Don't even get me started on the milk frothing attachments that claim to foam milk effectively!
Loads of info on the web, do your homework then go and talk to some local suppliers who can offer training and support for a machine - then ask plenty of questions.

 

[CoffeeOholic]

Why don't you do a local suvey around some of the compititons cafe's and see what they are using. Its easy to just ask about their machine while you wait for them to make you a coffee, then you can get a feel for problems, and any good ideas that they all do and use them wihin your own business.