chahcat Senior Member Joined: 13 Jun 2012 Posts: 4 Location: England Expertise: Pro Barista
Posted Wed Jun 13, 2012, 5:56am Subject: Looking for a coffee machine for our cafe - help?
Hello, we are looking for a new espresso machine. We only run a small stand in a shopping centre so it can't be anything too large.
We are looking for something with a built-in grinder, a steaming wand, but without a milk tank. We would also like something that is easily cleaned, hopefully with just a tablet cleaning cycle.
Thank you for your time, I look forward to any recommendations. I've trolled about the internet for myself for a few hours but it's difficult to easily find something appropriate without having to rifle through about 50 inappropriate machines first!
Posted Wed Jun 13, 2012, 6:02am Subject: Re: Looking for a coffee machine for our cafe - help?
Just to give you a heads-up: you won't find many people here that are going to suggest an espresso machine like you described. I've never known a machine with a built-in grinder that was very good, but I'm not very experienced with a wide variety of machines, so maybe someone else does.
chahcat Senior Member Joined: 13 Jun 2012 Posts: 4 Location: England Expertise: Pro Barista
Posted Wed Jun 13, 2012, 6:05am Subject: Re: Looking for a coffee machine for our cafe - help?
Yes, I'm aware from reading articles on here that a lot of people aren't fans of built-in grinders. However, as I said we are only a small stand so it is really a space issue, more than anything else.
ryecarr01 Senior Member Joined: 2 Nov 2011 Posts: 44 Location: north east Expertise: Just starting
Posted Wed Jun 13, 2012, 6:26am Subject: Re: Looking for a coffee machine for our cafe - help?
hello, where abouts in England are you? and do you have a budget?
there are alot of good 'automatic bean to cup' machines available, but can be extremelly expensive. You can quite easily expect to pay £2K+ for a decent refurbished Cafina or Black&White machine. Also it is worth bearing in mind that as soon as you start going commercial, your going to be looking at bigger machines.
if you are wanting quick no fuss compactabilty then yeah bean to cup is probbaly best for you. but in the same instance a 1 group (possibly 2 group compact ie Gaggia TD) with grinder setup probably wont differ too much in terms of space, and will have alot better results and overall 'coffee experience' with your customers. also i would take into consideration that 'bean to cups' can be a nightmare if they go down and in terms of servicing.
Expobar do a nice compact traditional with a grinder combined into the machine, I have never worked on one of these so cant really offer a reccomendation but they are UK based which is something also to consider a quick example of this machine ...
if you are determined to go down the bean to cup route i would probably reccomend finding a local independant dealer/engineer to yourself and talking through your requirments with them.
all the best in your search, take your time and do your research :)
ryecarr01 Senior Member Joined: 2 Nov 2011 Posts: 44 Location: north east Expertise: Just starting
Posted Wed Jun 13, 2012, 6:38am Subject: Re: Looking for a coffee machine for our cafe - help?
i guess it really depends on what you are trying to achieve, you are in a shopping centre so are going to be getting alot of passing trade who are not 'coffee purists'. a commercial bean to cup probably makes sense in this instance.
if you are wanting to produce alot of recurring trade and be known for quality rather than convienience, then traditional is probably the way to go.
chahcat Senior Member Joined: 13 Jun 2012 Posts: 4 Location: England Expertise: Pro Barista
Posted Wed Jun 13, 2012, 7:20am Subject: Re: Looking for a coffee machine for our cafe - help?
Saying that, we use a built-in grinder at the moment, and have repeatedly been described as "the best coffee in town"... our reputation is already good, so I'm happy to stick with the built-in grinder. The problem is that I've looked at machines like the Franke Evolution and I don't want a built-in milk system as we'd rather manually steam the milk than have a machine do it for us, and we don't want the build-up from the milk storage system that I've read so many complaints about.
Posted Thu Jun 14, 2012, 8:31am Subject: Re: Looking for a coffee machine for our cafe - help?
Sounds like you don't need our advice, then. Check out some machines with a built in grinder, look at the specs, read the reviews, and decide which one best fulfills your needs. The problem is that you posted on a forum bulging with members who NEVER say "good enough" is good enough. But it sounds like you know already what is good enough for you, so go for it!
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