KIN NAM cafe'

KIN NAM cafe'

Sunday, January 15, 2012

HOW TO CHOOSE AND BUY AN ESPRESSO COFFEE MACHINE part 2

HOW TO CHOOSE AND BUY AN ESPRESSO COFFEE MACHINE part 2
By russel

Hii…. Again
Today I will share about the step we should do before we choose and the end buy an espresso coffee machine. I believe after you read my article (before this) about how to choose and buy an espresso coffee machine in part 1, we already have the basic knowledge about espresso coffee machine. This is very important because this is the basic from us to choose and buy the espresso coffee machine. What I will share in this article will have connected with part 1. So let’s start.


Start from the first step and the most important thing – planning
Before we want to choose or buy we need to planning first few of this issue such :

·         Our purpose buy an espresso coffee machine.
For home use or office use or professional use (open coffee shop or cafĂ© or restaurant). For office basically we can use for home use espresso coffee machine. From my experience for office use, fully automatic system is right choice because fully automatic is easy to use (see my article “How to choose and buy an espresso coffee machine part 1”). Like we already know, office meaning public space and public space meaning everybody or staff in the office can use it. The problem, not everybody understand how to make coffee use an espresso coffee machine. So with fully automatic it will make everybody become easier to make a cup of coffee.

·         How many cup average we will make per day or per hour.
This is very important think especially for professional use, because if we buy a machine that can produce coffee more (triple times or more) than we need, it will make us become high cost. Like we already know more capacity produce of coffee meaning more bigger machine, more bigger machine meaning more expensive. And too big machine is not always right, sometime will make bad quality coffee. My suggestion, buy follow what you need or predict. For home use basically this is not an issue, because at home usually we not make so many cup of coffee and all espresso coffee machine for home use can handle it.
·         For professional use espresso coffee machine, what kind water supply we want to use.
They have 2 type of water supply in espresso coffee machine, one is direct from water tab and other type is pouring water system. For home use mostly we use pouring water system and for office is depend how much staff consume the coffee, if a lot we can use direct tab but if little pouring water system is the right choice. From my experience mostly in office they use pouring water type.

·         What kind system we want to use.
This about how we operate the machine, is that manual or semi automatic or fully automatic espresso coffee machine? For more detail about the system see at “How to choose and buy an espresso coffee machine part 1”.  My suggestion, understand first what you need, think more about positive and negative each type of the machine.

·         How much budget we want to spend.
This is very important thing, especially if we will use the machine for professional use, because it will become a part of your total budget to build the business. From my experience, they have so many people over budget in espresso coffee machine (mostly come from lack of knowledge about espresso coffee machine and because of that, they buy the machine follow other people or wrong information or just believe the sales person). My suggestion when buy the machine try to stick with your budget planning and keep asking or checking which product is the best and fit with your needs.


Second step – explore or checking
We can explore or checking from internet first before we really go to the shop for safe your time. What we need to remember, always ask a lot of question to the sales person. The more you ask the more you know the product. Use your espresso coffee machine basic knowledge (How to choose and buy an espresso coffee machine part 1) to ask them and off course it will better if they can provide you with the specification of the machine. Especially for the person want to buy the machine for open a coffee shop. An espresso coffee machine is one of part that can cost you a lot of money, so do wisely when you choose the machine. I always say, let the machine work hard to make us money, don’t we work hard to cover the cost of the espresso coffee machine. This is a few question you can use for ask :

·         How many cup the machine can produce or make coffee per hour?

·         What kind types the machine use for supply the water? (direct from water tab or pouring type)
From my experience if we not sure with the quality of the our place water (public water) such the cleanest or test or quality stable, pouring type is the best choice, because with pouring type we can choose what kind water we want to use)

·         What kind types the machine operates manual or semi automatic or fully automatic system?

·         How many bar the pump pressure? (usually 15 bar and above is ok)

·         What kind boiler the machines use? (water tank type or thermoblock type)
From my experience for make the coffee less than 30 cups per hour, thermoblock is better choice than water tank type

·         How many pump they use?
For home and office use is not a big deal. For professional use, the ideal we need minimum 2 pumps, 1 for group head and 1 for steam wand, in professional mostly we will meet a lot of customer and we need make a lot of coffee in the shot time, especially if we have a lot order for hot coffee drink such latte or cappuccino or mocha that we need to make a lot of foamed milk. With minimum 2 pumps (1 for group head and 1 for steam wand) we can make espresso coffee (base for latte or cappuccino or mocha or other coffee menu drink) and foamed milk in the same time. If we only use 1 pump meaning we need to choose which one we make first, the espresso coffee or foamed milk first, we can’t make in the same time (wait for the pump). But and the end is depend of our strategy or planning in the run the business.

·         How to do the maintenance?
This is one another important thing we need to know, because some machine need special maintenance especially fully automatic type. Use this maintenance as one of your judgment. Remember without properly maintenance, whatever machine we buy from cheap until expensive and the end the machine will produce bad quality coffee after we use in few times.

·         How much the price?
This is important thing, especially if we have limited budget. In my experience for get the best result is just keep asking and do the comparison. Don’t stick with brand or model or listen to the sales person (usually sales person will push you to get more expensive product). Of course you need to ask or check about after sales service or the guarantee.


The last step – purchase the espresso coffee machine
For this step I believe everybody will know how to do it. What I will share with you is just the tips from my experience. Those are the tips :

·         Remember understand first about the basic of an espresso coffee machine and do the first and second step before you purchase the espresso coffee machine.

·         Always keep asking and do the comparison, not only with the type or brand or model but with other shop too. Just do it this step until you feel confident with the product.

·         Before purchase remembers ask about after sales service, guarantee and the spare parts.

·         Check the machines and the accessories and don’t forget to test it. Test everything from the group head (how the water flow), porta-filter and basket (use the grind coffee and make a cup espresso coffee), steam wand, hot water tap.

·         If you still cannot decide or confused, find the real and good consultant to guide you. We can know which one is good consultant by ask them a lot of question, use question guide on the top of this article to ask them (in the second step). Listen the answer and if you think the answer is making sense meaning probably he or she is the right consultant. Don’t forget tell them too your really condition or budget to buy the espresso coffee machine and ask them to give you advised which brand or type or model you need to buy and fit with your condition. Ask too, the positive and negative from each machine they advised you. My suggestion asks few consultants before you really confident with them unless you feel the person is really give you all the correct or make sense answer than you can straightly follow his or her advice.




That all from me Russel in my article about “how to choose and buy an espresso coffee machine”. I wish what I’m sharing have a lot of benefit especially for the person that have planning to buy an espresso coffee machine especially for that want to open the coffee shop. If you have any question or want to share something or just to give me an idea for my next article, please send your email to , I will happy to read it and try my best to reply it.
Thank you very much for your previous time to read my article and I will see you again in my next article.