March 2018 Newsletter
Back in October 2016 I wrote about several coffee related Kickstarter projects, most of which appeared to me to be seriously dodgy. I thought that an update on the progress of these projects might be timely. What brought this on was the news that the Decent Espresso machine was almost ready to ship.
The Decent Espresso started life as the ZPM Nocturn and US$1,000,000 of Kickstarter funding back in 2011.The funding is long gone, and all those who pledged money lost it cold, but the design lived on, and was improved and brought to reality by Decent Espresso. So there now exists an espresso machine with really tight computer control of all aspects of brewing.
As an ancient curmudgeon my own opinion of the machine is that if it had arrived in 2012 at the original price point it would have taken over the domestic espresso market. In 2018 that market has reached saturation point and the Decent Espresso machine will struggle to gain traction, especially at a much higher price than originally planned. However, based on specs and brief trade show glimpses of the prototype I believe that the commercial version of the machine might be a success.
It would be cheap enough to allow the installation of 3 or 4 machines side by side, at the same cost as a current high end machine. Just the redundancy (one breaks? move to the next!) would be a huge advantage, plus the shot control is as good or better than anything else currently available.
The rest of the Kickstarter projects I highlighted in 2016 haven't faired nearly as well. The Arist Superautomatic Kickstarter, promoted in 2014 by a couple of Hong Kong "wide boys", has yet to produce a single saleable unit. The boys themselves seem to have made a career out of crowdfunding without actually delivering.
The Invergo drip brewer again never managed a single actual sale, and sorry folks, the money is all gone. Which seems to be a pretty consistent theme with all these "better mousetrap" products. The creators raise the money, spend a little on a rough concept prototype, then all the rest goes to salaries and promotion. Some never even display a prototype, the La Fenice induction brewer being a case in point.
That's not to say there haven't been successful crowdfunding campaigns for coffee equipment. There have been several I know of and probably many more I've missed, but they have all been for coffee accessories, not plug-into-the-powerpoint coffee machines.
Any machine proposal that involves heat, water, electricity and consumers faces a veritable horde of government agencies and regulations across several countries. Even the Decent Espresso machine is still awaiting final UL certification after seven years of development. Note that the actual certifiers are Insurance companies so it's a far easier process for established manufacturers. I guess the best advice for crowdfunded brewing machines is "backers beware!"
This month's special is the tiniest coffee beans we've ever offered. It's
Brazil Catui Peaberry
$48.00/kg
These little peaberries are absolute flavour bombs, with an incredibly intense taste. The best way I can describe the flavour is hazelnut with a chocolate aftertaste and a really creamy body, sort of an unsweetened version of Ferrero Rocher.
Until next month
Alan
