November 2017 Newsletter
We're ba-a-ack! The less said about international flying the better, as I appear to have mislaid both my brain and body clock 3 time zones ago, but I've been at least able to start roasting again to re-stock. That said, there will be no special coffee this month, as I simply haven't had the time to look for one.
I'd also ask people to remember that Tuesday 7th of November is a public holiday (Cup Day) when they're placing orders. This always causes delays with interstate Express Post shipping.
The HOST exhibition in Milan far exceeded my expectations, in both size and breadth of coverage of the equipment and marketing sides of the coffee world. The only thing missing (from my viewpoint) was the presence of major green coffee brokers, but this was to be expected in a machinery dominant show.
There were many of the major Italian coffee roasters present, all spruiking their wares in various capsule formats. And yes, capsules were prevalent throughout the stands, but what surprised me was the lack of exclusive capsule machine suppliers. Most of the capsule machines I saw were the standard made-in-China types we see locally.
The reason for this seems to be the competition among the various capsule formats. Based on my observations, Nespresso seems to be the leader of the capsule world, with CaffItaly taking the second spot. Lavazza is a distant third, with a few other formats trailing. All the existing capsule types are still environmentally disastrous, but I saw a supplier of certified compostable capsules at the show. Something that might show up in the near future.
I also spotted a "small" capsule manufacturing form, fill and seal machine. With a size of 3 metres x 2 metres x 1 metre and a price of 300, 000.00 Euro it was a steal! It does explain why small roasters aren't trying to get into the capsule business.
E-61 group machines were everywhere, they now seem to be the machine of choice for makers of home espresso machines. Heat exchanger, double boiler, single boiler, stainless steel boiler, and Lelit even had a particularly kitsch one with a gold plated group. The easy availability of all the bits needed to make one of these machines, with several suppliers for each part, makes it more or less a kit building exercise. There was even a booth displaying an E-61 group from a Chinese metal fabricator.
The sad consequence of this is that the "entry level" point for decent home espresso machines seems to have moved up to $2500.00 or so. The price points below this appear to have been ceded to capsule machines and Chinese made home appliance machines.
In the commercial market, now that computerized control of brewing time, temperature, flow and pressure is becoming commonplace, the leading espresso machine makers appear to have decided that everything old is new again. Every major manufacturer, including La Marzocco, was displaying a "new" spring lever machine.
That's right, the machines you see in old Italian films with the long levers used to manually pull espresso shots are back again. The tech was invented in 1948 by Achille Gaggia, to make "Crema Café". Last time I was at HOST, in 2011, there was ONE machine on display, made by Brasilia who went bust shortly afterwards. Now there are over a dozen, and I would expect more to come. Expect to see them in your local café in the next few years.
Until next month
Alan
