October 2016 Newsletter
Kickstarter campaigns for coffee brewers seem to be the crowdfunding equivalent of Nigerian scams. To the best of my knowledge there hasn't been a single brewer brought to market and all the eager people who opened their wallets have done their dough cold.
The granddaddy of these projects was the 2011 ZPM Nocturn Espresso Machine, which raised just under US$1,000,000 with Kickstarter and pre-delivery sales, and delivered nothing. The original premise was a PID temperature and pressure profiling machine with a 58mm group for US$300.00. In the end the technology (such as it was) was sold to Decent Espresso who have been promising to have a machine for sale for just under US$1000.00 any day now.
This was followed by the Arist Superauto machine, which raised around US$800,000 for an again all-singing all-dancing $300.00 production. This was a scam from day one, the founders had no prospect of delivering the promised features at the quoted price point. They were marketers and designers with zero real world espresso machine experience. Basically they thought of every desirable feature a superautomatic should have, then said "Yeah! Our machine will do that!" with absolutely no idea of the engineering involved.
Then there are those who see crowdfunding as simply a method to raise sufficient money to bring their bright idea to the attention of venture capital firms, ala the Invergo drip brewer. Which was a good idea except some guy in Taiwan was already making an equivalent, and it was also similar enough to another company's technology for a patent infringement suite.
Novel technology like the 2014 La Fenice induction heated espresso machine got heaps of publicity and lots of contributions, but 2 years on not a single machine has been shipped. One thing that many of the designers and builders of the machines often forget is the need for official certification, a lengthy and costly process. Any time you are attempting to combine water, heating and electricity a government organization will need to be involved before you are allowed to sell a single unit.
In the meantime, companies like Breville, which already have the experienced staff, will have produced a mass market machine with 95% of the functionality and have it for sale in retail stores. So my advice is that the next time a coffee brewing machine Kickstarter campaign pops up, ignore it!
In contrast to all the ideas that took heaps of cash and produced nothing, there was an idea that asked for no cash, just input from hobbyists, and produced an innovative and effective espresso brewer. Andre Vornbrock, screen name "Droshi", is the inventor. http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-machines/espresso-press-project-t34309.html tells the story of the invention of a portable manual espresso brewer all the way from initial concept to final saleable product. I'll be buying one myself for travel brewing, http://espressoforge.com/ . It's simple, non electric and it works brilliantly.
Due to a flood of class coffees I've got the specials for the next 3 months sorted already. This month we've got Costa Rica SHP Coope Tarrazu Tirra Estate Red Honey, otherwise known as
Costa Rica Tarrazu Rojo Miel
$54.00/kg
Smooth, rich, intense, the epitome of coffeeness (I just made it up) and slightly more flavourful than even our last Miel offering. Get it while it lasts!
Until next month
Alan
