Hi everyone,

We're opening a men's and women's clothing store and would like to be able to serve take-away coffee (or you can drink it on our bench outside...) to our customers. The store is yet to open, so we're unsure how many coffee buyers we'll have per day, but we'd like to start on around 30-50.

The machine we're thinking about getting is the Rocket Espresso Giotto Evoluzione, which seems like a good choice because we can start with the water tank and, if coffee sales take off, we can plumb it into the mains later. It's also a relatively small machine so will be able to fit on our counter nicely.

We're not really sure what sort of grinder would be best for serving this amount of daily coffee. From what I can tell doserless would be good. Ideally we wouldn't be forking out a huge amount of cash as well...

Any advice you guys have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jack

this is the grinder we're thinking about: http://www.clicknorder.co.uk/mazzer-min...-1391.html

Are you a clothier serving coffee, or an espresso bar selling duds?

Assuming the first: Where are you going to find the employee time for barista duties which go with an HX and stand alone grinder? There's a loss of quality, but I don't think many customers would notice; and do think you'd make your commercial life much simpler with a super automatic.

Otherwise, the Evoluzione is a very nice machine, possessing all the virtues you've mentioned. It isn't unique though. Almost all espresso machines of that type and class are assemblies of a fairly restricted group of common components. Consequently the choice is usually between "equally suitables," with no "best." Indeed, there are multiple "plumb/no-plumb" choices.

The important differences tend to be price and style. Although, if you're not plumbing in, drip tray size counts for a helluva lot, too.

Plumbing in makes many HUGE positive differences. The absence of smell and overflow from a neglected drip tray are just two of them. If the expense of plumbing isn't dispositive, it's a good idea to do it from the beginning. You can always cap the supply and drain if you decide to remove the machine and sell it off. Plumb/no-plumb makes great sense for someone worried about moving to a smaller flat with a hostile landlord, but not as much for you.

BDL

I've helped a couple friends now with this issue of how to serve coffee/espresso in a retail environment. It really comes down to what will work best in your store and how much experience you and the employees have with this. When my first friend asked me to help him with equipment for his barber shop slash scotch bar I was all excited to set him up with wicked cool espresso gear. I soon realized that this request was similar to him asking me for a music system and I wanted set him up with a guitar and drums. I was assuming he knew what he was doing or had the patience to learn. What he really needed was some CDs and a boombox.

A semi-auto HX like the Giotto evo is a fantastic machine which I also happen to own but it will require a LOT of employee time in order to serve drinks of a decent quality. Do you or someone who works in the store have barista training or are a proficient home barista? If no, then don't expect to buy the gear today and be serving tasty lattes tomorrow. There's a lot to learn. Anyhow after much consideration and reality checking I recommended both my friends go the Nespresso route. The quality is ultimately not as high as what is attainable with a semi auto but the consistency and convenience make it an absolute no-brainer. And if new to the espresso world then the Nespresso could actually be better quality than the semi-auto in this case. My friends are very happy with their Nespressos. This may not work if you're charging for drinks though. Most people expect the fancy machinery for their latte bucks. More info about your situation would help.

agree with below. nespresso imo. a grinder/tamper type machine will be:

1. a distraction
2. a mess

boar_d_laze wrote:There's a loss of quality, but I don't think many customers would notice; and do think you'd make your commercial life much simpler with a super automatic.