An Israeli friend of mine is helping set up (finance) a small coffee shop in Cuba and wants advice on what brand machine to buy. I was wondering if anyone on the list happened to know of any authorized resellers of any semi commercial machines in Cuba, my thought being that they are better off buying from a reseller than attempting to import a machine and not get local support.

The websites of the manufacturers don't necessarily identify their distributors/agents.

It's only going to have 5-6 tables and a small bar, so a large machine is not necessary. Naturally, I'm tempted to steer them to a lever, but I really want to find local support first.

Thanks,

Dan

I was in Mexico a couple of times and there were lever machines around. Ebay mexico still lists them. Maybe it's the same in Cuba. I would not be surprised to find a thriving espresso subculture there. Let us know!

PC

I would buy a three or four group commercial lever (good to have a backup group, if necessary and for rush hours), not only for the great taste but also because it has less parts to fail.
Cubans are first class mechanics and great "fixers", with an appropriate stock of parts he shouldn't have any problems for a long time.

I would look around and see what brands offer parts and or warranty in Cuba or at least close to. If you have no luck I would look at Ranchilio's machines. They are pretty and on the cheaper side. I would look at a good parts supplier you can buy from and get familiar with fixing and maintaining yourself. I have ripped apart a 2 group myself with next to no knowledge of espresso machines and it was surprisingly easy.

Rancilio Classe 7 S3 http://www.espressotec.com/commercial/i ... l?___SID=U for example cost is $7,000. If you invested in this and sold 125 drinks per day at $2.00 this will be paid off in just over a month. BTW this model can handle 350 espresso's per hour.

Espressotec is located in Canada but they do ship to Cuba. Not suggesting to buy from Canada though if you can find it somewhere else because its really far away.

I'm not going to say I know a lot about the coffee culture in Cuba, but I've been there numerous times on vacation and I'm off the resort every day talking to folks in bars and cafes.

With all respect, the thought of selling 125 shots a day at $2 ea is flawed. $2 in Cdn is close to 50 CUP, and trust me, nobody there, not even tourists will pay that. I went to a cafe just outside of Santa Lucia a few years back, and there were 3 guys at the bar, + the bartender. I bought 5 Cafe con Leche and then 5 beer, and I gave the bartender 10 CUP. He was amazed how much money I gave him, he doesn't see too many tourists.

(FYI: $1 Cdn = ~ 1.05 CUC (tourist peso) = ~ 25 CUP (People's peso) So when a decent salary down there is 450 CUP, $2 Cdn is a bunch of cash)

Every bar and cafe I've been in, on resort or off, has a minimum of a 2-group machine, some 4-group with many being 3-group. Some brand names familiar to me, some not.

I'm going to guess these machines in Cuba, new or used / refurbished, are going to be priced at a fraction of the cost in Canada or US


Jamie