Setting Up an Espresso Stand at Local Bike Race

Beginner and pro baristas share tips and tricks for making espresso.
Beezer
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#1: Post by Beezer »

I'm thinking about setting up a small espresso stand at a local mountain bike race that takes place here every year in March. The course is located at a State Park on Millerton Lake outside of Fresno. I was planning to bring my Linea Mini and Compak K10 grinder to the venue and setting up at the finish line. I don't have a generator, but one of the other locals is willing to lend me his Honda 2000 watt generator and a folding table to set up on. I'd have to bring my own water, plus beans and milk obviously. There is some running water in the park, but I wouldn't want to use it to make coffee with.

Any other things I would need or that I should consider before getting into this? It would be purely for fun, not to make any money (I don't think I'd even charge for drinks). Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks for your input.
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redbone
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#2: Post by redbone »

First off I'd charge if only to keep from being overwhelmed. Nothing more chaotic than a line up for free offerings.

Plan on using ice, a bin or cooler to keep the milk cool as opposed to a small electrical fridge.
Between order and chaos there is espresso.
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Rob
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Beezer (original poster)
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#3: Post by Beezer (original poster) »

Thanks, good points. I was planning to get a cooler and ice to keep milk cold.

Charging might be a good idea to reduce the crowds, but I'm not sure exactly how many people will be there. Maybe a couple hundred at peak times.

It's a point-to-point race for most classes of racers (i.e. the start line is at one end of the course and the finish is at the other end) but the experts will start at the finish line, ride to the top of the canyon, then ride back down to the bottom again. So I expect there won't be too many people at first, but more later as the riders finish up their races. So the heaviest crowds will probably at the end of the race, which is when everyone gets to have lunch and beer too.

My Linea Mini is currently plumbed into the house's water line, but I'd obviously have to either run it off the internal reservoir or possibly just drop the plumb line into a big water bottle. Does anyone know if this type of machine can run off a line into a bottle, or would I need a flojet style pump to create enough suction to make this work?
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Chert
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#4: Post by Chert »

If you don't have a temporary food handlers permit, you may be breaking some local ordinance, especially if you are selling the drinks. I set up a stand at a local event with my permit in hand. The inspector came by and charged the event for a permit because they were serving food and had not thought of obtaining one. I guess I gooned them by following the local code. The point is if an inspector stops by they will ask you for your permit if they see you marketing perishable food stuffs.
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rand
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#5: Post by rand »

Beezer wrote: My Linea Mini is currently plumbed into the house's water line, but I'd obviously have to either run it off the internal reservoir or possibly just drop the plumb line into a big water bottle. Does anyone know if this type of machine can run off a line into a bottle, or would I need a flojet style pump to create enough suction to make this work?
user erics is the most knowledgeable guy I know of on here for flojet stuff. Might be worth shooting him a pm for the technical details on getting a flojet & accumulator
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Beezer (original poster)
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#6: Post by Beezer (original poster) »

Chert wrote:If you don't have a temporary food handlers permit, you may be breaking some local ordinance, especially if you are selling the drinks. I set up a stand at a local event with my permit in hand. The inspector came by and charged the event for a permit because they were serving food and had not thought of obtaining one. I guess I gooned them by following the local code. The point is if an inspector stops by they will ask you for your permit if they see you marketing perishable food stuffs.
Good point. I was kind of worried that I might get hassled by The Man if I sold drinks, which is one reason why I'd kind of prefer to just give them away. Not sure if they have the same requirements for people who just give food or drinks away, although it seems like there could be health concerns regardless of whether I'm selling drinks or giving them away. There is going to be other food and drink there (tacos and beer provided by local businesses sponsoring the event), so maybe I need to check with the organizers and see if permits are required, etc. Could make it too much of a hassle to organize if so.

One good thing is that it's at a fairly remote location, so the chances of a city or county health inspector coming by seem pretty small. Still, I'd hate to get fined, or get the event organizers in trouble. :cry:
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gsylvest
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#7: Post by gsylvest »

Don't worry about setting up too early. Usually the CAT 5's go off first and they are just not worth it. In fact, even the CAT 4's, are just not worth it. Start serving with the CAT 3's but make sure to double check their bib numbers to make sure they aren't lying. :P

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HB
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#8: Post by HB »

Beezer wrote:Does anyone know if this type of machine can run off a line into a bottle, or would I need a flojet style pump to create enough suction to make this work?
Unless it needs positive pressure for preinfusion or for filling the steam boiler, espresso machines with rotary pumps can draw directly from a bottle. Since the Linea Mini is switchable between reservoir/direct plumb without modification, clearly it fits in the latter category. You will need a check valve (also called a "foot valve") to prevent air from being drawn into the line.
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Beezer (original poster)
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#9: Post by Beezer (original poster) »

I thought I'd follow up on my thread to let people know how it went when I brought my espresso machine to a local mountain bike race.

Unfortunately, it was pretty much a total failure, or "epic fail" as the kids say. After de-plumbing my machine, loading the machine and grinder into the car along with 10 pounds of beans, 10 gallons of bottled water, 5 gallons of milk, and all the needed accessories, and then driving everything out to the race site and hooking the machine and grinder up to a 2000 watt generator, I found out that the generator didn't have enough power to run the grinder. Even with the machine unplugged, the generator wouldn't spin the grinder motor. It just went into a protection mode and had to be restarted. Oddly, the generator was able to run the machine, which pulls a lot more power, but it couldn't even spin the grinder's burrs once.

We tried a bunch of different things, including plugging the grinder into a different generator and into a truck's outlet, but nothing worked. Eventually, one of the guys had his wife bring a cheap Cuisinart burr grinder to see if that would do, and it did grind beans, but the results were as bad as you might expect. It wasn't able to grind fine enough for espresso, and the resulting liquid looked like something that might come out of a used diaper. So after all that planning and work, I had to pack up my gear and go home.

If I had to do it again, I'd bring a smaller grinder than my Compak K10 (I have a Vario that might have worked), and also bring a hand grinder as a backup. Oh well, it was a learning experience.
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HB
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#10: Post by HB »

Thanks for the follow-up report, sorry it didn't work out. I'm not an electrician, but I assume that the grinder's power surge on startup tripped the generator's breaker. For what it's worth, I reported in Espresso Van Project about a portable espresso cart that used an RV battery and inverter for the grinder (they used propane for heating the lever espresso machine's boiler). That might be an alternative to using a consumer-grade grinder.
Dan Kehn

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