While I was at the SCAA conference in Seattle, I sort of crashed the ESI party and introduced myself to Bill Crossland, who has been working with La Marzocco on their then-rumored consumer espresso machine. I shook his hand and offered my makeshift business card (please, no laughing):




He said, "Oh yeah, I've seen your site. It's pretty good." I was a bit surprised a company big-wig would know about a piddly little consumer website, but hey, I'll take that as a compliment. Later he explained that he likes to keep abreast of everything espresso on the web, even the little guys (hmm-m, I wonder if his buddy Kent Bakke, who I met the day before, mentioned I wanted to talk with him).

As we both admired the machine on display, I commented: "Hey, you know that looks a lot like the Synesso Cyncra."

<insert pregnant pause as Bill weighs his response>

Ouch. I think hit a nerve, forgetting that some of the engineers who were layed off from the La Marzocco factories in the US went on to form... you guessed it, the short-lived TRUEH (what were they thinking when they picked that name?!?), then well... Synesso. At that point my brain re-engaged and I began to backpedal from my faux pas. Bill was kind enough to spend a few more minutes bantering about its preinfusion design. Someone interrupted him and he made his excuses.

(Click for photo of Bill Crossland and La Marzocco consumer model on CoffeeGeek.com.)