Does anyone have access to a semi-automatic espresso machine at work? I just started a new job and my employer has an Expobar Brewtus/Mazzer Mini E. No one in the office knows anything about espresso machine maintenance and I don't want to be the "espresso machine guy". The machines and area are always filthy and out of sorts. Any ideas?

As a side note, that Expobar can take some serious abuse! It has not been backflushed in more than a year and it's still working. I just cleaned the group head shower screen and it had caked-on, burned coffee blocking the entire screen. I should've taken a picture....

Yes.
We are a small office. We purchased a Gaggia and a Breville grinder. After few demonstrations during the first two weeks everybody got up to speed and both machines are always reasonably clean and ready to use. Consider also that with the Breville you get zero ground coffee on the counter.
Only six of us drink espresso, including the two that had never tried it before and now cannot live without it .
To keep things simple we use one blend only.
We take many coffee breaks, so we use a single dose 8gr basket. A disk distribution tool to use before the tamper helps a lot in making the workflow easy and consistent for everybody.
I take care about the grind setting and I am the one the does the back flushing with cafiza once a week. I like doing that so that is not a problem.
Steaming however is a no no. I don't want to have a mess. Only espresso for the time being.

Edit: I plugged the machine into one of those Belkin programmable power adapters so the Gaggia is powered only between 8am and 8pm, Mo-Fr. Probably the only way to make sure that it does not stay on overnight and during weekends.

That sounds like a much more manageable situation. We have an office of 200 or so and no one drinks straight shots. And on top of that, the Mazzer is also used for pour over.

We had a barista come in for some basic training but I think it was focused on making coffee and steaming milk. He hardly touched on maintenance. Seems like a lost cause.

Seems like a lost cause.

Yep. Unless you hire a barista .

At work (large office...whole floor full of people) we had various coffee machines, from semi to full auto. IMHO, you only have two main choices, either get your machine under a service contract or have an employee(s) who's the 'coffee guy'. After burning out a few coffee guys, we ended up with a service contract...best thing we ever did...machine broke down and it was fixed within hours or a replacement was in place within the day.

I had a VBM and Mazzer in my office, but it was in MY office. Not accessible to everyone. I would make coffee for a few people now and then and took care of my machine myself. I did however blow a circuit when I moved it to another outlet that happen to be shared with half of customer service. I just quietly unplugged and moved it back to where it was.

Nunas wrote:At work (large office...whole floor full of people) we had various coffee machines, from semi to full auto. IMHO, you only have two main choices, either get your machine under a service contract or have an employee(s) who's the 'coffee guy'. After burning out a few coffee guys, we ended up with a service contract...best thing we ever did...machine broke down and it was fixed within hours or a replacement was in place within the day.

I'll have to inquire about this. I keep finding myself watching coworkers use the machine. I've mentioned simple stuff like purging the steam wand after use/flushing the group a few times... people are gonna start hating me!