A new age in bar machines heats up coffee's business.

I. Dawn Of The Post Modern?

There's really only one exhibition to catch to be current in coffee bar equipment, that's the famed Milan Fair - the international event where the earliest 'espresso' machines were first displayed to the public back at the turn of the century and which has been the unveiling point ever since for the major innovations in espresso brewing technology and design. Although the most recent edition of this extravaganza unfolded without adding any startling breakthrough, it did give a clear impression of just how creative the coffee bar equipment manufacturing sector is, and of how the advent of the fully automatic machine has become a real revolution.

Every significant manufacturer of grinding and coffee brewing equipment was present last November in Milan. While this is obviously an Italian show - especially when it comes to the espresso style format - the major Swiss, French, Spanish, and Dutch manufacturers were also quite visibly present, and with urn, drip, and espresso models on display. But espresso rules in Milan, naturally enough, and the emphasis in the most recent show was clearly on new design lines for the professional espresso machine chassis body and on the increasing number of models targeted for fast food and emerging espresso markets.

In general, from reviewing the work on display in Milan, it seems we are now just entering what could be termed a post modern phase in bar espresso machine design. The so-called "shoe box" orthodoxy of the 1980s espresso look has given way to a few cautious curves for cup racks and to flaring but still rather subdued looking contoured serving stages. These tendencies toward softer and more mannerly lines in the classic espresso machines promise even more imaginative things to come. In particular, the renewed design focus indicates the energized marketing mentality infusing espresso machine manufacturing circles. The people making the machines are increasingly aware from contact with new and emerging espresso markets that coffee must compete at the bar with other drinks and that the image of the bar equipment itself plays a role in beverage competition; engineering alone is no longer enough.

This is causing machine designers not only to consider new, more appealing and distinctive shapes for espresso bar equipment but to also draw inspiration from the design heritage of espresso machines themselves. This refers primarily to the period of the late 1940s through late 1960s - the golden age of Italian machine design, when the philosophy was not to blend espresso equipment anonymously into the bar scene but to exalt it as a visual tribute to the coffee it delivers.

For certain, the model range offered in Milan by all the leading companies is now completely different from what one saw at the fair only four years ago. No other coffee business sector has been changing so fast and furiously. This has been caused by the allure of new espresso markets: All major manufacturers are introducing models attuned to the prerequisites of these markets. Most outstanding - where an established espresso culture is missing as frame and support for traditional European style bar service - the newest models are not only fully automatic but so user-friendly that one is brought full circle to vending machine concepts. Also, the accepted simple menu for bar coffee in Europe expands dramatically when it is taken elsewhere. In such markets as the U.S., a full panoply of coffee drinks are necessary - from long and short espressos to cappuccinos and lattes, from flavored coffees to decaffeinated and single origin drinks. This again places the emphasis on versatile machines.

Actually, far more than any other force, the U.S. market attributes are now driving the evolution of bar equipment in Europe. These attributes include demand for choice, along with the need for speed in service, the frequent lack in staff training, and the rapid turnover in personnel. Such demands have necessitated the advent of the fullies and dictated their main design features.

Already, there are more than half a dozen fully automatic models now being produced, and a few more new introductions in this burgeoning field were indeed unveiled in Milan. In fact, by the end of this year every major manufacturer will have a fully automatic machine in its range. For now, the design aesthetics of the fullies are, I think, purposefully echoing those of featureless big soft drink dispensing machines. This perhaps in order to more easily integrate fast food espresso into the existing fast food beverage look and lineup.

As a result of the fully automatic revolution, the machine manufacturers are now seeing the formation of a basically two-tiered espresso machine market - one for hands-on bar service and using more traditional semi and automatic machines, the other using the fullies and for fast-food style espresso service. As part of this, the rank and file of machine manufacturers is beginning to segment and specialize; the larger companies are able to move expertly in both tiers, while other firms are committing themselves more to one sector or the other.

Adapting to the realities of new markets and espresso menus, whether in the U.S. or in Asia; pursuing new sensitivity to design as a sales feature for coffee in the overall bar concept; rolling out user friendly formats to put espresso into fast food, push button service situations: Espresso machines are more than just sleekness and high technology. More than ever they are a rapidly evolving, exciting, and vigorous business which is in turn bringing major changes to the coffee industry in sum.

To focus specifically on the Italian espresso machine industry, which does dominate as to worldwide production volume, although sales grew by only about 3% in 1994 over the figure for 1993, they did reach an all time high of 85,758 machines. In this, however, sales abroad shot up by more than 7% and accounted for almost three out of every four Italian machines sold. According to UCIMAC, the trade organization of leading Italian espresso machine manufacturers, machine sales by Italy's manufacturers were on target to grow another 5% in 1995.

II. Collectible Espresso

As part of the growing awareness of classic espresso machine design qualities, one now has the gaining phenomenon of espresso machine collectors. This in turn is becoming a business of its own, not only to serve collections but also corporations, cafes, and restaurants that seek a working cultural artifact to put extra zip into the life of their espresso bar.

Taco Joustra is one of these collector/businessman types. Actually, he is a Dutchman of discerning taste who once spent several years living in Italy. Since his return to the Netherlands, he's been specializing in sales of Italian designer home furnishings from the 1950s and 1960s. To this he has linked his passion for espresso.

Joustra sources his collection directly from Italy, where he has a partner ferreting out various treasures. At any given time he has from 50 to 55 machines on offer; these are working espresso machines for the home and bar dating from the 1920s up through the late 1960s.

In a recent conversation with Joustra, he was particularly pleased to have the following golden oldies on hand: a "Snider" bar machine circa 1930-35, a Faema E61, production year 1960; a classic Vittoria Arduina bar machine, from the 1920s; a rare Super Eletta bar machine by the Dante Rampini Co. of Milan, circa 1940; a "Neowatt" single group home machine from 1930; a Gaggia bar machine produced exclusively for the Italian State Railway in 1938; a Gaggie "Tipo America" bar machine from 1949; and finally a Gaggia home machine, one of the famed Gilda units, named for Mrs. Achilles Gaggia and built in 1950. This is the very same model that stars along with Rita Hayworth in the movie Gilda.

Joustra says his company, Art Affect, is the first company of its kind in Europe to trade extensively in collectible espresso machines. He usually tries to have about 60% of his stock in home machines, the remainder in professional units. Taco Jouwstra can be contacted at: Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone].

III. One of a Kind Machines

The most unique machine on the show floor at the Milan Fair had the unusual distinction of having been designed by yet another Dutchman. This was Kees van der Westen's low slung beauty of a bar machine, an impressionist's espresso machine if ever there was one, with matching front steam spouts jutting forward like flamboyant flying buttresses, a grandly sweeping glass and steel wing railing on the cup tray and side panels like pieces from a Miro dream.

Throughout the years, Van der Westen has continued to adventure with espresso machines, and that's good for coffee because while our business can be long on good taste and simple pleasure, it is too often short on art and playfulness. Although he's comfortably used several different machine systems in the past, this time out Van der Westen is wrapping his imagination around the insides of a La Marzocco. It's a two serving group semi-automatic system featuring the firm's trademark approach: lots of stainless steel, heavy duty castings, and two independently functioning stainless steel boilers.

Van der Westen's newest creation, conceived and constructed by himself using the La Marzocco components, will be in production starting in March of this year. Options are about as limitless as your desire, or wallet, might allow - but for a few suggestions, Kees mentions varied colored side panels, personalized with name or company logo, contrasting design details in brass or gold, four-inch high legs to give the machine better visibility. Price: Expect the expensive. Delivery time: eight weeks. Models can be ordered directly from Kees, at Fax: [phone].

IV. The Proud Little Lion of Florence

Italy's great city of art and acumen is also home to La Marzocco. The company, founded in 1927 by the Bambi brothers and named for the city's lion mascot, has earned a reputation as one of Italy's smaller but distinctively upscale manufacturers of espresso bar machines. Producing in the range of 600-1000 machines per year, the company is known for its workshop-like dedication to tooling, for the high incidence of stainless steel in each machine and for its use of a double boiler system to achieve an extremely stable coffee water temperature directly to the ground coffee.

Technology aside - but La Marzocco does figure itself proudly in the history of espresso machines as for example being the first patent holder for a horizontal boiler - the company has also inspired admiration for its machine designs. In fact, La Marzocco espresso machines from the 1930s through the 1960s are the kind to win fans and collectors, and while it doesn't sound very dignified, one could describe the successful business people who recently bought the controlling interest in the company as La Marzocco groupies.

These espresso enthusiasts are actually an American investors group - drawn mainly from Espresso Specialists, the Seattle-based firm that is the exclusive U.S. importer of the machines - who have formed La Marzocco USA which in turn, since 1994, owns 90% of the Italian company. Given the buyers' admiration for the La Marzocco tradition it isn't surprising to see that the company remains, as before, committed to excellence and a limited production, and that Piero Bambi, son of one of the founding Bambi brothers, is still happily engaged in day-to-day management in the Italian factory.

It is rather intriguing to learn, however - particularly after visiting the factory which is perched in scenic splendor on a hill above Florence and has as much Italian charm as the machines its become famous for - that the La Marzocco name is now seen across the U.S. in connection with the biggest force in coffee bar retailing, Starbucks. Every Starbucks shop has a La Marzocco machine, usually a four group unit. To facilitate sourcing Starbucks, the company has just opened a small U.S. plant where the Italian-made components are assembled and each machine is tested.

Starbucks expects its store machines to serve up to 1,500 cups per day, so it's understood that La Marzocco machines are workhorses. Such expectations hardly phase Piero Bambi, who speaks for his own production and for the great tradition of the Italian espresso machine industry when he explains, "But that's not so much, we build every machine to have at least 4 million cups in it."