Hand made in the Netherlands with a 5 year factory warranty
Designed from day one to brew your coffee at exactly the right temperature so you can experience the real taste of your coffee
We will make a trip out to the factory later today to retrieve a KF4 Swissgold filter to drop in it, an oversight on my part not to bring one home yesterday, and get a brew rolling
Brews 1.25 litres in 4 minutes 50 seconds according to the certification website; blisteringly fast. Fast enough to get a second brew completed before your guests finish their first cup. Ideal
Order your Technivorm Moccamaster here
*by which we mean, 'the least expensive machine that makes real espresso with a deep, rich crema and heavy mouth-feel'. On this criteria the Bacchi easily beats machines that cost twice as much and more. After just a few practice runs see the espresso that complete coffee novices are producing with the Bacchi here.
We've tried the alternatives with our own hard cold cash. They all have one thing in common; they don't make real espresso. The Bacchi makes real espresso and is a machine for life. How so? Well, take a quick flick through the images below to see just how simple a Bacchi is to service and maintain as we assemble one from scratch.
All the bits on the bench, ready to be assembled:
http://londiniumespresso.com/products/technivorm-moccamaster-cd-thermo-filter-coffee-machine
We very much look forward to unwrapping the Technivorm Moccamaster and installing one in our place
We have a long standing need to make decent filter coffee for our guests with a machine that brews the coffee with water heated to the correct temperature
The Technivorm Moccamaster will solve that problem for us
We are selling the Technivorm Mocca master bundled with the incomparable KF4 Swissgold permanent filter. Yes, there are lots of 'permanent' coffee filters on the market now, but for some reason they don't perform to the same standard as the super-fine laser cut Swissgold filter with its 10 micron coating of 22 carat gold.
As with all the products we sell, the Technivorm Moccamaster isn't a throw away machine; all components are available as spares and many of these machines are in operation after a service life of more than 15 years.
As always, if you live in an area that produces a lot of limescale when heated use Volvic water; it is a lot smarter than signing up to descale your machine on a regular basis.
16.5g in a double basket gives this:
http://sailingaroundtheglobe.blogspot.com/
If you ever find yourself struggling with the mundane or the pressures of day-to-day living, pay a visit to Alex & Taru's blog. I defy you to say it doesn't lift your spirits. You mightn't be able to join them, but these guys communicate with such conviction that you feel as though you are there as you work your way through the blog with its rich images and details of their adventures from Barcelona to the Caribbean, and beyond.
The Bacchi espresso machine has flown out to join Alex and Taru in Martinique and will be responsible for serving them up world class espresso on the high seas as they make their way to some of the world's most idyllic locations over the next year or so.
It might even inspire you to do something similar!
I don't think Alex or Taru will mind me saying that making their own espresso is a new experience for them. This is evident in the image on today's blog where there is no crema on the espresso. This isn't a shortcoming of the Bacchi's abilities to deliver real espresso with a deep rich crema, but rather a reflection of using pre-ground coffee that had been opened some weeks ago. Check on their blog now and again over the next few days to see their espresso visibly improve as they quickly move to the right along the learning curve with the Bacchi. As they move to fresher coffee, perhaps even freshly grinding their beans, you will see a rapid transformation in the espresso the Bacchi produces.
This is our water softener-filter installed. And yes, the second set of screw holes in the wall provide evidence of us getting it in the wrong place on the first attempt. Not happy. It's a clever unit offering the correct hydrogen ion replacement method of softening (not the vastly cheaper sodium ion replacement softening which is now illegal for water that is intended for drinking) and undertaking acid-base buffering to ensure the water is not 'over-softened' and result in corrosion in your espresso machine.
You will see we have added in a flow meter which connects to a digital reader to log the number of litres that have been filtered, with an audible alarm sounding when you have exhausted the filter, which won't take too long with the small capacity of this filter combined with our rock hard water with a total hardness (TH) reading on the wrong side of 450ppm. For this reason we have elected to sell the Claris range of filters which are available in a range of capacities, but the bottom line is they filter a lot more water for a lot less expense. The Claris doesn't offer acid-base buffering, instead you have to manually set a bypass valve to get the correct proportion of softened and unsoftened water, but the cost saving more than outweighs this inconvenience.
We would recommend the digital flow meter though as it ensures you only change your filter when you need to, not on an arbitrary time-based interval. In a hard water area, like London, this additional outlay has a short payback period.
This is the stuff that both Bosco & Olympia use to lubricate the pistons in their lever machines. What's so special about Dow Corning 111? Well it is approved for 'incidental' contact with food (NSF Standard 51 for use in food processing equipment). My interpretation of this US standard is that it is more about ensuring the grease will continue to lubricate the machinery to which it has been applied if the grease is contaminated with food, whereas 'normal' lubricants will often degrade/breakdown and cease to provide adequate lubrication in this situation. It does not mean it is good to eat.
Probably the more relevant standard is that it is also approved for use in situations where it is in contact with water intended for human consumption (NSF Standard 61 for use in potable water applications), which obviously is exactly the situation you have with a lever espresso machine piston.
Dow Corning 111 is described as a general purpose O-ring and valve lubricant. It provides a non-curing moisture barrier; high dielectric strength; moisture and ozone resistance; good thermal, oxidation and chemical stability. It has a heavy consistency and is a translucent white, grease-like silicone paste.
Importantly it has an operating temperature up to 204C.
Where we've found it to be absolute gold is on both cylinder bores (large & small) of the Bacchi. In our view the Bacchi instructions don't really underline the importance of keeping the bores lubricated. To test the health of your Bacchi lift the main piston assembly out of the frame (the engine of the Bacchi if you like), and hold with two hands. Using both thumbs push the piston upwards from the bottom. If it is sticking or binding at any point then it needs some Dow Corning 111 smeared in the thinnest film imaginable on both cylinder bores all the way around, and for the full range of travel. The difference in the smoothness with which the piston in the Bacchi moves after you have undertaken this easiest of maintenance tasks will be like night and day; and so will the taste of your espresso.
Szabolcs Temesvári
Dear Reiss,
I saw you spotted my forum comment on www.kavekorzo.hu about your coffee. :)
I'm Szabolcs Temesvári, freelance coffee journalist and last year's cup tasting champ here in Hungary. With my friends we are running this coffee culture portal site, the Kávékorzó magazine.
I'm really pleased with your coffee! I also like the packaging, the website and your enthusiasm. I saw you're also posting sometimes to thehome-barista.com forum. I'm reading it on daily basis.
Meantime I've dialed in the Malabar, so no worries! ;)
I'm looking forward to the next month shipment. :)
Best Regards,
Szabolcs
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Review of the Bacchi Espresso Machine.
In this review I will tell you what I think of the Bacchi and the coffee it makes. I'm aiming this review at people ,like me, who have moved on at least one step from a Moka and are wondering: where next? The Bacchi is not so much a machine as a philosophy. As you begin to appreciate the surface so you begin to live in the shoes of its designer. And that is an experience...If you appreciate truly great design then the Bacchi will surprise you.
Normally when we think of coffee machines, things like pumps, solenoids, PID controllers, heat exchangers and pressure gauges come to mind. The Bacchi has none of these things and yet, functions exactly as if it did.
The Bacchi is a stove top machine with a boiler and a steam driven piston. That's it. It is constructed from aluminium and that has been anodised. Which makes it slightly more interesting than stainless steel. The steam which drives the piston is made from a pre-set level of water in the base. Securely seated above the base is the boiler and piston assembly. And on top of that is the group head. All components are held in place by a single bolt secured to the frame at the top.
Now this is where thoughtful design comes into it. In order to achieve a pressure of 9 bar, you need to heat the water in the base to 170 degrees. So you have superheated steam in there. When you hit a pressure of 9 bar you want the water in the boiler to be at 90 degrees. So your heat exchanger is the body of the machine that conducts heat from the (hotter) steam through the body of the machine to the boiler. This little symphony has been orchestrated to perform at between 6 and 7 minutes from a cold start. Use too little heat from the stove and you won't get the pressure. Use to much and the steam is at the right pressure, but the water is too cold. Go shorter than 6 minutes and the coffee is under extracted; go over 7 minutes and the coffee is burnt. So you have to apply sufficient heat in order to raise the pressure and the temperature such that they are both at the optimum within the 6-7 minute window. Therefore you need a control system â and you're it.
You need to experiment with different stove heat settings in order to hit the 6-7 window. But how do you know when the pressure is right? There is a valve that whistles, just like the old kettles, when 9 bar has been reached. So you are listening for the whistle, you are adjusting the energy input and you are measuring the time taken. Quite sophisticated; quite beautiful.
So what does it taste like. Well just before I get to that, there is another crucial element in this equation and that is the fineness of the grind. Too coarse a grind and even if you have everything else right, the coffee will be woeful. Too fine a grind and the machine will choke. So one more task that the controller must perform is to ensure that the shot is delivered in around 25 seconds.
For me this meant getting a new grinder. This what I mean about Bacchi being more of an experience than a machine. So you get the fine grind, the temperature, the pressure and the timing spot on and you are in for a historic treat. Not quite. The final, final aspect to consider is your coffee. If like me you have managed on supermarket beans, you will be both delighted and disgusted. Delighted when that bog standard coffee starts to sing and dance like you never knew was possible; and disgusted when the full horror of stale beans is extracted to perfection in all its gut wrenching glory. This machine gets the flavour out and does n't differentiate between good and bad. So the dull tasteless coffee of the past is revealed now to be deeply, profoundly stale. And you can taste it in techniclour.
But what of freshly roasted beans? When what you get in the cup fits the description of the bean, and does even more in the mouth, then you know you have something very valuable. The Bacchi delivers a diversity of flavour, a fidelity to the bean and reveals a panorama of detail that is just not there in lesser machines.
One last word about the design. The Bacchi has only one moving part. There are no pumps, heat exchangers, pressure or temperature gauges, solenoids or controllers to fail. But the Bacchi incorporates all that functionality in a supremely elegant way, to make truly wonderful coffee.
For £260 is there a better machine on the market? I seriously doubt it. But bear in mind you need to spend that again to get a good grinder. Even at £520 I still don't believe there is anything that can touch it.
In Hungary!
He's not a friend, associate, or a friend of a friend. He didn't get a discount or an inducement. He is just a guy in Hungary getting a great deal with 5 bags of fresh Londinium coffee delivered to his door each month.
And dude, if you're reading this, I used Google translator to get an idea of your comments on the Monsoon Malabar and I think you may be over extracting it slightly. Err on the side of under-extraction as it quickly becomes vile if pushed too hard.
Thank you for your custom.
Reiss.
