Dave Ward: ‘Not all automatic coffee machines are the same…’

How do you make Dave Ward’s blood boil? Easy! Tell him ‘a coffee machine is only as good as its ingredients’. Put on your tin hat and read on…

I heard something the other day that I have heard many times before and, as always, it made my blood boil: ‘a coffee machine is only as good as its ingredients’. I wanted to say ‘are you having a laugh?’; instead I bit my tongue and kept smiling.

I’ve heard a similar phrase used in connection with the use of IT. People say, when they’re talking about databases and the like, ‘if you put rubbish into the machine, you get rubbish out.’ (I’m paraphrasing here: ‘rubbish’ is a more polite word than the one usually used in this context, which has only four letters…)

It may apply to computers, but when it comes to delivering great coffee, it’s just not true. It’s an urban myth. In fact, the reverse is closer to the mark: ‘the ingredients are only as good as the coffee machine’.

Let me explain why not all automatic coffee machines are the same…

N&W has a proud record when it comes to the development and implementation of new technology.

An example of this is our Z4000 brewer. The Z4000 comes in two version: a large chamber that can handle 7.5g to 16g of coffee (in Canto, for example), or a smaller, 6g-9g version, as found in Solista. The Z4000 has ‘bi-directional operation’, which allows discharge of the coffee cake opposite to the brewing direction. At the end of the cycle the cake is always squeezed and dry, eliminating mess. The Z4000 delivers a faster vend cycle without changing the extraction time or impairing flavour. It makes life easier for operators, too: it has a self-locating mechanism, meaning it can be removed and replaced single-handedly.

To ensure the best possible coffee quality, brewing pressure can be adjusted and, in the Canto, the Z4000 allows for four possible gram throws… The filters are easy to change; although new filters are only required after 10,000 vends. What’s more, the brewer is totally enclosed; again, to reduce mess.

The Z4000 grinder uses belt drive technology rather than gears (which break more easily), increasing long-term reliability and the self-regulating grinder maximises coffee quality.

Another example: the Canto range of free-standing machines came to market with several new patents:

• It has a new electrical system that requires only low voltage to power the mixers and whippers,
• All the dispensing values, such as mixer speed, powder dispensing speed and pump delivery, can be customized.
• There’s a double water inlet, for higher water dispensing speed and faster drink preparation.

Another significant patent acknowledged the innovation incumbent in the Sigma brewing system, in which the mixing bowl is centred above the brewing chamber to guarantee an optimum mixing between water and coffee or tea and to allow for a complete rinse of the brewing chamber, even with short drinks.

There’s a key word here, and that word is ‘patent’. Patents are not awarded lightly. To earn a patent, you have to create something that’s never been created before.

Ask a good barista, and he or she will tell you that, in order to make the very best coffee, you have to make minute adjustments to the process of creating the drink, changes that take into account grind time, the density of the grind; the pressure at which the water is forced through the coffee ‘cake’; the ‘dose’ of coffee and so on and so forth. Likewise, Necta machines are fully adjustable, so they, too, can deliver top-quality, consistent espresso every time.

That’s why, at AVEX 2011, we showcased the Canto by using it do deliver Kopi Luak, one of the world’s most expensive connoisseur coffees. By taking advantage of the machine’s technological advantages, we were able to deliver the nuances of taste and aroma for which Kopi Luak is famous – and this from a free-standing vending machine, without a barista in sight…

That’s why coffee from a Kobalto triumphed over ‘coffee shop coffee’ in a blind, live-on TV-taste test that was held at the time of Vendex North, 2009…

‘Countless restaurants, hotels and cafes use our machines instead of the traditional kit beloved of the barista’

We have a range of machines, across our vending and HoReCa portfolios, that are so good that operators can – and do – use them to make drinks that justify the charging of ‘retail’ prices, to customers well-versed in the delights of the coffee shop experience. Countless restaurants, hotels and cafes use our machines instead of the traditional kit beloved of the barista. It helps them to cut costs without losing customers.

So, if you should ever hear somebody opining that ‘a coffee machine is only as good as its ingredients’, you know better: not all automatic coffee machines are the same…

* Did you hear how Dave raised £100 for EdUKaid? He attended the AVA’s Burn’s Night bash, and was told to get knotted. Read about it here

Read Dave Ward’s previous PV column here