La Marzocco -I know they are good, "they" say she is the best!:)

by chee Leng (on coffee makers)
(Singapore)

Personally, I have never tasted espresso from La Marzocco, but have heard enough about it to know that it is good.

How do I know that? well, how many of us have sit in a Ferrari? But, we all know that it is good right? Think along that line...

Back to the "best thing". In London, they have this group known as the Cafe Society and it is them that choose the La Marzocco Strada MP as the best product of the year.

Cafe Society is all about promoting the cafe experience, and is very aggressive in pushing for development of a great cafe experience into a way of life.

So, they are pretty credible in things relating to cafe and stuff, i.e. they know what they are talking about.

La Marzocco is not a big company, having only about 50 employees but they are used in over 65 countries, mainly through distributors.

You can say that they are one of the main players when it comes to premium gourmet coffee machines. Not many company can boast of presence in 5 continents!

Hmm...what is so good about the La Marzocco Strada MP? It is the good ol' pressure thingy. Countless brands and machines have tried to play around with the pressure element.

And it seems like La Marzocco has got it right! They have this thing known as the variable pressure profile and this allows the baristas total control!

I am talking about extracting at low pressure, medium, high pressure, it is totally variable, giving full control to the baristas!

My $0.02 is, if you have a cafe with competent baristas, this is a good machine. But, if you are operating with part-timers, this variable thing might backfire and produce low quality espresso drink.

PS: Incidentally, just spoke to a friend recently in Singapore and he mentioned about opening a cafe with a La Marzocco, wonder if it is Strada MP -if yes, would be able to get a first look:)

Here is video of how it looks like: