Interview with Guido Bernardinelli, CEO of La Marzocco
Tea, Coffee, Wine…They all share secrets and discovering these secrets can sometimes be very expensive. Fine wine, fine tea and fine coffee are a rare luxury. In order to process the best coffees in the world, La Marzocco created the “Rolls Royce” of the Espresso machines. Guido Bernardinelli, the CEO of this italian company based in Florence, gave us an interview and detailed the precision required to prepare the best coffees in the world.
Why “single origin coffees” are still so rare in most places where they serve “grand cru” wines. Vintage, terroir, variety…It is the same approach is not it?
“Because the movement that considers coffee as an artisanal product (like wine), rather than as a traded commodity – called the “Third Wave” movement – began among the specialty coffee community in the United States and has only recently begun to spread to countries like the UK, Australia & New Zealand and Scandinavia. Completing the evolution of coffee from commodity to connoisseur beverage, the Third Wave of coffee involves improvements at all stages of production, from improving coffee bean growing, harvesting, and processing, to stronger relationships between coffee growers and coffee traders and roasters, to higher quality and fresh small-batch, micro-roasting, to skilled brewing. Traditional wine producing countries and espresso drinking countries are typically one in the same, Italy and France for example. While the French and the Italians savor great wines, drinking espresso is routine – a quick break during a busy day, many times the consumer doesn’t really “taste” or enjoy its flavor. I am sure this will evolve; it’s a process.”
La Marzocco is revolutionary and gained respect in most parts of the world for making the “Rolls Royce” of the espresso machine. Why?
” There are many reasons. However focusing on main technological advantages, La Marzocco machines boast dual, stainless steel boilers, electronic temperature control and saturated brewing groups. Espresso coffee machines have two primary functions: brewing espresso and steaming milk. High demands of steaming power can upset the temperature stability of a single boiler heat-exchanger type machine. This can result in bitter or scorched espresso. La Marzocco machines have completely separate, dedicated boilers for each of these functions, allowing them to operate simultaneously yet independently from one another. The coffee boiler contains a large quantity of water, which is maintained at an optimal brewing temperature kept constantly under control by a precision electronics that ensures a maximum temperature variation between one coffee and the next of less than ± 0.5° C, an industry record. Moreover, the steam pressure can be easily adjusted without impacting the coffee brewing temperature, and its high powered output of dry steam makes it easy to prepare creamy cappuccinos, lattes and macchiatos. Moreover, a heavy group body ensures a more stable thermal stability thanks to a greater inertial mass and therefore a constant temperature of the water in coffee brewing. La Marzocco groups are made of stainless steel and welded directly to the boiler, also made from stainless steel, and predisposed to provide hot water solely for brewing coffee, the temperature of which is controlled by means of a electronic thermostat. We call this technology saturated groups since the water in the boiler and the water inside the brew groups are one-in-the-same. Result: a consistent extraction and dispensing temperature, shot after shot.”
Could you choose one of your favorite “single origin coffee” and explain how a La Marzocco machine would make it perfectly to get the best of the terroir?
“I enjoy a cup of Ethiopian Yergacheffe like I enjoy a glass of Grand Cru Burgundy. This is a washed Arabica, slightly fruity and acidic in taste. It has a good body with floral hints and a balanced cup. Featuring “total pressure profiling”, I would use La Marzocco’s newest espresso machine, the Strada, to highlight the qualities of this single origin coffee. La Marzocco is the first to introduce a machine that allows the barista to profile pressure and bring out different flavor components which affect the balance and body of the shot, and produce a rounder, softer espresso that highlights brightness, sweetness and delicate notes. The Strada enables you to create that perfect expression of a particular single origin coffee as an espresso, and reproduce a flavor profile that may be difficult to attain at a constant 9 bars of pressure, a standard among the espresso machine industry.”
(You can reach the writer at info@vitabella.fr)
