Considerations for Commercial Espresso Makers

Commercial espresso makers are not just for the local coffee shop anymore. Own a restaurant? Or how about at work? The office is nearly as important a place to have ample sources of coffee every morning as anywhere else. Along with dozens of other workplaces, it’s not realistic to expect a simple at home espresso maker to stand up to the rigors of the massive daily demand of dozens of coffee hungry workers or customers.

For that reason commercial espresso makers are designed to be bigger, more durable, and ultimately more efficient than those smaller, quicker machines you might find in someone’s kitchen. But for the serious espresso lovers, the commercial units are turning up in the home too.

Our recommended vendor for commercial espresso machines/grinders is KaTom.com Restaurant Supply, Inc. A great reputable company in business for over 23 years with an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. Commercial espresso machines and grinders as well as cappuccino machines, espresso cups, etc.

Things to Consider Before You Purchase

Desired Features Prices usually start in the four figure range. So it’s important to know exactly what you need. Think about which features are most important for your commercial espresso maker. A coffee shop with a hundred customers a day is clearly going to be in need of different features than a third floor office serving a dozen or so employees five days a week.

Speed This is a top consideration. With most commercial espresso machines, heat up time should be negligible. They are in fact designed for quick ease of use, but how fast do you actually need it? If you have customers waiting in line for that latte, you’ll want a fully or super automatic machine capable of resetting and loading your drinks as quickly as possible. Your milk should not take longer than a few seconds to steam.

However, if your office or workplace is merely looking for a good, fancier way to drink their morning coffee, coworkers can wait the extra few minutes. The machine will need time to reset before the next shot.

It’s a matter of necessity when speaking of speed and often the price will reflect this. The higher end machines will manage upwards of 175 cups an hour in output, well beyond what any office could expect to need.

Size Size may matter! Besides speed, you’ll want your commercial espresso machine to be of a fairly decent size. Large enough to accommodate as many patrons as possible. It should have a decent sized water reservoir and a large hopper for your coffee beans.

Cleaning And for those office place settings, the subject of cleaning might arise. Some machines are simpler than others to take apart for a quick and easy clean after initial use. While café machines will be cleaned in the course of the day, at work or home it might not get readily done. You’ll want a simple, easy to clean machine.

Pressure For most commercial uses, you’ll want a machine fully capable of making all drinks, including crema. The pressure points are important, often between 11 and 18 bars of pressure is considered best. Casual settings with a set amount of drinks produced daily will not need quite the durability or pressure requirements of a machine used in a commercial, restaurant or café setting.

Options

• Warranty
• Extras/accessories
• Cup Warmer
• Frothing Wand
• Hot Water Dispenser
• Water Filter
• Programmable Option
• Volume of Water Dispensed
• Dosage Control
• Removable Brew Group (convenient for cleaning)
• Bypass Doser (Great for decaf. Don't need to empty hopper for one decaf)

When choosing a commercial espresso maker, consider a variety of machines that fit your budget. Make sure you know exactly what you’ll be using the machine for. And if it fits your budget, go for it! A commercial machine in the home is the be all and end all!

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