Espresso Machine Innovation

Systemic

The espresso machine has been around for 120 years old since Bezzera patented his innovations.

Name one innovation since then you think has, in the pursuit of espresso excellence, has made a difference.

Another thread will be created for grinders which are equally if not more important than the espresso machine in getting the best out of the bean.

dfk41

The Sage Dual Boiler. It is the first machine I am aware of that is genuinely ready to make coffee after 3 to 4 minutes

Systemic

Introduction of PID technology has got to be up there. Back in the days of Gaggia Class and Rancilio Silvia you were on the cutting edge using temp surfing to try and manage the machine’s temp dead band.

DavecUK

I’ll list a few

Rotary pumps in prosumer machines
Dual boilers with proper preheat systems
PIDs with offset controls
Last shot protection (including steam boiler autofill cut out during a shot)
Fastwarm (overheating the brew boiler to warm up the group)
Pressure sensing preinfusion and main shot times on lever machines
Automatic lever release at a defined pressure or time on lever machines)
Dual boiler levers
Accessible drain taps on boilers from under the machine)
Insulation on prosumer machines (Cremina had asbestos, but I won’t count that)
The magic size of brew boiler for E61 group boilers
The dipper tube in an upright brew boiler to prevent thermosyphon lock
The change to the ACS safety system so it works better
The general elimination of permanent thread locker

I came up with most of these ideas and on a few I advised

dutchy101

A 3 way solenoid valve to replace the need for a lever on an E61 group machine

DavecUK

dutchy101 A 3 way solenoid valve to replace the need for a lever on an E61 group machine

Group mounted pressure gauge on this specific style of group….was only done on E61 lever variants before for technical and aesthetic reasons.

chlorox

For me, the single most important development in espresso was the invention of the spring lever in the form of achille gaggia’s machine in 1947. For the very first time in history, true espresso as we know it was created whereby 9 bar and greater pressures were exerted for the first time with declining pressure profile thereby creating the crema containing cup of concentrated coffee flavours we love today. (Interestingly, I understand from hedrick’s museum visit video that the first spring levers had double boilers and if so then double boilers date back to the genesis of the espresso machine…)

There was an aberration in 1961 when the pump machine was invented and then took over the espresso world, but thankfully the lever has always been held as the standardin naples and has made a comeback in the rest of the world in more recent years.

giampiero

IMO, any features that has been applied to a coffee machine surely is an improvement, but not all are for a real espresso in the cup benefit.

Trying to mention some other recent “innovations” strictly for the espresso in the cup benefit, i would say the Slayer shot system, the KVDW E61 mod, the introduction of the gear pump for pressure profiling.

Doram

Bottomless portafilter?

Sham

I wonder how many innovations we could churn out if we designed a machine from the bottom up engineering wise. A lot of professional or prosumer machines have decades of legacy designs/systems. One thing I’m keen on is keeping the total cost low (which is actually the hardest part).

MediumRoastSteam

Sham I wonder how many innovations we could churn out if we designed a machine from the bottom up engineering wise

In my opinion, the Decent is the closest thing to what you described above right now. No boilers. That’s an achievement and a half in my book.

But it ain’t cheap.

giampiero

Sham Why not open a new dedicated thread, i’m sure will be an interesting reading

Sham

MediumRoastSteam Decent is pretty good, but too expensive. A lot of their components are actually really cheap, but their development costs were too high hence the high price. From looking at some of their posts their R&D process seemed very inefficient. The actual thermo coil system for the water and steam is sub £100, not sure how long they spent doing fluid heat simulations, but I guess that added a lot to the cost. They have to recoup it somewhere.

Sham

giampiero Might be a good idea, with some input from some experienced members of this forum it might be a fun little initiative. Have to be careful though as some patent trolls might steal the ideas!