A Kiwi made espresso machine with a difference

Frank_Beanie

Hi everyone,

there is an interesting auction going on over in Kiwiland.
Appearantly some clever Kiwi built an espresso machine a long time ago and is now selling it:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=686869058

Kind of reminds me of the movie where a Kiwi guy took his old Indian motorcycle over to America to break the speed record...

Koffee_Kosmo

I would class that piece of engineering as Unique [attachimg=1]

askthecoffeeguy

wow - that's a beautiful looking piece of equipment!

Seeya_Latte

Dunno...looks like something Edward Scissorhand's mad father built

Brett_H

Love it!!

Lacehim

I wonder if it comes with an instruction manual? haha. Looks like a frankenstein lever for sure but it must have been great to work on and build and then brew a coffee on.

FreshCoffee2

you guys are very trusting...... ;D All I can see in the photo is a couple of espresso machine boilers turned on their ends with other fitments "cut and shut" into place (a few recognizable bits from apparently dud "Belle Epoque" range elektra machines), and some pipes thrown in to connect one side to the other and complete the picture. Call me a doubting thomas but the first question I would ask is...."does it really work" and the second would be, "can you send a video please". Otherwise it is a lovely looking piece of art/sculpture...I love it (how could you not). So for me, it looks like art first, and coffee machine second if at all. Price according to your individual preference. On the tangent - Does Frank Beanie want to participate here, or did he only join to advertise his auction (cant help that is what it looks like from this end)?

Koffee_Kosmo

Fresh Coffee wrote:

you guys are very trusting...... ;D All I can see in the photo is a couple of espresso machine boilers turned on their ends with other fitments "cut and shut" into place (a few recognizable bits from apparently dud "Belle Epoque" range elektra machines), and some pipes thrown in to connect one side to the other and complete the picture. Call me a doubting thomas but the first question I would ask is...."does it really work" and the second would be, "can you send a video please". Otherwise it is a lovely looking piece of art/sculpture...I love it (how could you not). So for me, it looks like art first, and coffee machine second if at all. Price according to your individual preference. On the tangent - Does Frank Beanie want to participate here, or did he only join to advertise his auction (cant help that is what it looks like from this end)?

Totally agree with all that's written However with membership - one must give the benefit of doubt at the early stage and see how it pans out Apart from that it's a talking point at this stage be it art or a working contraption KK

hiphipharar

My first reaction was the same as Attilio's. It looked like an assembly of machine parts and I couldn't see how it could be a coffee machine. No group head(s) for example. Then I saw the Q&A: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=686869058#qna

Let's say you have Barista experience and know what you're doing, and you are making a single extraction: 1) open PF (portafilter) lock, wind down and remove PF 2) place PF under grinder chute, fill with coffee and remove 3) place PF lid on coffee, and place the lot onto the PF lifter 4) wind up lifter and compress coffee, watching pressure gauge 5) open water cock, wind up piston 6) close cock, wind down piston, watching pressure gauge

Brett_H

Oh certainly I wouldn't be using it to make coffee, I'd use it to make conversation then fire up my pump-driven machine for a nice cuppa. Welcome Frank. You're a north-islander by the looks of it and this is a south-island auction. Do you know the artisan that built this?

Ol_Grumpy

Moonshine bro, straight up!

Ol_Grumpy

Actually in the Q&a it sounds very much like my Rossa Portespresso routine... If I had a speciality coffee cafe, I'd snap this up in an instant... Might cost you $10k tops to get it here... and get it working... But I'd bet a smart operator could generate a $100k of free publicity with it... Value= priceless as a publicity generator.... Do it right and you'll have them coming from miles around....

askthecoffeeguy

Lacehim wrote:

I wonder if it comes with an instruction manual? haha. Looks like a frankenstein lever for sure but it must have been great to work on and build and then brew a coffee on.

the questions and answers section of the ad goes into quite a bit of detail about the mechanics of the thing and how it all works - lots of manual switches!