Ok - had a good look at the lineup and a few others the other day, and there were a few pleasant surprises! Firstly the greenline machines were pretty much as expected: high on functionality, great on temperature stability, and high on user friendly tweak-ability and cool fun things for baristas to play with! But, to me you have to take in the complete package, which includes visual appeal and the look / atmosphere, and impression that you want to convey in your establishment To this end I do not think that the 'look' of the plus 4 U range does justice to the functionality under the hood - there's a lot going on there with separate boilers for each group, and separate programable heating elements in each group. For an experienced barista with a knowledge of coffee profiles and regional characteristics, there's a lot to like about these machines in terms of the amount of tweaking and fine tuning possible to get the most out of your coffee. Although, to my mind at least it's questionable as to how many baristas out there would actually know what they're doing in this regard, and how many would just be "fluffing" around In all fairness the machines look a lot better in the flesh than they do on the page, and they're customisable in terms of colour schemes - but something in me still feels incredibly squeamish when it comes to plastic finishes on machines Still they're have their place and in terms of functionality and programmability, and at a price which is right, I'd say that they'd be pretty hard to beat What was even more of a pleasant surprise, to me at least however, was the visual appeal and charm of the Perla volumetric machine - which with its thermocouple group heads and straight forward on / off brew switch for manual extraction appeals to my stripped back and analogue aesthetic - and the price is definitely right... And the Rapallo semi-auto AEP - was definitely the pick of the bunch for me in terms of visual appeal, with its E61 like groups definitely looking the goods Unfortunately there were no lever machines from this range on display, so I can't comment there My only concern with the Rapallo and the Perla volumetric machines is that both would require incredible focus and attention to detail on the part of the barista, in terms of consistency of pours and consistency of product, and I would be reluctant to use either of these machines in an environment where there is more than one or two baristas in total operating the machines, tops I certainly wouldn't want part time casuals experimenting with extraction volumes on customers, who in all likelihood would probably not come back if their coffees were constantly over / under extracted Which is not to say that it can't be done and done well, but I have in mind a particular kind of setup required to make the most out of this equipment, and its not my current setting Although, as I said, I think both are great machines, and I for one would relish the opportunity to set up a concept and fit out which would do justice to these very hands-on machines What's that? Did someone say get some financial backers behind you? You'll have to speak up coz I can't quite hear you! Also got to have a look at some other very sexy machines with a price tag to match - but you'll just have to wait and see how that all pans out All I can say is that I have set the balls in motion, and let the cards fall where they may! (Not sure but I thinks that's officially a mixed metaphor) Oh and one other thing, I didn't mind the Gloria plus 4 U, but didn't like the plastic finish, but the boys there said they'd be happy to spray it with a metallic finish if the price were right - so there's some food for thought ...
