Buying your espresso machine: whose advice to trust

The schools of thought

Most buying advice comes from one of a few places, and each one bends the answer in its own direction. None of them is wrong, but none is the whole picture either.

• I have this and I love it

  The most common reply, and the least useful on its own. People defend what they own, so it is a bit of an echo chamber. Someone loving their machine tells you they got a good one, not that it is the right one for your shop.

• Ask a local tech

  Better. The person who actually has to fix the thing has opinions worth hearing. Just remember they have their own angle too, which is worth understanding before you weigh their advice.

• Dream machines vs. budget machines

  Some machines people buy because they are what they dream of. Others they buy because they are what their budget affords. Like most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Know your local tech support

Before you fall in love with a brand, find out what tech support exists in your area. If you are in a major metro, all the major brands will be serviced, so you will have options. If you are further out, your choices narrow fast, and that should shape what you buy.

Buying an off brand can save you money up front, but your total cost of ownership and resale both carry risk. Parts are harder to get, fewer techs will touch it, and you get less back when you sell. This is why I subscribe to buy nice or buy twice. Put your money and your caution into the machine and grinder, because they are the heart of the bar.

Techs are biased too, and that is fine

A good tech will tell you honestly what they see hold up and what they see fail. Just remember their sample size is not huge, and their incentives vary. None of this makes their advice bad. It just means you should hear it for what it is.

• Some do not sell equipment

  Plenty of techs do not want to get into invoicing and selling machines at all. That is ok, and it often means their recommendation carries less of a sales motive.

• Some want more of the revenue

  In certain parts of the country, techs want a bigger piece of the revenue than just install and maintenance. That is ok too, as long as you know it going in.

• It depends how busy they are

  A lot of how a tech handles sales and service comes down to their workload that season. A slammed shop triages differently than a slow one.

Questions to ask before you hire a tech

Whether you are buying a machine or just lining up service, these questions tell you how fast help can reach you and what it will cost. Ask them before you need the answer.

• Team and dispatch

  How many techs do you have, and where do you typically dispatch from?

• Drive time

  How much windshield time would it take to reach my shop?

• Parts and brands

  Are there any brands or parts you stock on the truck?

• Minimum call

  What is a minimum call, in both hours and rate?

• Labor rate

  What is your standard labor rate, and does it change after hours?

• SLAs

  Do you have a service level agreement or a target response time?

• References

  Can you give me one or two shops I could call for a reference?

For what it is worth, here is my own list

I am not standing outside any of this. Over the years, for my own bar and for the shops I have helped open, I have bought and run a good number of machines, almost all La Marzocco, which tells you exactly where my bias sits.

My first was a GB5 EE, 2 group, then an FB80, 3 group. After that came a Strada MP, 2 group, a Modbar, 2 group, a couple of GS3s, a custom GS2, 2 group, a Linea PB ABR, 2 group, and a Linea Micra at home. So when I say buy nice or buy twice, that is me owning which side of it I land on.

If it were me

Put the advice together and it lands in a simple place. Buy the machine you want, then build the support around it so a breakdown is an inconvenience, not a crisis.

• Buy what you want

  You are going to look at it every day, and it sets the tone for the bar. Within reason, buy the one you will be proud of.

• Build the tech relationship early

  Have a relationship with a local tech before you need one, not the morning the machine goes down in the middle of a rush.

• Stock your wear parts

  Keep gaskets, screens, and seals on hand. The further you are from a major hub, the more you should stock, because you are more likely to have to do emergency triage yourself.

• Keep dedicated tools

  Keep a handful of espresso specific tools dedicated to the equipment, and do not let them get borrowed for other projects around the shop.

• If you are mobile, know your machine

  On a cart or truck you are really more on your own, so understand your machine cold before you open.

The cheapest insurance you will buy

Two habits prevent most of the breakdowns people panic post about. Do preventative maintenance religiously, and run good water. Scale from hard water is the quiet killer of espresso machines, and a filter is far cheaper than a new boiler.

Buy the machine you will be proud of, line up someone who can fix it, take care of it, and the rest is mostly noise.

The forums will never stop asking whether the deal is good. Answer it for your own shop by starting with who can service the machine, not with who happens to love theirs.

Buy what you want, keep a tech on speed dial, stock your wear parts, and stay on top of maintenance and water. Do that and the machine will hold up its end.