Commercial machine for school students

Novice

Hi

I was wondering if anyone could advise on suitable commercial machines that can be used in a secondary school environment for students completing Vocational Ed Hospitality courses. If they are to receive real world experiences they need to use commercial equipment. My problem is where do I start.  Can students experience commercial coffee making using a single group machine? Should I try to buy a semiautomatic or something else?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

FreshCoffee2

Hi Novice, you are correct, the students should be exposed to commercial (rather than domestic) equipment. All too often unfortunately, decisions on equipment come down to the bottom line i.e. money. The school must not be tempted to buy a domestic machine or a cheap older commercial machine that could be on its last legs, or they are totally wasting their money and the students as well as the teaching staff

Novice

Thanks for the advice Fresh Coffee. I have decided to purchase a single group commercial machine. It would be great if it did not have to be plumbed to a fixed location as I will be able to use it in different areas of the school. I have read great reports on the ECM Giotto. Can anyone tell me if there are other commercial single group machines that don't need to be hard plumbed? Is the Giotto as good as the reviews? Can I get away with a single group machine that isn't plumbed or are they really small office, semi-commercial? Many thanks Novice

over_extracted

Hello there in repply to your question ,i do have a giotto at home its a great little machine and you can get the most lovely coffee it has all the features you can ask for and its a manual system so you have to stop the coffee pour as you reach you desired dose.with a comercial group head it keeps the heat on all the time. i dont have mine plumbed in so i have to fill the water storage ,but this holds more than enought for at least 20 coffee.see ya OE

FreshCoffee2

Hi Novice and OE. beware of the size factor. Generally speaking it is "difficult" to operate around a small machine, especially in a teaching environment with a group. Imagine conducting a class on milk frothing, whilst using an espresso machine with a miniature boiler and low recovery rate due to small electric element capacity. You will also be filling the tank frequently. That's not to say any particular "small" commercial machine doesn't make good coffee, just that the smaller the machine, the less it appears like a real commercial setting for purposes of instructing the class... Cheers, Fresh Coffee.

Novice

Hi everyone, We have finally made our purchase and are very happy indeed. We purchased a ECM Venezianno A1 and a Nuova Simonelli grinder from John Doyle. The package included all the bits and pieces like tampers and knock tubes and most importantly training and ongoing service and support. We found the supplier through the initial message to this forum and I'm very grateful that Crema has made this service available. John provided advice whenever I had a concern and at no time pressured me for a sale. I felt very confident when I made the final purchase decision. Finally and most importantly John supplies magnificent coffee. Regards Novice

Unknown

Novice,       glad to see you got intouch with J.D he should be very helpful with his coffee expertise. Good luck and please please don't copromise on the training. Set a high standard so others can follow Regards Brian