Does this equate to bad coffee?
Do you know the feeling? You go to a restaurant or a café and want to enjoy a delicious espresso after your lunch? Or you want to drink a caffè latte or a cappuccino and are utterly disappointed. The coffee tastes rancid, bitter, almost undrinkable, and you regret not having waited until you got home to brew your own espresso.
Many say that this is mainly due to the fact that restaurants in particular use automatic coffee machines. And these simply can't achieve the perfection of a portafilter machine. But is that true? Does an automatic coffee machine have to produce bad coffee? Many have given us a 17th warning sign in addition to the 16 warning signs for bad coffee in cafés and restaurants, namely the automatic coffee machine. But we are convinced that the automatic coffee machine has its place in gastronomy and that many do not fully exploit its potential.
Misunderstandings about automatic coffee machines
We believe that the automatic coffee machine is misunderstood, both by cafés, roasteries, and even by the manufacturers of the machines. It starts with the fact that automatic coffee machines don't actually work fully automatically!
Of course, the automatic machine grinds, distributes, tamps, clamps, and brews at the push of a button. But there are many aspects that do not work automatically.
Normally, coffee machines are named after the type of brewing. For example, with a portafilter machine, the coffee runs through a portafilter that needs to be filled with coffee. Accordingly, the automatic machine is a so-called piston coffee machine. A piston, filled with ground coffee, is moved into a brewing unit where it is compressed and brewed with hot water.
However, the danger of this incorrect naming of the coffee machine is primarily that the name "automatic" suggests that no one needs to worry about anything. Buy a machine, throw in some beans, press a button, and you can offer coffee drinks on your menu. But it's not that easy! Buying a machine is not the end of the work for the restaurateur, but actually the beginning.
What needs to be done with an automatic coffee machine?
An automatic coffee machine must be set up. It must be precisely defined what coffee-to-beverage ratio should be brewed into the cup. This beverage ratio must be determined based on a bean selection. Which beans work well with the machine? With which beans do the drinks taste good with which brewing recipe? And last but not least, in addition to regular and thorough cleaning, a daily quality control of every coffee drink must be carried out.
The settings should ideally be made together with a trained service technician. However, service technicians usually work more on the technical side of the machine and are only rarely extensively trained in the sensory aspects of coffee.
Another level that the restaurateur must tackle: Sitting down with roasters and roasteries and choosing beans for their automatic coffee machine. Good roasteries can help with the selection, as they know their coffees well and also know which ones are well suited for brewing in a piston machine.
Here is also a small appeal to the roasteries. There are catering establishments that have justifiably opted for an automatic coffee machine. And we roasteries should support these establishments! Many roasteries have rather neglected or not at all considered roasting beans for automatic machines. Therefore, the selection of coffees for automatic machines is very limited. That's a shame and it's worth changing!
Criticism of automatic coffee machine manufacturers
An automatic coffee machine suitable for gastronomy costs several thousand euros. But when you look at the budgets of the manufacturers, some large manufacturers are also based in Switzerland, then doubts creep in. The expenses for marketing far exceed the costs for further development of the machines.
Our experiences with automatic coffee machines reflect this policy of some manufacturers. There are many innovations in terms of external appearance. Touch displays, color LEDs and so on, so that the machines look more beautiful and futuristic. But it seems as if many companies are not too interested in really dealing with the food chemistry aspects of the brewing processes. In comparison, in the same period, the home barista sector has qualitatively catapulted itself to a completely different level.
Even if it is often sobering to see blatant errors in manufacturers' brochures, for example, there are also exceptions. Companies that are truly interested in the further development of automatic coffee machines. And these exceptions make us confident that something can change and that we are on the way to better coffee in gastronomy.
The ideal world of automatic coffee machines from our perspective
For us, an ideal world would look like this: an interested restaurateur, after purchasing an automatic coffee machine, sits down with a service technician (trained in sensory evaluation) and a local roaster to jointly consider how their coffee should taste. How strongly should the espresso taste through the milk, how strong should an acidity or bitterness be tasted? This trio collectively develops quality protocols for EVERY drink. This can easily take two days. Subsequently, the team is trained and introduced to the respective beverages. Daily, based on a testing protocol, the quality of each product (flow time, temperature, taste, consistency) is controlled, ideally by a really well-trained person or the restaurateur themselves.
In such an establishment, the cappuccino and also the espresso from an automatic machine can definitely compete with an espresso from a portafilter. And thus, in our opinion, the automatic coffee machine truly has its raison d'être, as the staff needs significantly less training than with a portafilter machine. And remember, a poorly prepared espresso from a really beautiful portafilter machine still tastes terrible. In that case, an espresso from a well-adjusted and constantly checked automatic machine is preferable.
Conclusion: The automatic coffee machine in gastronomy
If we automatically equate an automatic coffee machine with bad coffee, we are making it far too easy for ourselves. You can make drinkable and even good coffee with almost any coffee machine if you consider a few parameters. Often, it mainly depends on whether the leading restaurateur is interested in the coffee actually tasting good and in maintaining consistent quality.
An idea for your next coffee from an automatic machine: instead of avoiding the coffee and hurriedly leaving the restaurant with a glance at the machine, you should perhaps politely approach the staff. Ask where the beans come from, if they work with local roasteries, and so on. Good restaurateurs recognize what their customers value, and we should show them what we value: good coffee!
We've thought about visiting a business and checking the coffee drinks with our old test protocol, and working out a way to good coffee together with you. If you are a restaurateur, you can apply HERE. We would then like to make an exemplary video from our visit that can help other businesses. We look forward to it!
