My wife runs a coffee shop in a small PA town. We love our current espresso machine, but it fusses sometimes. It would be smart to have a backup.
We are looking at a San Marco 80e 3 Group machine.
Have you used this machine before? What did you think?
Thanks
by SaladFreeway
2 Comments
Did you know there are a bunch of espresso machines branded by Cecilware/GrindMaster/Wega/so on. That are made by Astoria/La Marazocco/so on. So you may be hunting some brand, and it’s no different than another brand.
If you look up steam valves, there are a handful, and a good amount of them are shared valves among other units.
Happy hunting!
La San Marco are a very old and well respected brand in the industry, if for their durability and value alone. They are not a copy of another manufacturer, nor (to my knowledge) have they ever been sold under another name.
They are particular in a number of ways, and have attributes not found (but have been copied) in other manufacturers.
Foremost are their portafilters: they are smaller than most, accepting a 52 (instead of 58) millimeter tamper. They also have three “ears” or locking protrusions on them instead of the usual two.
The steam valves were one of the first lever type to be widely introduced while every one else were still using turn type knobs. (Carimali, Elektra, Reneka an Unic did too, but they were not as prolific)
The model 80 is an older model, and is slated to be phased out. As good of a quality build that LSM provides, from a strictly business perspective it might be best to pursue a newer model from a manufacturer your local technician and or roaster are most familiar with.