HOW TO CHOOSE A COFFEE MACHINE
Are you considering buying a coffee machine for your home or for your business? Well, you can pick from a wide selection of functions and varied designs. With some models, we can even adapt the machine to fit your, the customer’s, specific design requirements. For example, you can pick your own color or place your company logo on the machine.
But how do you choose the right machine? This is the most frequent question we discuss with customers who visit our Coffee Center, and that’s what led us to put together the following guide. We hope that the next few paragraphs help answer your questions and that they help you better understand how to prepare coffee, and also understand coffee itself for that matter.
Number of cups a day
It is important to know how many cups of coffee a day your coffee machine should be able to prepare. Most home coffee machines can handle 20-35 cups per day. If you wish to make more, then we recommend you have a look at our professional range. Our professional coffee machines are able to prepare 50 or more cups a day and their clear advantage is first and foremost their greater performance, their more robust construction reflecting users’ bigger demands, and also their practical, larger containers or optional connection to a water line. These coffee machines are also ideal for offices and smaller gastronomic/restaurant operations.
Types of coffee drinks or beverages
Are you looking for a coffee machine that can make, alongside a great espresso, also milk beverages like cappuccino, latte or even the increasingly popular hot chocolate? Then don’t forget to add this request for your favorite beverages to your search filter.
Manual or automatic coffee machine?
With the manual press coffee machine, you have the entire coffee preparation process and the resulting taste under your control. The resulting coffee is your work of art. However, to prepare a good espresso or a foam-topped cappuccino, you need to have at least the basic skills of a barista. But if you don’t want to or you don’t have the time to spend making a single cup of coffee and you don’t wish to compromise on the quality or taste of the coffee you prepare, we recommend you have a look at automatic coffee machines. They make preparing coffee both easy and very quick. You can make most coffee drinks with the touch of a single button and our high-end machines can prepare two cups at once. You will appreciate this when preparing coffee for many people, e.g. during get-togethers with friends or for office meetings and appointments.
Coffee beans or coffee capsules?
There are no fundamental differences when making coffee from capsules or using an automatic coffee machine. You can make your coffee fast and easy just by pressing a button. The advantage of coffee made from fresh-ground beans though is the essential difference in the taste of the drink. Nature made the best packaging possible for coffee: the bean itself. Only by proper grinding and extraction can you get the best the bean has inside it. Unique crema intense aroma and a wide array of tastes. But you can’t wait to use them. Ground coffee stays fresh and in good taste condition for a very short period of time. We, therefore, recommend that you ground the exact amount of coffee you need and avoid storing it. This is because ground coffee loses its aroma almost immediately. Nothing will brighten your day like freshly ground coffee beans.
If you decided to opt for an automatic coffee machine, we will try to advise you in the following text which parameters you should look at when choosing and why.
Grinder
The grinder, or mill, is a critical part of all coffee machines. This is because the coarseness of the grind impacts the beverage’s resulting taste. When choosing your machine, you should thus pay attention to whether the grinder offers settings for the coarseness of the grind. Lamanti coffee machines offer high-quality grinders with very precise calibration for the coarseness of grinding. Still, they run very quietly thanks to very careful sound buffering included in their design.
Brewing unit
From the grinder, the coffee then moves to the brewing unit. There, extraction occurs using hot water. However, before that, the coffee needs to be properly tamped. This should be done evenly, as it is very important for coffee-making. Among other things, it determines how quickly the hot water passes through the coffee and whether the water will be able to bring to the cup the maximum taste possible from the ground coffee. If the hot water passes through too quickly, you will lose both taste and aroma and the coffee can have higher acidity. However, if the water passes through too slowly, there is a risk that more substances than wanted will find their way into your drink.
7 g of coffee and 35-40 ml of water are needed to make one espresso. People who prefer stronger coffee or coffee with a stronger aroma tend to use more coffee. That is why you should pay proper attention to the brewing unit when selecting a coffee machine. If it does not have sufficient power, this will have a negative impact on extraction and also on the coffee’s resulting taste. The easiest way to test a brewing unit’s performance is to make two espressos at once. If you are able to prepare them both at once from a single grind (from 14 g of coffee), the machine performance will most likely be sufficient. If you have to make the coffee repeatedly with subsequent grinding, this means that your brewing unit does not have adequate power.
It is in the brewing unit that your cup of coffee gets its characteristic taste and aroma. Thus, it is clear that the unit must be kept clean and that you must never underestimate the need for regular cleaning. When choosing your coffee machine, you must therefore find out how to take care of it properly. The brewing unit, provided it does not have its own cleaning system, should be easily accessible and simple to wash. If this is not the case, there is a risk of improper calibration which can later have a negative impact on the taste of beverages or, in extreme cases, threaten the sanitariness of prepared beverages. We have included more detailed information for you below in the section on coffee machine maintenance.
Lamanti coffee machines have been designed so that they save you time and also withstand the demands of demanding gastronomic operations. The patented brewing unit with its automated cleaning system is one of many innovative solutions that help anyone succeed at coffee machine maintenance. There is no need for difficult disassembly of the machine or to spend lots of time cleaning individual parts. The coffee machine will guide you step-by-step through the entire cleaning process using simple instructions that gradually appear on the machine display.
Water temperature
For proper coffee extraction, you need the right water temperature, i.e. between 88-92 °C. You should definitely focus on this parameter, because many coffee machines do not show this information. Lighter roasted coffees need a water temperature around 88 °C for proper extraction. Darker roasts, on the other hand, can handle a higher temperature. You may come across some coffee machines on the market that are not able to heat water to the required temperature and then coffee extraction does not happen as it should.
At the right temperature, coffee releases its aroma and even the slightest nuances of the coffee’s flavor develop. Some coffee machines are not able to heat water to the required temperature and coffee extraction does not occur as it should. If the temperature is too low, coffee can become acidic and it will not maintain the proper crema. Water temperature should be adjustable with regard to preparation of different types of drinks: ideally, individually for each type of coffee beverage.
The coffee machine’s ability to produce enough steam goes hand in hand with the performance of the thermo block heating system. Without it, you would not be able to make proper milk foam or serve frothy milk specialty beverages such as cappuccino or lattes. In order to determine if the coffee machine has enough power, check that it can produce steam consistently for a period of 30-40 seconds.
Lamanti coffee machines have 2 independent thermo block heating systems whose performance noticeably speeds up preparation of milk specialty beverages as the coffee machine does not require lengthy warming up to higher temperatures.
High-quality pump
Most baristas will tell you that a quality coffee machine should provide pressure of 15 bars or more. This applies mainly to automatic coffee machines. However, more important is whether the machine is able to maintain consistent pressure. If a coffee machine can produce pressure only at the start of the brewing process and then the pressure drops, it will clearly show in the resulting taste of the coffee. Just as a point of interest: manual lever coffee machines in restaurants (gastro facilities) usually have approximately 9 bars, but it is important that they keep this pressure stable, i.e. that it remains the same for a sufficient period of time.
Maintenance
In our Coffee Center, our customers who already have experience using automatic coffee machines, often ask how difficult maintenance is. The cleanliness of a coffee machine, as has already been stated, is critical for the quality of prepared beverages and it cannot be neglected. That is why we focused on developing an automated cleaning system that is more efficient and also simpler and quicker. It has minimum maintenance requirements so that everyone can manage it.
Lamanti offers comprehensive care for your coffee machine, including its own collection of effecient cleaning products. The practical packaging in varied sizes is suitable both for home use as well as for smaller and larger offices or even restaurants. The effectiveness of the cleaning agents is guaranteed for all types of coffee machines and all brands. They are also the guaranteed right choice for the machines’ long life when used regularly.
We have prepared detailed instructions on how to care for your automatic coffee machine which you will find here.
Advantages of Lamanti coffee machines
patented brewing unit- adjustable temperature for a perfect coffee-drinking experience
- high-power pump
- simple maintenance – automatic cleaning and descaling
- preparation of coffee beverages with the single touch of a button
- automatic preparation of milk foam
- use of coffee beans or ground coffee
- intelligent touch control panel with LCD display
- dual independent thermo block heating systems for maximum temperature stability
- adjustable coffee spout height with a range of 80-140 mm
- custom beverage memory system
- long-term durability
- high-quality grinder with very precise calibration for coarseness of grind
- optional connection to water line
- Red Dot award for design
Final tips
Before buying or renting a coffee machine, we recommend that you visit a store and ask that they make you an espresso. Focus on its crema: it should be compact and thick. If the coffee machine claims it can make two espressos at once, then test it out. This will help you determine if the given brewing unit is powerful enough. Don’t be afraid to ask the salesperson if you can make a coffee yourself. Try how easy or difficult is to operate the coffee machine.
Or come see us directly in our Coffee center. We will be glad to take you through our showroom where we display models from the top coffee brands. If you bring your own coffee, we will make you a cup in one of our coffee machines and you can see for yourself. You can also choose coffee from the wide selection of our premium coffees, be it single-variety or increasingly popular coffee blends. We will also gladly show you how coffee is roasted. Every day, the top roasters LORING and Novoroaster prepare for our customers premium quality coffee that is tailor-made to fit your taste preferences.
We look forward to your visit!