The Italian Journey.

Well, I had great intentions to post while on vacation, but I was on vacation. It was good to take a break from the keyboard and spend time with my family ;-) As Dave noted in an earlier post, we moved Espresso Parts! Man what an effort it takes its toll and then either you take a break, or it breaks you. The staff at espressoparts.com, is incredible and they didn't skip a beat along the way, Thanks guys and gals!

Coffee is our gig, day in and day out it is what we do. Our dedication to the art of the Barista, and to the equipment that creates quality coffee is in my opinion, unparalleled. While traveling Italy and France we had good coffee, but nothing excellent. It was actually two days in Rome before I even had espresso! I know that might seem odd, but I was simply just worn, and needed to take a break.

There is a coffee revolution here in the states, take my word for it. I'm not saying that it is great all over, but what we are doing for coffee and espresso preparation will make its mark in coffee history.


While on vacation we did indulge in one work related stop.

Kent Bakke, of La Marzocco had arranged a visit for us to the LM factory in Florence. A driver from LM picked us up at the train station, and then drove us through the amazing countryside of Florence to the factory. My wife and kids said I was grinning ear to ear and you know what? They were right. I love to see places like this and it warms my heart to see machines that I get to work on being assembled. Our guide through the facility was Clare Featherston, of the La Marzocco technical center. Clare was awesome, and spent several hours with us, showing us around and telling us the history of La Marzocco. We also had the awesome pleasure to meet with Piero Bambi, whose family started La Marzocco. We had a great visit and talked coffee, and machines, before heading to a local spot for a fantastic Florentine lunch.

Thanks to Clare, Piero, and Kent, for taking time to make our visit enjoyable!

Here is a link to some pictures of this stop, and visit to La marzocco.