So some of you may have noticed the shiny new toy we have atop our bar here at Espresso a Mano.  It is a La Marzocco GB5 espresso machine.  Why on earth did you get a new espresso machine when the old one was doing a perfectly good job? you may ask.  Well, it is true that the old one did a fine job and certainly produced some great drinks for us.  However, we want to be about taking things to the next level as much as we can.  This new machine offers greater temperature stability, which results in more consistent shots.  I don’t want to get into the whole heat exchanger vs. dual boiler debate (coffee geeks are familiar with this topic) but I will just say that the proof is in the espresso.  It’s better. 

Aside from the stability of this machine, another great feature is that it allows the user to actually see at what temperature we’re brewing and, if necessary, change that temperature.  This has led to some really neat experimentation and verification of ideas that I’ve read and heard from various experts but never had the capability of producing on my own.  In addition to this, those black levers that you see us moving around allow us to control the preinfusion of our shots.  What’s preinfusion? It’s the wetting of the bed of coffee grinds before it’s hit with pressurized water so that they may extract evenly and reduce the instances of channeling and fines migration.  More coffee geek talk, but the bottom line is it allows us to control and experiment and get more involved with the coffee we’re using, which, in the end, should result in better coffee in your cup and that’s what we’re all about.