RobotFirst Look Coming Soon
We are currently transferring over all our previously published First Looks from the previous design and database of the CoffeeGeek website. This process started on February 25, and will be completed by March 30, 2024.
Years ago, I took a tour of a pretty amazing espresso machine museum in Italy, at the Cagliari Coffee Roaster company. Giant, polished chrome and copper machines from the 1920s; art deco works of art from the 1930s. Outlandish, curvy machines from the 1950s. All commercial machines. All huge. (Want to see photos from the tour? I posted a set to Flickr some time ago)
There was one room that had smaller machines designed for the home. Most were based on a lever design, but two were based on a butterfly lever design: a Gaggia made in the late 1950s, and a Faema Baby, also designed in the mid 1950s. I remember at the time thinking “wow, wouldn’t it be cool if someone tackled this very intriguing design again today?”
Well, someone did. Paul Pratt, the owner of Cafelat in Hong Kong and a noted espresso machine historical restorer and collector was familiar with the Faema Baby machine, and thought it was an intriguing, well thought out design idea. In 2015 (some 60 years after the Faema Baby machine was introduced) Pratt decided to see if he could actually manufacture a modern version of this kind of machine, but one with a much more simplified design, and no electrical power. Pratt first announced the hobby project in 2016, and shared pictures of the product development on his Instagram account, always making it clear this was a “fun hobby project” that he didn’t expect too much from.
But others sure did! So much so that Pratt decided to get a bit more serious about the machine, and in the spring of 2018, launched a Kickstarter Campaign for the Cafelat Robot. And unlike many black holes known as coffee related Kickstarters, Pratt and Cafelat came through, on time and on budget to actually produce and start selling the machines (after delivering all the machines to Kickstarter backers).
Now the machine is here, and being sold in two variants — the Basic model, and the Barista model — after Pratt fulfilled his Kickstarter shipments. We’ve got one at CoffeeGeek, and we’re proud to present our First Look at the Cafelat Robot!
We are currently transferring over all our previously published First Looks from the previous design and database of the CoffeeGeek website. This process started on February 25, and will be completed by March 30, 2024.
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