Back in 2002, La Marzocco, a well respected top-tier commercial espresso machine manufacturer started making serious moves towards designing a machine for the home. They had many hurdles to overcome, from figuring out how to get two powerful boilers working on a household 110V, 15A standard circuit, to ensuring the machine was still powerful and reliable enough to carry the La Marzocco branding.
In 2005, they demonstrated a near-final pre-production La Marzocco GS/3 (which today is called the GS3, but we’ll refer to it as the GS/3 for this article for historical purposes), to the (semi) public at the Specialty Coffee Association of America trade show in Seattle. By 2007, they were selling the machine, albeit with a very hefty $7,000+ price tag.
The GS/3 is no doubt a ground breaking, genre creating machine. Nothing like it existed before — no machine was designed to be powerful enough to do duty in a busy restaurant or small cafe — but was still meant for home use. That’s not to say the machine also had some issues. Production quality on aesthetics was, at best, average at launch time. The machine had some internal faults in the early runs, from wet steam systems to poor welds on the drip tray, to that gawdawful original drip tray cover that let water pool over the side onto the counter. And there was those plastic side panels. It’s hard to expect a consumer to pay $7.000+ for a machine with plastic side panels.
The La Marzocco GS/3 has come a long way since then, with improvements in the fit and finish, more reliable parts inside, a nice dry steaming system, and of course, a much better drip tray cover. With the launch of the La Marzocco Home program in the past year, the machine can now be bought (in the US, for now) with panels it deserves to have – nice woods and nice custom glass. And still, the GS/3, with its 15A/20A switchable mode, its EP and MP (paddle group) versions, and it is easy enough to convert from full reservoir / mobile (bring it to your next street party and set up a cafe!) to plumbed in, for water on demand.
So now fast forward to 2015. Unlike any other commercial machine company, La Marzocco has proved they are committed to the upscale, demanding home market, and this year, they’re launching their second salvo at that market, with the launch of the La Marzocco Linea… Mini.
This is our first take on the machine. I say “first take” because unlike most of our first looks, we didn’t get much time with the Linea Mini, and didn’t really get to put it through serious paces; we had a day at La Marzocco in Seattle with the machine earlier this month. What I saw was mostly impressive, but any of my observations and comments are based on this – seeing the machine at La Marzocco’s offices, and only getting to play around with it for a few hours. If we get the opportunity to actually get the machine and put it through serious paces, I’ll be able to post a more comprehensive first look or review later on.
(ed.note: La Marzocco declined to send us a test unit to properly evaluate, so there will be no detailed review)
Until then, this is our brief look at the new La Marzocco Linea Mini; La Marzocco’s second salvo at the home market.