For years we sold and serviced espresso machines alongside our coffee. We’ve decided to stop. Here’s the honest reasoning — and why we think it’s the better call for the people we serve.
First, the machines themselves
Bezzera are genuinely good machines. Hand-built in Italy, the kind of equipment that lasts for years when it’s looked after. We have no complaints about the product. When issues do surface, they can be slow to resolve through the factory in Italy — but our own technicians handle most of them in-house, which is exactly why the machines we’ve placed have held up so well.
So this isn’t about the machines being bad. It’s about where we can do the most good.
The honest reasons
Selling machines pulls a business in a different direction from selling coffee. It means a showroom, a trained sales floor, spare-parts inventory and a service workshop — a whole operation built around hardware. Done properly, it’s labour-intensive, and the margins are thin.
Customers who bought from us between 2022 and 2024 caught us at the right time: we were clearing stock ahead of the price increases, often at prices below our own cost. Anyone bringing these machines in today would have to charge close to double — which is likely why no one else has. We’d rather put that energy where it counts.
There’s also training. These are commercial machines. They reward an operator who understands them and frustrate one who doesn’t. The grinder alone has to be dialled to your beans, your technique and your setup — and re-dialled as conditions change. There’s no “set it once and forget it.” Getting that across to every buyer, properly, is harder than it sounds.
And maintenance separates the careful from the casual. Most of our machines have lasted beautifully because their owners followed one piece of advice: use softened water. The few who didn’t — or who used the wrong filters, alkaline water, or scale “inhibitors” that quietly concentrate the problem — ended up in repairs that take hours, sometimes days. We’d rather not build a business on avoidable mistakes.
If you already own one of our machines
You’re covered. We still service the machines and still stock spare parts. We may wind this down once a dedicated distributor is appointed, but for now nothing changes for our existing customers. (Fair warning: like the machines, parts prices have climbed.)
Where we’re putting our energy: the coffee
Here’s what most people get backwards. The machine matters far less than the coffee — and the hands using it.
We work with one of Italy’s finest roasteries, sourcing through a partner who sits on the international jury of the Cup of Excellence. That access is rare, and it’s where the real difference in your cup comes from — not from a more expensive boiler. Today, F&B operators and offices across Singapore run on supply contracts with us. That’s where we add the most value, and it’s where we’re focused.
What we actually believe about making good coffee
We’re not only trained in coffee. Several of us come from economics, retail and digital marketing, with a couple of decades in retail operations between us. So we look at all of this through one lens: marginal benefit versus marginal cost.
A special tamper. The most expensive machine. Boutique single-origins. Elaborate pouring rituals. Most of the time, what they add to the cup is far less than what they cost you. A good tool earns its place only if it makes the coffee taste better, or makes your work meaningfully faster. Otherwise it’s theatre.
It’s also why we tend to recommend the simpler machine — a heat exchanger over a double boiler for most operators. Fewer components and less electronics means fewer things to fail. In our experience we’ve yet to see clear evidence that a double boiler makes a better espresso; if it does, the difference is smaller than the price gap.
Good coffee isn’t difficult, and it shouldn’t be made to feel that way. Understand the basics — a sensible grind, water that isn’t too hot — and you can pull something genuinely good with very simple kit. We’ve never held our methods back: the fundamentals are on our site, and you’re always welcome to email us.
One last tip
Stir your espresso before you drink it.
That single habit will do more for your cup than most of the rituals people obsess over. Try it tomorrow morning.
Talk to us about your coffee. Whether you run a café, a restaurant or an office pantry, we’ll help you get a consistently good cup — and keep your existing machine running while we’re at it.