Once upon a time at an unnamed company in an unnamed city, a coffee company opened a new café. They had exotic tastes in espresso machines and had purchased a beautiful, completely unheard-of model directly from a boutique European manufacturer. The crate was opened with care, the machine lifted onto the counter, and the whole staff gathered around to admire it.

“Hey,” said a bright young barista. “That machine doesn’t have a UL sticker on it.”

And at that angst-filled moment, the manager of the new café suddenly got very curious about UL. Could the machine be installed? Was it legal? Was it safe? And what, just exactly, was UL?

In any system where steam is generated, there is always a possibility that over-pressurization can cause a catastrophic failure of the pressure vessel. This could result in destruction of property, injury, and loss of life. This is a bad day no matter how you cut it.

Learn about the good old pressure relief valve, and how it can save you and your espresso machine a whole load of bother.

It’s exciting to see so much interest in the testing and reporting of water quality among technicians these days. Let’s talk about what a TDS meter actually is, what is measures, what it doesn’t measure, and how to make the most of yours.

“In my day-to-day you’ll often find me on the phone helping techs in the field figure out what’s going on with the piece of equipment they’re in front of. We’ve all been there. After having dealt with traffic, circling the block several times looking for parking, only to be confronted by a frustrated café manager who needs their business-critical piece of equipment back in operation so they can get back to bringing in the monies. In those types of situations, it can often be a challenge to take a step back, gather information, and work toward sussing out the root cause.

It’s times like these where having a mantra comes in handy.”

As a coffee technician, some of your accounts will need equipment that is able to grind large amounts of coffee at a time. The million dollar question, though: how do you decide which grinder works best for them?