# Tea shop needing to up their coffee game



## Threeracers (Nov 13, 2015)

My wife has a tea shop and the coffee comes out of a machine on contract which seems to be powdered everything. She isn't a coffee drinker.

I have a Rocket in the kitchen at home and she has decided to upgrade to a similar quality.

At the moment she isn't serving large amounts but its a new business, six months in, lots of ideas to increase footfall so we are hoping that demand increases.

Her coffee chap has recommended an Iberitol IB7 2 group machine, think he mentioned about £1900 and I believe that included a grinder.

What else should she look at? Don't mind second hand if I can get a decent contact who can service it/be on call if it fails.

Based in Deal in Kent so any recommendations would be gratefully received.

TIA

Regards

Mark


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

All depends if you want to buy, lease or tie yourself into buying beans from a supplier in exchange for free equipment. Matthew Algie are one of the biggest in the game. It saves outlay and I am sure there will be a deal with the equipment on servicing that it will need regularly. Some independent roasters will do similar things if you buy your beans. If you buy your equipment and want to stay on your own two feet then that is also an option. for me, the question is what standard of coffee do you want to serve? if you have aspirations of entering the WBC then stay independent. If you accept that the majority of customers want something wet and warm that is reasonable then perhaps Algies is your best bet


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## espressotechno (Apr 11, 2011)

The Iberital IB7 is a good basic machine: The space available may determine 2 group compact v. 2 group standard. The standard may need 20amp hard-wiring.

If it comes as a package with a grinder, the grinder will be either a Cunhill or a Macap: Go for the Macap.

If the teashop looks to be serving lots of teas, then get a dedicated hot water boiler eg Instanta, Lincat, Bravilor, etc

Hard water area, so a good water softener system (ion xc ) is essential eg. Brita, Omnipure, Allpure, etc. Both the espresso machine & hot water boiler to feed off the system.

? Does the £1900 include Vat ?


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

I could do you a deal on a Fracino 2 Group electronic machine with a grinder for a very similar price installed with a 12 months parts and labour warranty and training. They are super machines, nice and easy to maintain with great part availability and will go on forever if maintained.

Just let me know if you want a detailed quote.

Cheers


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## Adelina (Dec 3, 2018)

I'm also opening a tea shop and I'm trying to decide if it's best investing in a coffee machine or buying one (having a max budget of 1000) and my main concern is exactly what @dfk41 pointed: should I save money and rent a machine and be stuck with a supplier or buy one myself? The problem is that while I'm not able to spend too much, I definitely want to offer the best coffee I can to my clients. What would you go for: getting a small machine like Francino or getting in a suplier deal?


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

Don't do the rental stuff with provided coffee unless you don't really care about the coffee quality


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

> At the moment she isn't serving large amounts but its a new business, six months in, lots of ideas to increase footfall so we are hoping that demand increases.
> 
> Her coffee chap has recommended an Iberitol IB7 2 group machine, think he mentioned about £1900 and I believe that included a grinder.


So what is the coffee sales at the moment, what do you expect want to increase it to. Will there be more than one person using the machine at a time, or one operator needing to run 2 shots simultaneously, or what...because perhaps you don't need a two group. Perhaps a 1 group and then get a second 1 group as business picks up? How busy it is may also influence your choice of grinder and you may even want to buy a used grinder if budget is really tight.

I don't think people know enough for the advice to be great at this point....

P.S. As @espressotechno said use a hot water boiler for ALL the hot water..not the machine....


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

Maybe a single group machine and a simple drip setup?


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## willetttiger (Feb 27, 2018)

I'm based a few miles from deal and can supply a two group machine and grinder for far less and we roast as well let me know if I can help


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