# The logic of spending £15,000 on a coffee machine you dont know how to use.



## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

Popped into Home in Manchester on the weekend, its the new 'home' of the Cornerhouse Cinema and me and my Girlfirend went to see Macbeth (which was really great, very much recommended). Before the film we had a meal (good pizza, pasta with too much rich flavour, but nice) and I saw the LM Strada 3 group behind the bar. Given the investment in the new place and such a high end coffee machine I figured I would give it a go, the flat white was nearly double the size it should have been, served in a glass latte mug and the coffee was about as stale and flavorless as coffee gets.

It was then that I spotted the inverted Illy style tin (cant remember the actual make, remember it being blue) on top of the grinder, which explained the stale flavourless coffee.

They should have bought a £8k fracino, would have given them the same quality of coffee.


----------



## DoubleShot (Apr 23, 2014)

#barmy


----------



## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

£8k on a Fracino ?!?? You can get an Simonelli Aurelia 2 Volumetric for £4k + VAT


----------



## robashton (May 9, 2015)

A jar of Nescafé is only a couple of quid


----------



## risky (May 11, 2015)

Learnt the hard way that the level of gear has no correlation to the ability of the staff or the quality of the coffee.

Saw a place near me so hyped to be getting a black eagle and Mythos grinder , but it is not a speciality coffee place. Why spend the money? Bonkers. The machine doesn't guarantee a good coffee, although a lot of places seem convinced it does. My guess is too big a start up loan from an over generous bank manager.


----------



## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

garydyke1 said:


> £8k on a Fracino ?!?? You can get an Simonelli Aurelia 2 Volumetric for £4k + VAT


Admittedly that was a badly guessed at figure, a moment of 'too lazy to google'


----------



## PeterF (Aug 25, 2014)

Unbelievable & I bet the staff have received no serious Barista training!


----------



## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

It's their money, they can do what they want with it.

The pasta sounds good though.


----------



## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Ive met the guys from the original Home store at a latte art thingy , they knew there stuff for sure, and i think were using good beans in that store ....

Dunno what's going on in the cinema store . supply issues who knows , as i think they get machine and beans from a roaster

Re sizes and stuff - it will be the market they have there > cinema crowd > bucket drinks ???


----------



## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Maybe that's how their customers like their coffee. You're a big one for relativism and subjectivity, just apply it to this.


----------



## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

PeterF said:


> Unbelievable & I bet the staff have received no serious Barista training!


The ones I met from the original home store Defo know what they are doing .

I wonder if someone somewhere has decided to skimp on beans tho .


----------



## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

The old Cornerhouse had a Faema e61 legend, they had no idea how to use this either, the only coffee I ever had from there was predictably burnt from the HX water.

Hopefully they will sort out the coffee made at the bar, waste of a very good machine.


----------



## hubrad (May 6, 2013)

I sometimes wonder if it's to do with public (as opposed to us coffee geeks!) perception.. 'that's an amazing looking machine therefore this must be amazing coffee'.

Unless the beans are good, all the rest is wasted, I'm sure we all agree here. However, if your expectations are simply 'better than instant'..


----------



## cold war kid (Mar 12, 2010)

jeebsy said:


> It's their money, they can do what they want with it.


It's a contempory theatre and arty cinema so is heavily subsidised by Manchester city council, arts council England and the Granada foundation amongst others, so it's one of those situations were they are probably none profit maximising in theory but are so niche they make a big loss and rely on the goodwill of others to break even.

I really want to go soon as I loved the old cornerhouse and it's mad old fashioned ways. Other than the coffee would you recommend it Dylan? Is it still the sort of place that mixes scruffy, arty students and your upper middle class who are dressed like they're going to the theatre?


----------



## cold war kid (Mar 12, 2010)

Mrboots2u said:


> The ones I met from the original home store Defo know what they are doing .
> 
> I wonder if someone somewhere has decided to skimp on beans tho .


I'm not sure it's the same home.

Home Manchester is the culture, theatre and Indy cinema place. In one form or another it's been going for a long, long time and didn't think it was somewhere you'd really associate with coffee although I haven't been since it move from the cornerhouse so may be wrong.


----------



## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

cold war kid said:


> I really want to go soon as I loved the old cornerhouse and it's mad old fashioned ways. Other than the coffee would you recommend it Dylan? Is it still the sort of place that mixes scruffy, arty students and your upper middle class who are dressed like they're going to the theatre?


In short, no.

It has all but lost its charm unfortunately. The Cinemas are very good, and are set very steep compared to the bigger cinemas which gives it a feel of being at the theatre. The screens are nothing like the size of the big cinemas however. It is more comfortable, and the picture and sound is much better, and it still shows all of the quality films it is knows for.

It seems much more aimed at the trendy younger crowd than perhaps some of the theatre going crowd it used to attract. The important core parts of the experience are still there, but the charming quirk has gone, replaced by a much more modern vibrant feel.

Oh and I am pretty sure the prices have gone up, £8.50 for an adult ticket now.


----------



## cold war kid (Mar 12, 2010)

That sounds both disappointing and exciting all at the same time.

Ok, I'm sold. I'll drag Mrs cold war kid there and see if I like it.


----------



## h1udd (Sep 1, 2015)

I think that goes for all walks of life. The kiddies on the slopes with £800 snow boards and the latest clothing, sliding on their ass down an icy red. Or the chap on the new 210hp sports bike trying to go round bends upright .... Or me struggling to keep up with my 4y/o girl whilst riding a ludicrously expensive phase two scooter with magnesium hubs .... People are attracted to stuff way beyond their ability


----------



## dsc (Jun 7, 2013)

I'm pretty sure theres a brand new VA and a Mythos (or two) at my local Waitrose, coffee is still sh*te though, typical flashy looks and no idea.

As for Illy cans (with beans), these are not that bad assuming you can get through them rather quickly. All the Illy bars I've visited in Italy used these, coffee was decent and I'm sure they went through several on each grinder daily.

T.


----------



## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

dsc said:


> As for Illy cans (with beans), these are not that bad assuming you can get through them rather quickly. All the Illy bars I've visited in Italy used these, coffee was decent and I'm sure they went through several on each grinder daily.
> 
> T.


Have heard this before, although these weren't Illy, and the coffee tasted like it has been made from Tesco Smart Price coffee beans.


----------



## dsc (Jun 7, 2013)

Tesco Smart Price coffee? Isnt that what Colonna&Smalls is using?









T.


----------



## rmcgandara (Feb 12, 2013)

that machine was already at the "old cornerhouse" on the first floor. The coffee that they use is Ipanema espresso (comes on those types of tins). The guys behing Ipanema are Coffee Boutique (http://www.cafeboutique.co.uk/read-me/) They came to exhibit in our "first" coffee festival in Manchester (Chorlton Coffee Fest). Nice people.

Like in other places it always depend who is handling the coffee machine.


----------



## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

Ipanema, that was it!

Whilst it does depend on the person making it the drink did not taste particularly over or under extracted, it just tasted dead and flavorless. They could have been pre-grinding or just using a really old tin of beans, but either way I am pretty sure it was stale coffee.


----------

