Today, espresso is a beverage drunk all over the world, and for many people the terms ‘espresso’ and ‘coffee’ are the same thing.
It’s been a long road for what started out as a drink made from coffee and hot water and found its celebration in the invention of an Italian.
Although there are different types of coffee, with different extraction methods, espresso coffee has developed a real culture around it, a passion.
Espresso coffee is not just a drink, it is a concert of traditions
Around the preparation of coffee by hand there is a real ritual, a partition of gestures.
The barista knows them well and stages them for his customers, bringing the evolution of coffee history before them.
We owe the invention of the first coffee machine to the Italian Bezzera: his system was not perfectly controllable and had live flames. Making espresso was not without its risks.
So Pavoni bought the patent and evolved it, trying to simplify the extraction process.
He succeeded, but making a large number of cups led after a certain number to the development of a bitter aftertaste. The extraction method guaranteed large numbers, even a thousand coffees per hour, but in the long run it led to the last ones having an unpleasant aftertaste.
It was with Achille Gaggia that the revolution took place.
The lever machine was born, and changed the way the world made espresso
It was with his lever model that the development of espresso machines capable of extracting more than two coffees at a time began. The wall of the single extraction unit was broken down. The great invention is the introduction of the lever mechanism, which makes it much easier for the barista to operate.
The two-group coffee machine developed from Gaggia’s first invention.
From that moment on, experiments began that led to the various versions of the modern coffee machine, where, as well as the level of automation, it is the extraction groups that make the difference.
The most serious companies in their offer obviously know how to satisfy both the customer who wants a coffee machine with 2 groups or one group.
Pontevecchio lever machines carry on the tradition of the first historical models
Each of our lever machines is a handcrafted piece, developed with knowledge and experience.
Each machine is different in its details because it is made and assembled by hand, and it is in the smallest details that it hides its valuable details.
Therefore, when making this type of choice, it is right to make several considerations, starting with the intended use of the machine. Depending on what the reality may be, these factors change.
A bar, for example, might plan to make the preparation of espressos its main activity.
- Bars. The 2-group machine is therefore very suitable for bars, because the barista does not risk falling behind with preparations. In fact, the bar is, especially for us Italians, the sacred temple of espresso. Such a place where you have to wait hours for your sacrosanct coffee goes against the very definition of ‘espresso’. Which, as the term suggests, has even given rise to the expression ‘a coffee on the fly’, just to underline the speed of the thing.
- Restaurant. For a restaurant, on the other hand, coffee is the signature at the end of the meal experience. It cannot afford to spoil the whole preparation and the different courses because the final detail is not up to the rest.
- Bed and breakfast. For a bed and breakfast, coffee represents the good morning you decide to give your guests every day. It is as if every day the destination they have chosen to visit comes to give them the best possible wake-up call, pampering them. Just put yourself in the shoes of a foreign tourist visiting Italy: a perfect espresso when you wake up is a real daydream.
So what is the difference between a 2 group and a 1 group coffee machine?
Essentially it lies in the number of espressos you can prepare, as well as the size of course.
The 2-group coffee machine allows you to prepare up to four espressos at a time, while the 1-group machine can prepare a maximum of two. The former is more present, the 2-group coffee machine has personality and is not very suitable for the home environment.
On the other hand, the 1-group lever machine is absolutely perfect for a coffee corner in the kitchen.
The shapes of Pontevecchio’s Export model are able to blend in with any furnishing taste. Its small dimensions make it the ideal companion for any space, and its possible colours make it suitable for any taste. So you can have a coffee as good as at the bar.
The Pontevecchio Lusso II model represents the perfect 2-group model. It encloses in its essential lines a dense network of ducts that ends on the stainless steel plate that allows to serve two groups. This is an invention of Ercolino Bernini, founder of Pontevecchio and first inventor of the innovative mechanism for the 2 groups.
Pontevecchio’s Lusso I and Export models, on the other hand, are 1-group models, different models of professional coffee machines that are more suitable for those who only need to make a few espressos at a time. So a restaurant, a farmhouse, a bed and breakfast can be the perfect destinations for these machines.
The important thing is to keep in mind, for all these realities, that coffee is not just a drink, it is a ritual.
For us, the sale of a machine is like the launching of a ship: no mistakes can be made in any respect. The cost, moreover contained, is amortized in time, because our machines do not fear wear and tear.
Find your most suitable Pontevecchio model, with 1 group for a few precious coffees or with 2 groups for more people, choosing on our site among the different machines and colours.