With so many coffee machines available and so many devices devised to brew coffee, how does the home consumer choose?
Price? Quality? Design? Looks?

The market has become overwhelmed with 'good' little espresso machines and is ever swelling, but if you have come to the market for a 'great' espresso machine, there are just a few.  Sure, it will cost a little more, buy why settle for an average 'cup of Joe' when you could be the master of a fantastic one?

Ease the cost factor, for the month of April we are offering a 10 percent discount off our entire range of domestic espresso machines.
The first step is to come and test run a machine and have a chat to Matt or Shelly at Espresso Botero, who just love this stuff…. Then let yourself be the judge of whether there is a difference.

It's been over 60 years since the Atomic coffee machine showed up and it has become as iconic as the Kombi. It seems to tick all the boxes - it has the capacity to produce a great coffee, it embodies classic Italian design, it is compact and ‘arty'. The Atomic shows up in many places, from an inner city retro café, to an ‘out back' general store high up on a shelf with other pieces of history, to the kitchen, where some fanatical coffee lover who swears there is no other formula will employ their Atomic on a daily basis. I love this kind of passion and I tend to agree that the stove top formula does develop coffee flavour in a unique and compelling way.

Anyone who loves the Atomic method will certainly want to try out this new ‘little guy' called OTTO. OTTO is a Stove Top Espresso Maker, combining Giordano Robbiati' classic Italian style of the Atomic with unprecedented functionality. Meticulously engineered and crafted, it offers inspirational ergonomics and delivers superb coffee. I dare not say it is better, but rather, different - but it is a difference that you don't want to miss.

You can try out the Otto in our show room and determine for yourself how you feel it fairs.

So what will the daily coffee experience be like 10 years from today? We probably haven't been tarnished as deeply with the full rampage of progress so many of our city counterparts experience each day. As time is wrestled from our grasp  and is now as much part of the family budget as milk, bread and cheese, these poor city folk have resorted to queuing up in fume infested lines at an espresso 'drive through' in the hope of a reasonable coffee to bring some sought of sense to their day. Is it reasonable though! Has the powerful little substance inherent in the coffee bean itself (caffeine) finally taken over and wound us up so much, that we don't know how to slow down, or is it just helping us to keep up with the frantic pace of the twenty first century that some call progress.  I am convinced of the later.

Ten years from today at the current pace, every corner, convenience store, laundry mat, play park, forest reserve, camping ground and beach will have some automatic box churning out an unpalatable beverage that we've been marketed into believing is good – who knows, they'll probably whack a few in the classrooms for our kids – after all, the iPhone is now a critical tool for education.

Coffee, the daily grind, the crema, the liquid gold with all its aromatic beauty, its hypnotic depth, its intoxicating wonder beckons us, to stop, experience its many wonders – to laugh with a friend and enjoy life – that's what the team does at Espresso Botero in Maclean every day.

Danny

It is estimated that at least one thousand different and unique substances exist in roasted coffee and some eight hundred chemical compounds have already been named. What an intriguing little bean! With all that going on within the second most traded commodity on earth, is it any wonder that we humans have become totally obsessed with these flavour packed vessels to the point, dare I say, possible dependence, to fire up our day?
 
I am sure many readers of this column will have within reach a cup or mug or glass of this exotic beverage, whether black or white, perhaps with a dash of cream or a twist of lemon... whatever way, or whatever place, I am sure we can universally agree, that coffee is here to stay and yes, coffee will always be most enjoyed fresh.
 
Ok then, what are the keys to a fresh delicious coffee? There are three things really. Number one is to buy coffee that is within 14 days from the time of roast - this is the fresh part. Number two is make sure the beans whether single origin or blend are of the highest quality, we call it specialty coffee...  this is the delicious part. And number three is to grind them to order because when you do, you release an explosion of a thousand unique substances... it is these wonderful things we want to capture and experience in our cup.
 
This daily ritual is loved by all the team at Espresso Botero roast house where we experience the diverse and infinite array of coffee flavours from around the world. This month to compliment our blends, we will have on offer an intensely gamey coffee with deep red wine notes from Kenya  which is not too far away from the roots of coffee in Ethiopia. Cheers Danny

Currently, Grounds for Health works in Latin America and Tanzania, where the focus is on the early detection and treatment of cervical cancer, the leading cause of cancer deaths in women in areas where there is limited or no access to health services.

Nearly 250,000 women die every year from this easily preventable disease. Grounds for Health began as a unique partnership between coffee companies and the coffee growing communities where they do business. The idea was born in 1996 when Dan Cox, the president of a U.S. coffee company, was traveling in Mexico with a doctor friend. There they learned that cervical cancer rates in Mexico and Central America were among the highest in the world. Alarmed by this fact and knowing that cervical cancer is both preventable and, when caught early, one of the most treatable cancers, they decided to take action... Learn more about the work of grounds for health by clicking on their logo.

Coffee is much more than the "daily grind" but a network of peoples, of cultures interwoven in the celebration of life. Little wonder the golden beans taste so good.

Espresso botero is pleased to support this great initiative.  Click here to download a donation card.