La Marzocco 'Out of the Box' 2014, Part One
La Marzocco ‘Out of the Box’ 2014, Part One
La Marzocco‘s Out of the Box event is one of the most eagerly anticipated in the coffee calendar, and this year it came to London for the first time. On Saturday December 13th, 2014, an events space on East Road played host to around four hundred coffee fans from across the UK and beyond – many of whom I recognised from the Glasgow Coffee Festival, in fact.
The event kicked off at 10 a.m., and the early risers among us were able to enjoy a selection of croissants and pain au chocolat – I don’t know where they came from but, damn, were they good – and, of course, a selection of coffees. I went for the Samaria, from Nicaragua, which was roasted by Extract Coffee of Bristol. The coffee tasted like rum and raisin ice cream and was beautifully smooth.
As part of the ‘Barista Jam’ session, attendees were given free rein over several La Marzocco machines and an assortment of grinders. Using a beautiful custom Strada EE, I pulled my first shot of espresso in over four weeks, and fortunately it didn’t suck. (To quote Matt Pickering, a fellow Pink Lane Coffee alumnus who has been at Nude Espresso for the past year, “you never forget.”) And, after standing at the machine for less than five minutes, I suddenly seemed to have a queue…
After churning out some surprise flat whites, I headed to the ‘Start-Up Kitchen’, where members of the La Marzocco team were on hand to give an insight into the history of the company. La Marzocco, which was founded in Florence in 1927 by brothers Giuseppe and Bruno Bambi, has always manufactured espresso machines of the highest quality and utmost reliability; La Marzocco machines are a common sight in speciality coffee shops, and nowhere more so than in London.
Stay tuned for part two for the results of the 2015 UK Latte Art Championships, and to learn why there ain’t no party like a La Marzocco party.
This piece was originally published on blackcoffeeandotherstories.wordpress.com in December 2014.