Cut out for cafés

Following the incapacitation of one of our shoppers due to flu, I embarked on my own fantasy buying trip. Having written about beverage equipment for 16 years, it was a rare treat to be choosing it.

I decided to start at the dirty end - dealing with grouts. Since cafetières became popular, caterers have complained about problems in emptying them and of blocked drains. So Bravilor's solution is welcome. Based on the design of brush glasswashers used in pubs, Bravilor's Cafetière Washer has three cylindrical modules. Hold the pot in the first position and the grouts are washed into a sieve. Hold it in the second and a brush rotates to wash it. Hold it in the third and the pot is rinsed. It is an ingenious idea that is so simple one wonders why no one has come up with it before. Price is £244-£327.

In the world of espresso/cappuccino machines, the drive in the past few years has been for manufacturers to produce versions for the UK market. These are usually machines from which virtually untrained staff can serve coffee at the press of a single button to customers who want mainly cappuccino.

Many companies at the show were offering one-press ground coffee cappuccino machines - Matthew Algie, Melitta, Douwe Egberts, Hobart, Brasilia, Chevron and WMF to name but a few. However, the choice is now between systems that store milk cold and those that store it hot.

I liked Brasilia's new Super Latte model because the machine has compulsory automatic cleaning for its integral refrigerated milk supply. At £8,500, the unit makes four cups per minute from its dual dispensers. I also admired Hobart's SuperFinesse, which offers a wide variety of drinks and keeps semi-skimmed milk hot inside a five-litre sealed container. Priced at £18,000, it takes just 20 seconds to produce a cappuccino.

I was sorely tempted by US-inspired "coffee carts" from Matthew Algie and Kenco, offering specialities ranging from Caffé Latte to chocolatey Mocha.

Eventually, however, it was style that swayed me. I fell for a reproduction of the first espresso machine exhibited by Luigi Bezzera in Milan in 1906, on the Buttress stand. A shining chrome and brass edifice, topped with a brass eagle, it would form a fabulous focal point in my fantasy café.

Operationally, it works like any two-group semiautomatic machine, but has a vertical boiler. Milk frothing is done the old way with a steam pipe, so I would have to spend more time training staff - but their operation of the £6,600 machine would be great theatre for my customers.

My café will have to be licensed because I want to serve frozen slush-style cocktails, having seen machines on the Frozen Drinks and Taylor Freezer stands. On the latter, I sipped an excellent Margarita dispensed by a unit that keeps the "slush" moving continuously. I am sure I will be able to make a good profit on the £116.53 monthly lease.

For tea, I thought the Tetley Foodservice Brew It Yourself Teapots were innovative. In plastic with a clear base (so you can see what's brewing), they have a lever to flip the teabag out of the liquid when you think it is ready. They are machine washable, cost £8.50 including VAT and postage, and are said to be as strong as stainless steel. Fun, but they only take round teabags.

Being an old-fashioned girl, I opted instead for the Typhoo Millennium Dispenser (priced £1,300) from Premier Beverages. This dispenses leaf tea and hot water into cafetière pots. And I will wash the pots in my Bravilor cafetière Washer.

Carmen Konopka