The Showroom Story So Far
There’s more to La Marzocco than their high-end
and hand-crafted espresso machines
Words by Dan HARVEY
Founded in Italy in 1927, the proud Florentine company now has offices across the globe to support the growth of speciality coffee and hospitality. Their mission statement has always been to champion excellence in coffee through the manufacturing of the finest world class speciality coffee equipment, while encompassing people, heritage, technology and design.
Since their inception, La Marzocco have had many defining chapters, starting with the creation of their first espresso machine, The Fiorenza, in 1927. Further key moments include the production of the first espresso machine with a horizontal boiler in 1939, with the early 1990s witnessing the start of manufacturing on what is arguably their most iconic machine, the Linea Classic, which became an icon of the speciality coffee boom in the UK during the mid to late 2000s.
To further support the coffee community, including the consumers that drove this coffee boom forward, La Marzocco opened its first UK base in London in 2011. Going from strength to strength on a national level, consumers’ thirst for speciality coffee allowed La Marzocco to open their second UK base in Leeds, in July 2017. After seven memorable years in their original London base, 2019 saw the team move into an all-new showroom to allow the company to better cater to the specialty coffee community’s needs.
Both of La Marzocco’s showrooms are open community spaces to be used for events, educational activities, networking and showroom experiences: cuppings, competitions, inspirational talks and cross brand evenings. This is in an impassioned effort to encourage growth from the players within the industry and their consumers, as well as to nurture a future generation of roasters, coffee shop owners, baristas, engineers and coffee enthusiasts.
‘Their mission statement has always been to champion excellence in coffee through the manufacturing of the finest world class speciality coffee equipment, while encompassing people, heritage, technology and design.’
Their new unique East London showroom is equipped to provide unparalleled levels of support to the commercial sector of the coffee community; with designated areas for tech and engineering support and a commercial-grade espresso equipment showroom. Recently, the equipment showroom was used to showcase the game-changing, paradigm shifting, ‘Straight- In-Portafilter’ innovation of the KB90.
The La Marzocco team have also crafted a separate floor at their new showroom that specifically focuses on their domestic platform, La Marzocco Home. Here, the La Marzocco team are able to welcome guests to test-drive the La Marzocco Home range and ask the experienced team a range of questions; from technical support through to selecting the perfect espresso. For all their progress and success, the La Marzocco showrooms continue to show that La Marzocco are all about those all-important conversations sparked around the coffee machine. EJ
The new address is 6 Willow St, London, EC2A 4BH. The team looks forward to welcoming friends and partners, old and new to their brand new space throughout 2019. To arrange a viewing please email info.uk@lamarzocco.com
