Doctoring using medical expertise to make the perfect espresso machine

Espresso machines: don’t they usually come from Italy, the country where the coffee culture is no less holy than the Pope? No, because the introduction of Fioresso is putting Switzerland itself on the map as a prominent producer of the world’s best machines.

But this Swiss dominance isn’t really so surprising when you think that, until the 80s, the Swiss were known as the masters of wristwatch technology. And the country still enjoys a reputation as a leader in technological expertise. This was the kind of expertise that Fioresso gratefully used in the development of perhaps the world’s most revolutionary espresso machine – built with Swiss precision!

The espresso machine: a crucial ingredient

Choosing a machine was crucial in the quest that Jack – Fioresso’s founder – made in search of an espresso that tasted like the espresso he enjoyed during his many visits to Italy. The concept behind Fioresso would depend very much on technology. Absolutely no machine came even close to the quality that Jack had in mind (or better said: in mind for his taste buds).

On paper, the criteria were simple: a machine that could process an exact quantity of water through the capsule at an exact temperature and under an exact pressure. At the time, however, these required technologies weren’t available. Well, not in the coffee industry anyway. In his quest for industrial perfection, Jack didn’t wind up in Switzerland by accident. The land of the Alps has an excellent tradition in complex technology – and one that it intends to keep.

Pumps for medical equipment

The production of medical equipment is a good example of this. Jack discovered that the pump he wanted for his ‘Perfect Machine’ was more or less the same as the ones used in medical equipment. After all, this kind of precision has to keep patients alive.

Five years in the making

Together with the machine builder, he started on a long project: five years to be exact. In the meantime, lots of prototypes bit the dust. They were either too hard to use, too expensive or too inaccurate. But early in 2017, he could see light at the end of the tunnel. One prototype was approved by everyone. Here was a design that would appeal to a large group, had technical specifications to die for, and – best of all – produced coffee of unprecedented taste with a maximum of reliability, cup after cup.