Genio Roasters Build Blog

Q&A on Gas

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 08:16:29 +0200

Q&A on Gas

haloacoffee: Haloa Coffee’s new packaging.

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:06:34 +0200

haloacoffee:

Haloa Coffee’s new packaging.

The 1962 Faema President 2-group Lever [PLEASE VISIT OUR MAIN...

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 09:42:00 +0300

The 1962 Faema President 2-group Lever

[PLEASE VISIT OUR MAIN BLOG FOR THE ORIGINAL POST]

In early 2006 while on holiday, I came across a remarkable orphan in a dusty pawn shop in Knysna. The machine immediately caught my eye and I inquired as to where it was from and what it was. The owner answered “I have no idea” and I made him an offer there and then, knowing that no one in the world would ever appreciate this old beauty more than me!

With the machine and matching grinder back home I set about finding out it’s origin, history and model. I carefully unscrewed the age-old nuts and found a plate on the boiler of the 2-group lever operated espresso machine that said “Faema” and “1962”. A few Google search pages later and I pinpointed the machines as being an original Faema President machine made in 1962 and a Faema Urania 1960 grinder with original glass hopper. What a find!!

1961-2006

Faema was the inventors of the E-61 grouphead. Brought out in 1961, it was the first commercially viable way for Italians of the time to enjoy a cheap, strong coffee that had little wastage and packed a huge punch. The President machine was the predecessor of the E-61 grouphead and its frame was used to develop the new style of pump-driven machines. It was a real front-runner in its hay-day and must have made waves when they retrofitted the President’s frame with the legendary pump-driven conecpt that we all take for granted today. Faema continued to build lever machines alongside their new pump-driven units and my President machine was born a year later in 1962. It stood in the Brandwag Hotel in Grahamstown for many years before being abandoned in a shed. The hotel was refurbished years later and the machine was picked up by an antique dealer where it found its way to the pawn shop in Knysna.

Onions?

I was a student at the time and drove the machine 1200km back to Potchefstroom. I soon had all the panels stripped and started cleaning them with the love and dearness only coffee geek could have for an old espresso machine. It took me weeks to brush, polish and clean the old chromed brass panels back to it’s original glory. I took apart the valves and removed all the fittings. The copper parts were all submersed in a bath of citric acid to clean lime scale, onion rings, flowers, dirt and all sorts of organic matter from the age old pipes and boiler.

Months later I finally finished with cleaning and brushing the panels. The machine was a true a beauty and stood gleaming in my living room for the next 5 years after life finally caught up with me and I had no more time and money to spend on the restoration.

An old master gets a second chance

A few weeks ago I decided that it was finally time to get the machine back up and running after so many years of neglect. I took the machine to my new workshop to restore it. I had all the right tools, suppliers, knowledge and parts to do the job professionally and even had a spot designated in my new workshop for the machine to run. Its job would be to pull shots for all of our roaster customers and would have been used on all the best coffees in the world!! A task only befit for a machine with more than double my age in experience. I had so many plans for the President…

You gotta love Africa

The next morning after bringing in the machine for it’s final road to back to glory, I arrived at an office abuzz with armed response units and people chatting in small groups. 5 thieves had invited themselves into our premises through the roof after we generously treated them for coffees the day before, mistaking their prying eyes for interested buyers. The only machines they stole was my beloved Faema President, a Mahlkonig grinder and a La Marzocco FB70. I still have the Urania grinder but it looks lost without it’s partner of the last 50 years standing next to it.

It was a sad, sad day!

IF ANYONE SEES OUR ORIGINAL 1962 FAEMA PRESIDENT 2-GROUP LEVER MACHINE, PLEASE CONTACT US ASAP!

Genio installed their latest generation of customized machines...

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 07:04:54 +0300

Genio installed their latest generation of customized machines last week. For more details, visit our blog!

WBC live video stream

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 14:39:44 +0300

WBC live video stream: Be sure to catch the WBC live video stream. Just follow the link

Here’s a few pics of our latest creations. For more...

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 08:07:00 +0300

Here’s a few pics of our latest creations. For more details on the builds, head over to our blog at genioroasters.co.za.

Now that’s a nice shirt!

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 08:04:00 +0300

Now that’s a nice shirt!

Applying a Vinyl Mask Onto Our Panels

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:30:27 +0300

Applying a Vinyl Mask Onto Our Panels: I finally had a chance to visit our new vinyl cutters today. ...

Genio Roasters welds a roasting drum

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 09:33:00 +0300

Genio Roasters welds a roasting drum: In the past few days myself and our two welders, Sidney and...

Genio Roasters gets a home

Tue, 15 May 2012 06:55:00 +0300

It has been weeks in the making, and www.genioroasters.co.za is finally launched. The new site...

Thermal expansion in coffee AND steel?

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:51:23 +0300

This week I learnt a valuable lesson: a coffee roaster is as alive as the coffee it roasts! After...

Jack Hanna, World Latte Art Champion and now barista...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:02:00 +0300

Jack Hanna, World Latte Art Champion and now barista championship judge realized his dream of opening his own coffee shop/roastery. His shop’s interior is incredibly beautiful, with every aspect taking months to perfect. It goes to show that putting in the effort does pay off!

See the full story on CoffeeGeek here!

DCILY shared a great video on caffeine. Take a look!

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 22:23:47 +0300

DCILY shared a great video on caffeine. Take a look!

beautifulcoffeesets: Coffee is good for you.

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:00:06 +0300

beautifulcoffeesets:

Coffee is good for you.

Powder Coating A Roaster

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:40:44 +0200

Our latest build is taking shape and the welding is almost done. The next step would be to send the...

SA Barista Championships Wrap-up

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 07:28:00 +0200

It has been a few days now and calm and order has returned to our lives. The barista championships...

More photos of the Barista Champs.

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 20:47:57 +0200

More photos of the Barista Champs.

The Fat Lady Finally Sang! Finally, the first 2 production...

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 11:44:00 +0200

Our Genio Mezzo 6kg roaster

The control panel has laser engraving

Our demo was in a construction site

Some more Genio shots

Some more Genio shots

The back panel has a coffee tree design

Some more Genio shots

Finally done, the Genio Mezzo 6kg

The Fat Lady Finally Sang!

Finally, the first 2 production roasters are finished. I have been roasting on them for a while now, but I had a massive delay with the controls panels, so we couldn’t really sign off on the roasters until now. After a very successful demo and training session with the clients, the first of the machines will ship out soon while the second is still looking for a permanent home.

Have a look at the pictures and let us know what you think! The photos were all shot in our new show room. Everything is still under heavy construction, but it’s the only spot large enough to have a demo right now. There is talk of Genio Studios moving onto a steel and wood mezzanine floor right above where these pictures were takes, but the plans need to be finalized. If all goes well, we’ll have a new production floor inside the new main show room of Koldserve CC, our investor’s company. This will mean some logistic challenges to get all the parts hoisted 3 meters up, and the roasters back down for delivery, but I am sure we can make a plan.

The demo that we did on Friday was a smashing success. We did 5 consecutive roasts, and brought an expert green bean trader in to do the roasting. It turned out that my skills were in dire need of some fine tuning, so I was only too happy to have John Mokobodi from Seven Oaks Trading assist me in the roasting and training. We ended up with some excellent Costa Rica Bromelia Fancy and Guatemala Antigua roasts and the clients were happy! That means I’m happy! Please excuse the pipe we used in the demo. It is certainly not a permanent thing, and we have found that those type of pipes drastically reduce the air flow of the roaster!

As for the next production run, we have already started welding and the latest design changes means that everything is happening easier, faster and smoother! I’ll do some more posts on that later. For now, please let me know what you think!

Barista Championship Finalist Profiles

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:20:00 +0200

After a nation-wide search, numerous competitions and a grueling National semi-final round, we have...

Here’s a few photos of the South African National Barista...

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:00:05 +0200

Here’s a few photos of the South African National Barista Championships 2012 held at the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town.