La Marzocco and Mahlkönig are two of the most popular coffee equipment brands on the planet. We’ve witnessed this year in and year out as part of the Analytics of Autumn, our annual round-up of trends and insights gleaned from the Build-Outs of Coffee series. And each year, like clockwork, La Marzocco and Mahlkönig reign supreme in the espresso machine and grinder categories, respectively.
And now, these two coffee powerhouses are teaming up. Introducing the Sync System, a one-of-a-kind collaboration that enables Mahlkönig grinders to talk to La Marzocco espresso machines—and vice versa—in order to deliver more efficiency and consistency in a cafe’s workflow.
The pairing, which will officially debut at Host Milan this weekend, consists of Mahlkönig’s E80W Grind-By-Sync and one of three machines from La Marzocco’s Auto Brew Ratio (ABR) line: the Linea, GB5, or KB90. Through the Mahlkönig Sync system and the LM Pro mobile app, the espresso machine and grinder are able to share real-time information on shot performance and make updates.
Say, for instance, a shot gets pulled too fast. The espresso machine would communicate to the grinder to tighten the grind. And if the shot takes too long, the Sync System would allow for micro-adjustments of the grinder to automatically go courser, in real-time.
At Mahlkönig and La Marzocco, we share a common goal: delivering quality coffee moments with unmatched speed and convenience around the world. In collaboration we’ve taken the next step: unlocking the possibility to produce high quality espresso shots reproducible and repeatable across different employees/baristas and locations.
The potential benefits of the Sync System for the cafe many. Without the need to constantly dial-in, barista are more free to focus on customer engagement, leaving the system to more quickly make tiny grind adjustments, which can also reduce the amount of on-ramping needed for new employees. The Sync also allows for a more centralized control of espresso recipes and output and can be implemented across multiple locations. And the data tracking and analytics better equip cafes to optimize performance.
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And this is just the start of the Grind-By-Sync system. The Hemro Group, of whom Mahlkönig is a part, hopes to expand the Grind-By-Sync ecosystem by “facilitating data exchange with other coffee equipment and software solutions.”
Befitting a major partnership launch like this one, we’ve got quotes from the respective CEOs of Hemro and La Marzocco:
“Our mission and what drives us at Hemro is to create quality coffee moments – around the world. When we are talking to partners they tell us that ensuring quality consistency in their coffee shops – often in multiple locations, they struggle. Also, even skilled baristas have less and less time to interact in a meaningful way with their customers with their role getting more and more complex with mobile orders/ delivery orders or just simply busy peak hours. We wanted to solve this and truly master consistency. ”
— Dr. Marcel Lehmann, CEO of Hemro Group“We at La Marzocco believe the future rests in the hands of the digital artisan. This partnership provides our stakeholders, partners, and friends the ability to make better coffee, more simply. Better still, we are able extend the value of this partnership to many of those who have already invested in one of our connected machines. These first steps of our connected eco-system will help drive the next great chapter of coffee.”
— Guido Bernardinelli, CEO of La Marzocco
Those attend this year’s Host Milan can get a firsthand look at the Sync System, which will be demoing at both the Mahlkönig booth (Hall 14 G22 H21) and La Marzocco booth (Hall 14 E34 F33) this weekend, October 13th through 17th.
For more information on the Sync System, visit La Marzocco‘s and Mahlkönig‘s official websites.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
