Smooth and Satisfying with Profitec
Do you remember where you were when you first heard the name “Profitec”? Oh, and first let me clarify the pronunciation. Say it with me now, “pro-fee-tech” (profi translates to professional). Excellent, now let’s get back to it. Many of us first heard this company name when the Pro 700 was launched in 2014, and it was met with immediate excitement due to its connection with ECM Germany, its unique cleanliness of engineering, and its stainless steel dual boilers. ECM has built a phenomenal reputation for crafting some of the finest prosumer espresso machines in the world, and it was announced that the sister company Profitec would focus on dual boiler machines.
Fast forward to 2016, and Profitec’s reputation has continued to grow along with its product lineup. The Pro 700 and its younger sibling, the Pro 300, have become two of our most popular espresso machines, along with the LUCCA M58 and LUCCA A53. This post will highlight customer feedback as well as insights from our tech department.
If I had to summarize the overall customer experience with Profitec machines, I would say something along the lines of “smooth and satisfying”. Setting it up is plug and play. Fill the reservoir with water or connect the included plumbing line, turn it on, and in 15-20 minutes you can be pulling your first shots. There are no tricky steps that trip people up, and customers can hit the ground running. One of the challenges of trouble-free machines is gleaning insights from customer feedback and attracting user reviews. But we’ve heard from many customers that have great success right out of the box (even from the first shot!). Both machines have more presence on the counter than a website can communicate, and it’s easy to improve espresso by referring to the shot timer and experimenting with grind fineness. When the machine is pulling around 1.5 oz in 25-30 seconds, the majority of customers are loving the coffee and don’t make any adjustment to the preset brew temperature. But for those that prefer more body heavy roasts (medium roast all the way to Italian style espresso), the shots become smoother when the brew temperature is lowered to 193-198F. Lower temperatures can reduce spicy or smoky notes darker roasts, but sourness typically means the brew temperature needs to be raised (or the grind adjusted). If you want to improve your espresso (whether you have a dual boiler, heat exchanger, or single boiler), we want to talk to you!
While milk preferences vary widely from one person to the next, the Pro 700’s four hole tip and the Pro 300’s two hole tip make the steaming pace manageable for any size drink (especially for specialty drinks like macchiatos, cortados, gibraltars, smaller cappuccinos, etc). The Pro 700 has the advantage of one of the biggest steam boilers in its class, while the Pro 300 makes up for its smaller steam boiler with how it lays the power down (it has the ability to instantly reheat and maintain its steam pressure while pulling shots). These machines have our two favorite steam tips on the market, as their steam holes are small and placed close together, which makes microfoam easier to control. For those who want to entertain or steam larger volumes of milk, adjusting the steam boiler temperature up (for more steam power) and installing a more aggressive steam tip can speed up the process. But it’s also common for milk drinks to get smaller over time, to feature the espresso more. In this case, Pro 700 users might appreciate ordering one of Profitec’s two-hole steam tips to increase control and slow the process down.
The Profitec machines have been among the most trouble-free and satisfying machines that we’ve carried, and there are a few key details that give our technicians confidence with their future maintenance. They love the clean, straightforward layout of the Pro 700, so much that they requested we import more of the Profitec line and also ECM. When we analyze the Pro 700 a little deeper we found: fittings are easily accessible with common tools, even allowing boilers to be removed to access the PID and gauges, heating elements can be removed by the user with an allen wrench instead of requiring an impact wrench, and the water path can be easily be traced (so a leaking fitting or gasket can be identified quickly). The Pro 300 is a newer machine for us, and we love how it manages to retain such a small footprint without being crowded or claustrophobic under the hood. Side panels can be removed easily, and all key parts accessed, meaning this machine will age well and be straightforward to keep running.
The whole Clive team has loved these machines since we first started testing them, and the future with Profitec looks bright indeed. If you’d like to hear how these machines compare to others that we carry, give us a call anytime. But we feel supremely confident in the ability of the Pro 300 and Pro 700 machines to satisfy budding espresso lovers all the way up to the most avid specialty coffee enthusiast (and we back each with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee to make sure). When combined with Profitec’s beautiful T64 grinder, or a top-of-the-line conical like the Macap M7D, the spectrum of cafe quality is easily within reach.