Hurley, Wisconsin – Mobile Coffee Shop Owner
We’ve been using the Lucca A53 for a little over a year now, and when I say we’ve used it, I mean used it. Not abused, but absolutely pushed to its limits. This machine has never once let us down.
We operate a mobile coffee shop out of a decommissioned ambulance in Northern Wisconsin, so we needed a machine with a small footprint. We ended up buying a slightly bent and bruised refurbished model, and let me just say…we were wildly impressed. We still are.
This machine has been bounced between a tent setup and our ambulance setup, used both indoors and outdoors, in 90° heat and 100% humidity, under the beating sun. Not once did it slow down. For a prosumer machine, it truly blew us away.
In over a year of daily use, we’ve had to replace the gaskets three times; that should say how much we’ve used it. On our busiest days, we’re pulling shots back-to-back for 8 to 10 hours straight, sometimes even longer depending on the event. Aside from pausing to refill the reservoir, the A53 kept up without missing a beat.
The only reason we’re not using it now in our mobile setup is because we’ve grown and needed a dual group head. The Lucca A53 will happily retire to our home kitchen, where it will continue to perform like a champ.
If I had to nitpick one thing, it’s just the need to refill the water tank during long shifts (but it could easily be solved by buying the plumbed in model), but once you know the machine and how it operates, it’s a non-issue. The boiler size is compact, which explains the longer steam times, but again, totally expected for a machine this size.
We bought this on a bit of a whim, even though we did our research. We were nervous about it being refurbished, but it’s been nothing short of rock solid. We’d absolutely recommend the A53 to anyone starting a business, building a home bar setup, or looking for quality on a budget.
If we had to start our business all over again, we’d still choose this machine as our starter model, no question.