At the Bakke Coffee Museum, the search for the history of coffee never ends...

The Bakke Coffee Museum contains hundreds of vintage espresso machines, and each machine is hiding its own mysteries. Sometimes it is behind a gorgeous chromed exterior, and sometimes it is underneath an apparently boring facade. But there is always something unique and intriguing to be learned from a machine, a variation in the evolution of espresso machine technology that has something to contribute to the larger history of espresso.

Kent's very first espresso machine! On its way to making coffee again after decades on the shelf...

At the museum, it is part of our mission to learn more about the history of espresso through the process of taking the machines apart, restoring them, and hopefully returning them to working order. Even when the project seems straightforward, there are always new things to be learned and unexpected problems. In between major landmarks of espresso development — the portafilter, the lever, the electric pump, the heat exchanger, to name a few — there are infinite variations and approaches to the core of the problem, which is how to make the best espresso possible.

Kent testing out his original machine

As we continue to gather new information through the process of repairing and restoring machines, it is extremely important to collect it in a regimented way, so that in the future we can look back at specific details, and also so we track what changes have been made. Most importantly, we want the information to be stored in a format that will be easily accessible and clearly delineated to people in the future who are interested in the history of espresso machines, and maybe even taking care of the machines in the Bakke Collection.

We are so grateful to have as a partner and fellow investigator the team at CYA Cover Your Assets. Most of the clients of CYA are large commercial operations managing thousands of machines, usually hundreds of the same model. At the museum we have the opposite problem, with hundreds of machines that are all completely unique. But CYA has helped us adapt their information database to catalogue the machines in the Bakke Collection, and keep track of all the information associated with them. And perhaps even more importantly, the CYA folks have shared with us a passion for the history of coffee that has resulted in inspiring conversations and dreams for how we can better share all of the important information we are gathering with people in the future!

Read this article to learn more about what we are working on here at the Bakke Museum, and how the CYA group is helping us work toward accomplishing our goals, one of which is eventually having a searchable database accessible through our website.

Thank you CYA!