We were fortunate enough to receive a Stone coffee machine to field test and review. It's safe to say that I will be purchasing one for myself in the near future and here's why.
Stone Coffee Machine - First Impressions:
My first impressions of the stone was that it didn't look like anything else on the market. It's modular tile design is unique and has a wide range of interchangeable tiles made from all sorts of materials and colours.
It's is one of the smallest single group pro-sumer coffee machines I have seen, the dimensions of the Stone Espresso Machine is: W 225mm, D 440mm, H 355mm.
This largely has to do with the Stone only having a group head and a steam wand, it doesn't have a hot water dispenser. While this may initially seem disadvantageous you can still access fresh hot water through the group head, this is because the group head has fresh water coming from the boiler.
Who is the Stone Espresso Machine For?
The Stone Espresso Machine is a single group domestic coffee machine, while it is capable of doing back to back espressos and lattes it really is designed for at home and office use. The stone is not a commercial coffee machine.
When looking at espresso machines at this range the Stone is nicely positioned around entry level coffee machines but with prosumer features and a durable build. Most entry level machines such as Breville and De'longhi may appear to be feature heavy, and they offer more convenience they often fall short when it comest to build quality and quality of coffee produced.
A good example of this is built in coffee grinders, this is a massive selling point for some entry level home coffee machines but this actually has a very negative result in quality of coffee. Who knew storing coffee beans in a hot environment with steam would be a surefire way to age your coffee?
Stone Features:
Fast start-up time:
Stone is Ready to brew in just 10 minutes.
Small Foot print:
With more depth than width and a unique extraction activation mechanism, this compact machine fits right into any kitchen space.
Width- 225mm, Depth - 440mm, Height - 355mm
Thermal stability:
PID paired with electronic heating for the group head, the Stone ensures remarkable thermal stability, delivering perfect extractions.
Heat exchanger:
A new, updated design that allows efficient heating and simultaneous operation of the brew and steam groups.
Adjustable feet:
Lets you set the Stone Coffee Machine even on uneven surfaces.
Pump:
Stone uses a Vibrational coffee pump.
Boiler Capacity:
Stone Coffee Machines feature a 1.5L Boiler and a removable water tank.
Interchangeable panels:
The magnetised panels are easy to swap out to update the look of your coffee machine.
All-metal construction:
All metal parts for durability and easy maintenance.
Eco packaging:
Recyclable packaging that’s kinder to the environment.
Is the Stone Espresso Machine worth it?
The Stone Espresso Machine is priced at $3,499 and offers a sleek designed, durably built case with a small footprint and capabilities of making high quality espresso and cafe equivalent textured milk. It has a super fast heat-up time of 10 minutes and an incredibly consistent group head temperature due to the heat exchange.
While this is a fantastic machine there are always drawbacks and considerations to be made. The Stone Espresso Machine doesn't have temp control or pressure profiling, while this would have been great to include it is very hard to find a machine at this price point that offers everything the Stone Machine has as well as temp control and pressure profiling.
The Stone also doesn't have a designated hot water tap, while this can be easily worked around by using hot water from a the group head it may be a deal breaker for some.
I think the price point for this machine is spot on, adding more features will make the machine physically larger and bulkier and by dialling in your coffee while keeping water temperature in mind you are able to get around this quite easily without it being problematic.