The feature dump

Yes, you're right, it does seem odd to voluntarily point out features which are not included in our products. However, there is method to our madness, we promise. Star espresso machines have a rigid policy of transparency and a fundamental aim to offer an espresso machine which will not just suffice, but excel in any environment - all at a great price. We stripped our designs of anything which was gimmicky, poor value or unnecessary - the trouble is, you don't know that, so here are the features we left out and why...

Electric cup warmer

An option sometimes found on espresso machines is an electric cup warmer. Putting your espresso in to a cold cup not only makes it cold for the customer, but makes it taste dull and flat. The temperature of the cups is therefore important. All espresso machines radiate heat from the boilers within them, naturally rising and venting out through the top, warming any cups stacked there. This is usually sufficient, but sometimes outlets which have extremely busy periods find that the high turnover of cups means that they don't have time to heat them through and therefore opt for an additional electrical heater.

Star espresso machines have been designed so that the boilers are very high in the chassis, only 7cm from the top. The boilers and elements also radiate up to 3 times the heat of other equivalent espresso machines. This means that an additional cup warmer would effectively be redundant and we believe the money saved is better spent on other areas and used in keeping the price at its low level.

Automatic Hot Water

Another possible feature is a pre-programmable, automatic hot water outlet. This allows you to dispense pre-set volumes of water at the push of a button.

The electronics of the Star espresso machines already have the capacity to include this feature and the cost would be minimal. Our hot water fonts are operated, however, using the same screw valve system as our steam arms. There are several reasons for this omission:

From years of engineering and maintaining espresso machines, we have found that the electronic valved water fonts are a weak point. They use the same electronic valves used by the group heads to control the flow of water, but these group valves benefit from regular back-flushing, higher pressure water flow and water coming fresh from the mains water - rather than the boiler. The same electronic valves which control a water font are at lower pressure and the water comes from the boiler, carrying with it any sediment or particles which build up there. As an electronic hot water font valve cannot be routinely cleaned, this makes them highly susceptible to sticking open. In this case, the machine has to be switched off until it can be serviced. A mechanical valve, however, is opened and shut progressively and will drip for days if a problem occurs, allowing you to use the machine but informing you that it needs to be looked at.
If an electronic valve sticks open, it not only requires the machine to be switched off completely, but is obviously extremely dangerous as hot water is allowed to gush at pressure on to an uneven surface. If mechanical valves become stuck open, they rarely (if ever) stick completely open.
Unlike the group heads, the dosing of automatic hot water fonts is calculated by counting the number of seconds the valve is open rather than the volume passed through. The hot water is not pumped, but relies on the pressure of the boiler to push the water out of the system. If you pull several cups of hot water from the system, the pressure drops and the last cups will have less water in it than the first.
Electronic valves can only be on or off. Mechanical valves are progressive, allowing the operator ultimate control over the amount of hot water added to any drink, be it a pot of tea or just a top up for an Americano.

Plastic

Your Star espresso machine is designed for a commercial environment. We don't just want, we expect it to be the only espresso machine we supply your site with. The chassis doesn't require the side panels to make it sturdy, the boiler and pipe work is made from high-grade copper with the best valves and components available. For this reason, plastic doesn't play any major role in Star espresso machines. We use 2mm British steel just for the paneling alone, which is why it is one of the heaviest machines in the world - despite being one of the smallest.

If looked after, your Star espresso machine will run for years to come - so long as you don't leave it on the Salisbury plains, well actually...