"Welcome to Five Senses Coffee"

It’s one thing for us to bang on and on about the awesomeness of the Synesso Hydra Gen 2, but it’s quite different to hear real opinions straight from the line — the people operating this machine in a real cafe environment. Here, Sarah McLeod, owner of Epic Espresso in West Perth,and a few of her baristas, talk us through life thus far with the new Gen 2…

Some might think it is strange to be so excited about the arrival of a new coffee machine — it’s not as if we didn’t already have two great Synessos which have been very loyal and hard working. But when Five Senses suggested that we might want to have a play on the next generation Synesso Hydra — well, the love affair began.

Rob and Ben are the fantastic Five Senses’ technicians who first had to solve a small issue of space. They installed our Synesso Hydra manual three group on Wednesday 20th October. They needed to mount the three pumps, with easy access for the baristas, under a bench that was already pretty full to capacity with a fridge, shelves for cup trays, reverse osmosis systems, water-holding tanks, electric cables for three grinders, drainage and electric cables for the two Synessos. It was a challenge. They won through.

Comments so far on the new ‘baby’ — from some of our team and visiting baristas:

1. “In a high volume environment, the tools on the new Hydra enable the barista to produce a more consistent shot.”
2. “The shot timers assist the barista to be much more aware of flow rates and therefore continue to push for perfection in the grind.”
3. “In a café environment with a manual Hydra, it does require an extra element of concentration.”
4. “You need a real barista to work these machines.”

Part of our excitement about the new Synesso Hydra is that the barista has more tools at their disposal to extract the subtle flavours of the bean – and therefore assist in producing the best possible espresso. As with either of our Synessos, the stable temperature throughout the shot run ensures a flat temperature profile rather than a spiked temperature profile. However, the new Synesso Hydra takes this one step further by adding the pressure profiling ability, which gives a ‘softer’ shot. Now as baristas we have another variable we are able to manipulate in the production of coffee.

As our new baby has not been installed for long, we have not experimented as much as we would like to — yet! However, it is already obvious that the pressure during the extraction has a dramatic effect on the flavour of the coffee. We intend to do much more experimentation using different origins and applying different pressure profiles and temperatures to each. There are so many features on this new machine that we have not yet had a chance to try them all out. The ability to change the temperature to within .1 of a degree is another extreme feature that we as baristas are keen to play with to see what effect it has on espresso profiles.

A very novel, but indulgent, added bonus that makes everyone happy is the automatic back flush! No more explanation necessary.

It has been very interesting explaining to customers that the Synesso we replaced was not broken, just that a newer, shinier Synesso with more features to keep us baristas entertained had finally arrived. However, once we have explained the notion of pressure profiling and highlighted the additional pumps on the Hydra, they begin to understand our excitement! There have not been that many “WOW this is so much better than the old machine” moments from our customers as yet, but those who have an interest and understanding of coffee flavours have commented that the coffee seems more ‘intense’ but delicate at the same time.

Ultimately we are just endeavouring to produce the best possible flavours every time from the premium beans we are working with to deliver our customer an awesome product. We have access to some phenomenal single origins that blow our minds when run through the new Synesso Hydra. Our House Blend continues to perform really well, and the new Synesso Hydra allows us to enhance its flavours even more fully. We, as baristas, have barely even begun to tap into the immense capabilities of our new Baby!

Until next time
The Epic Espresso Team

Epic Espresso
1297 Hay Street
West Perth, WA, 6005

Hours of Operation
Monday to Friday
6:30am – 3:30pm