PROFILE Appia Life
A life of its own THE XT IS THE MOST ADVANCED MACHINE IN NUOVA SIMONELLI’S APPIA LIFE RANGE. GLOBAL COFFEE REPORT UNCOVERS HOW ITS INNOVATIVE FEATURES MAXIMISE PERFORMANCE WHILE MINIMISING ENERGY CONSUMPTION.
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uova Simonelli’s Appia life range has existed for more than a decade. The machines have proved to be versatile and popular across many coffee markets around the world, and now, with its new Appia Life XT, the Italian-based business is offering the most advanced espresso machine in the series to date. “Appia model machines have become popular around the world. For many people, they are the first machines they use when they enter the coffee industry – it’s like a first love,” says Marco Feliziani, Vice President and Sales Director at Simonelli Group. “The Appia Life range is made for those who want a trustworthy and straightforward machine, while making a great drink in total confidence. It is the perfect coffee machine for large companies, coffee shop chains, or wherever there is a need to prepare great coffee and to be cost-effective.” Appia Life is a medium-range machine which has models designed to fit different coffee markets around the world. “We decided to enlarge its platform in order to give a valuable coffee machine to different markets. Appia Life standard version, which includes single-group, two-to-three groups, and twogroup compact, is the ideal machine for coffee shop chains in emerging markets that are looking for an easy to use, reliable, and cost-effective coffee machine,” Feliziani says. “Our newly released Appia Life XT version is dedicated to coffee shop chains in mature markets that demand advanced functions, such us more precision and more control.” Appia Life XT was launched globally at Host Milan in 2019. Its name, XT, acts as an abbreviation of ‘extra technology’ as the machine possesses a raft of new and improved features helping coffee shop chains with average productivity to maximise precision and to have more control of the device. “It has been built to be energy efficient while optimising functionality, productivity, and consistency,” Feliziani says. To achieve this consistency, Simonelli Group has implemented several advancements, including the Soft Infusion System (SIS). This hydraulic system progressively increases water pressure on the coffee cake, stabilising and smoothing it, heavily reducing the likelihood of channelling.
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“It’s really helpful for baristas because if tamping isn’t perfect, the coffee isn’t evenly distributed, or the ratio is off, SIS will correct it and compensate. New baristas will definitely benefit from SIS, as will established baristas, as these things can still happen, especially during busy periods,” says Lauro Fioretti, Product Manager at Simonelli Group. “In the Appia Life XT platform, we decided to introduce some technologies we use in the top-of-the range coffee machines such as Aurelia Wave, granting coffee shop chains with medium productivity in mature markets the ability to be more consistent.” For milk-based beverages, Appia Life XT’s Easy Cream Technology is completely automated and designed to consistently produce creamy milk. Air is premixed with steam and injected into cold milk to create microbubbles, the amount of which is adjusted depending on what style of beverage is being created. Easy Cream Technology controls the milk’s temperature using a PT1000 sensor, the same technology which is used in professional grade ovens. “It’s practically automating the process with the same level of accuracy that a professional, competitive barista achieves. The customer will always get the beverage at a temperature they like. The automation doesn’t take away from the barista’s creativity though, they still get to pour the milk and can make wonderful latte art,” Fioretti says. “An important and unique factor about Easy Cream Technology is that it doesn’t actually hold milk inside it. This provides flexibility for
