INDUSTRY PROFILE Eversys Tribute
In memoriam of Jean-Paul In-Albon GLOBAL COFFEE REPORT FAREWELLS ONE OF THE CO-FOUNDING FATHERS OF MANUFACTURING COMPANY EVERSYS, AND HONOURS HIS LEGACY FOR AUTOMATING AUTHENTIC ESPRESSO.
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ean-Paul In-Albon passed away prematurely on 21 July 2021 at the tender age of 65, leaving behind a business, a body of work, and memories that shall ensure his life leaves an indelible mark in the world of coffee and beyond. People often use words like visionary or entrepreneur to describe a person that does things ahead of their time. A visionary is a person who walks on paths that seem so clear, so simple to them and yet fail to be seen by the simple crowd. History is littered with such great people, from inventor Thomas Eddison and businessman Steve Jobs through to physicist Marie Curie, people who were born with a clear purpose and whose life was fully consumed by their true passion. And, for Jean-Paul In-Albon, this was coffee. Jean-Paul was a visionary like no other in the automated world of coffee. His business partner Robert Bircher called him a true “inventor”. Jean-Paul had a passion for building simplicity into the traditional art of coffee making. Automation was his accomplice, transforming age old movements into precise mechanical and electrical impulses. And while he had spent the whole of his life imagining and developing leading edge coffee machines, his true apogee came through his latest brainchild, Eversys. Jean-Paul began his journey in coffee with a company he founded called Sistar where he developed the concept of horizontal mechanical brewing. This was followed by a chance meeting with the owner of a small International Swiss company called Thermoplan, where he eventually became the head of the research and development department as Technical Director, making the B&W brand a global leader. This is where Jean-Paul truly came onto the international stage through developing a bespoke machine for an up-and-coming US company called Starbucks. In due course, and coming to an age when people think more about retirement than starting new projects, Jean-Paul started to feel that the boundaries of coffee making equipment had not yet been fully reached, that he could create something even more compelling. In 2009, over a lunch that lasted several hours. Jean-Paul In-Albon and Robert Bircher founded Eversys. There, began the final chapter of an amazing life, the building of a lasting legacy. What made Jean-Paul so special was his ability to imagine, to see, and to believe in a future where great coffee could be accessed by all people, anytime, anywhere. While there were many challenges along the way of building and developing a new company, fear and doubt were never part of his make-up. Jean-Paul was not only a man of great vision, but a man of great conviction and courage. Adversity was seen as a means to an end, as merely a necessary evil, a step on the way to inevitable success. This attitude, shared by most visionaries, was inspiring to all those that came into contact with him, generating tremendous team engagement and loyalty. Eversys, like Jean-Paul, was birthed into a very humble environment. It all started in a very lowkey office, in a small place next to what used to be a butcher shop in a rustic Swiss village, Ardon, located in a region of Switzerland known as the Valais, a few blocks from where he raised a family.
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It is that humility that attracted people of all segments of life, as Jean-Paul treated everyone with equal respect and attention. Such was his passion for coffee that JeanPaul could be found burning the midnight oil on most days, trying to replicate the flavour
Jean-Paul was a visionary like no other in the automated world of coffee.
