To further introduce the commercial masterpiece KB90 to the flourishing coffee market in Southern China and to stay closely involved with the local coffee community and reseller, La Marzocco China was excited to bring KB90 to China’s southern metropolis, Guangzhou, on June 22 2019.
The event was held at Atlas Coffee and was supported by several sponsors. Approximately 150 local coffee professionals and enthusiasts attended the event, in the hope of a chance to see and try out the revolutionary machine for themselves. New Polaris, the technical-wise highly trained local reseller, presented KB90 to the audience, throwing spotlight on the innovative straight-in portafilter system, steam flush and the ultimate workflow the machine was designed to achieve.
In addition to the technical presentation, games and latte art competitions were planned to make it an educative event where all participants can be entertained at the same time. A golf game which vividly represented the straight-in operation was set beside the sign-in counter, where attendees were free to make a shot and win a branded prize after scoring a goal.
The fun-packed competition had a few rules and twists. Essentially, it was designed to remind the audience of the innovative features and functions of KB90.
As the night unfurled, the game players arrived on site to familiarize themselves with the machine. The audience poured in and the first round kicked off. The players were required to make a coffee latte straight in one pour. Besides, in the whole output process, players were ‘punished’ for making or exhibiting the tendency of making the traditional espresso prep movements like manually flushing the group and twisting the portafilter.
Six out of twelve players were left to battle in the second round, which was designed to demonstrate the ultimate workflow of KB90. Each player brought in their creativity and professional skills and produced 2 coffee latte on KB90 in 5 minutes. The judges reviewed the latte art and selected 3 players out to compete for the championship.
The night progressed and the event reached its climax. Just as KB90 was intended to face up to the challenges of producing coffee drinks in the most efficient and consistent manner in a high volume café , the remaining players were left to challenge the mission almost impossible!
Blindly they picked their vessels for performing latte art, a mini frying pan, a soup ladle and a martini cup! The players were challenged to bring out their best latte art performance in the face of malicious obstacles and limitations plotted by La Marzocco. Everyone onsite was attracted to the machine and were eager to get a close look at what’s going on there. In the end, the martini cup player came first, soup ladle payer came second and the frying pan player came third in the competition.
Our gratitude goes not only to all the attendees and players but aslo to the judges, Peter Chan who came sixth at the 2019 WLAC, Jonathan Yang the owner of C.Taipei bakery and Douglas Chang who presented as the brand representative of La Marzocco.
It was not fair to call it a night of fun if one was not fed with finger licking snacks and quality drinks, not to mention the live music that performed perfectly well to the rhythm of the activities by a master DJ.
The sense and the flourishing enthusiasm of the local coffee community is not to be overlooked. Having witnessed such vitality and lively vibe, La Marzocco team is looking forward to the KB90 roadshow Beijing which will take place in the middle of this July!
