Choosing the right commercial espresso machine for your business isn't easy. In this La Pavoni Bar-Star review, we're going to cover everything you need to know about the Bar-Star to help you determine whether it's a match for your business.
You're going to discover...
- The Bar-Star's key features and how they work.
- How to choose between the different configurations of this machine.
- What types of businesses the Bar-Star works best for.
- How it compares to similar models.
- A little background on the brand and its reputation.
Let's get started...
Quick Summary
La Pavoni Bar-Star
This volumetric machine offers baristas a robust combination of features like flexible brewing options, pre-infusion and an anti-vacuum valve to make milk steaming easier and clog-free. This is an excellent choice for owners of small to large cafes, restaurants and shops who expect a higher standard of quality from their espresso machines.
Key Features And What They Mean
Programmable Dosing
With programmable dosing, business owners can set the ideal water volume for the espresso with the digital control pad and microprocessor.
The machine will then dispense a precisely measured amount of water for every espresso shot, saving your baristas the time it takes to monitor a shot from beginning to end.
How does this translate for your business?
Reduced inconsistency among baristas of varying skill levels, more time for your baristas to interact with customers, and a consistently excellent product that will encourage free word-of-mouth advertising.
Multiple Brewing Options
Flexibility is more than a convenience. For most businesses, it's vital for gaining a competitive edge.
Our La Pavoni Bar-Star espresso machines are adapted to four cup size selections with continuous brewing and instant stop button options for long shots, ristretto shots and everything in between.
Combined with programmable dosing, these mechanisms offer baristas full control over espresso extraction.
Beyond their user-friendliness, all of these features facilitate faster customer service, a smoother production line and easy customization guaranteed to win loyal customers.
Copper Boiler
Built from iron-free copper, the Bar-Star's boiler is rust-proof. It's also naturally heat-efficient and antimicrobial, conserving energy and preventing bacteria growth.
The sheer size of the Bar-Star's boiler positions this machine as a powerhouse in the espresso machine world. Capable of crafting hundreds of drinks per day, the Bar-Star will help businesses looking to expand achieve their goals.
Anti-Vacuum Valve
Steam wands are notoriously high-maintenance, requiring cleaning and flushing after each use to purge liquids trapped inside.
The anti-vacuum valve is there to stop liquids from siphoning into the steam wand, preventing clogs by design.
Thermal Stability
Temperature stability is generated by the Bar-Star's innovative thermal technology. This is crucial for quality control.
As experienced baristas know, espresso can be affected by slight fluctuations in group temperature. To eliminate this variability, the Bar-Star supplies thermal stability to the coffee groups, cutting the risk of compromised quality.
Pre-Infusion
Pre-infusion is a brewing method of gently saturating the coffee puck before the pressurized water comes through the group head.
What this ensures is balanced extraction, even if the barista's tamping is off. The result is an espresso with a clean, vibrant flavor and perfect crema.
Especially when your baristas are serving up double shots and Americanos, you want your product to speak for itself, but also for the attention your establishment pays to the details.
Water Softener
Unsurprisingly, water quality makes a considerable difference in your product. Even if your coffee is of the highest quality, untreated water can damage the flavor.
Our Bar-Star machines come equipped with water softeners to remove calcium and magnesium ions, improving flavor and reducing scaling that can break the machine.
It's a free insurance policy that will increase the longevity of your espresso equipment.
Energy-Saving Power Switch
The four-position power switch on the Bar-Star reduces the machine's energy consumption by 33 percent when not in use.
When the busy season is in full swing and electricity bills climb, this small but high-impact feature will save money and work double-time to maximize the return on your investment.
Different Configurations
La Pavoni Commercial Volumetric 2 Group BAR-STAR 2V
Baristas can work on two espresso drinks simultaneously with the 2 Group Bar-Star. And with a 14-liter boiler, it's ready to handle large volumes of business during morning and midday rushes.
At 31 inches wide, it's also the most economical machine in terms of space usage, which can come in handy on a crowded counter or for a shop with limited space.
La Pavoni Commercial Volumetric BAR-STAR 3V
This Bar-Star comes with three groups and a boiler capacity of 22 liters, vastly increasing output to well over several hundred beverages per day.
Conveniently, two baristas can work on the machine at the same time, which can have the effect of exponentially increasing the speed and efficiency of production.
La Pavoni Commercial Volumetric Espresso Machine BAR-STAR 4V
More businesses are opting for four-group machines to meet demand or increase the rate of customer traffic. Between its four groups and 27-liter boiler, this Bar-Star model is the ultimate machine for the most demanding of paces in busy establishments.
But improving productivity and efficiency isn't just about the number of customers coming through your doors. It's also about offering faster, better customer service, which is now a larger determining factor in the success of any business than ever before.
Certainly, not every business requires an espresso machine with this many groups. An in-depth analysis of your current customer traffic and projected growth will give you a realistic picture of your requirements.
Comparable Alternatives
Nuova Simonelli Aurelia II Volumetric
Available in two-group and three-group options, the Nuova Simonelli Aurelia II Volumetric is another state-of-the-art machine with the a large boiler capacity—14 liters for the two-group, 17 for the three-group.
Like the La Pavoni Bar-Star, the Nuova Simonelli Aurelia II comes with volumetric dosing, pre-infusion capacity, a power-saving button and multiple drink size settings.
It is, however, substantially pricier than the Bar-Star, equipped with high-tech features like cool touch steam wands and T3 technology. In this setup, three to four copper boilers allow baristas to independently set the temperature for each group head.
It's definitely on the decked-out side of the espresso machine spectrum, which may or may not be what your business requires.
La Spaziale S2 2 Group Volumetric S2-2G-AV
This two-group machine is an economical alternative to the two-group version of the La Pavoni Bar-Star.
It boasts many of the same features for a slightly lower price:
- Two steam wands
- A hot water outlet
- Automated boiler refill
- Electric heating
- Direct water feed
With four programmable buttons and a manual button, the La Spaziale S2 lets baristas easily customize beverages with different espresso exaction methods.
However, it doesn't come with the Bar-Star's anti-vacuum valve, copper boiler, thermal stability system or 14-liter boiler. Still, its 10-liter boiler may be more than enough for your professional needs.
About the Brand
Established in 1905, La Pavoni enjoys a robust and long-lived reputation for excellence. The company focuses on making beautiful machines that are both ergonomic and technologically innovative.
La Pavoni creates domestic and commercial espresso machines in a wide variety of designs. You'll find traditional lever-operated, semiautomatic and fully automated versions of models like the Diamante, Crema and Cremona.
Ideal Machine Applications
While all of our La Pavoni Bar-Star machines are well suited to commercial operations, each configuration is best matched to particular applications and environments.
For small- to medium-sized coffee shops as well as restaurants and establishments that aren't coffee-centric, the 2 Group Bar-Star will thrive under the most demanding conditions. It's a hard-working machine, effortlessly delivering several hundred drinks per day.
The three-group and four-group models are recommended for larger coffee shops and enterprises, both in terms of physical space and customer traffic.
Keep in mind that the four-group machine will be the most accommodating of high-volume businesses as you essentially get two two-group machines in one.
What Customers Say
Our customers are impressed with how long-lasting our La Pavoni machines are. They easily exceed expectations and run like a dream in any setting.
With proper maintenance, a La Pavoni espresso machine will produce a return on your investment in a relatively short amount of time and continue delivering a high quality product for years to come.
Price
At Majesty Coffee, we know that budget is as important as machine performance. To better serve our customers, we offer competitive pricing on all of our La Pavoni Bar-Star machines.
Priced at $6,200, our 2 Group Bar-Star will save you $300. Our 3 Group Bar-Star comes with a five-percent discount, reducing your cost from $7,700 to $7,400. In terms of combined output and price, our 4 Group Bar-Star is tough to match at $8,600.
For expert service and the best prices, check out these machines on Majesty Coffee:
