With Australians continuing to double down on specialty coffee in non-traditional settings, how can semi-professional machines in office spaces and homes actually be a boost to cafés?
Australia’s espresso culture has long been lauded as one of the best in the world, and now that culture is extending from the nation’s famous cafés and coffeehouses and into homes, offices, and non-traditional settings.
From coffee-loving households investing in grinders and home machines and offices looking to boost convenience for their employees to venues seeking a better coffee offering – and everything in between – there’s significant demand for machines that deliver café-grade coffee without a full-scale professional setup.
La Pavoni is the latest manufacturer to offer a machine that straddles simple domestic and professional machines with its Botticelli Specialty Dual-Boiler. While it’s designed to be capable of matching those in traditional cafés, Head of La Pavoni Australia, Leon Wolf, says machines like the Botticelli are actually advantageous to elevating the broader spectrum of coffee.
“We can’t replace café culture and we can’t replace community with domestic use, says Leon. “But what the Botticelli allows domestic users and home brewers to do is master the craft and lean into their local cafés and baristas as educators.
“With our expanding coffee culture in this country and now being crowned the best in the world again with Jack Simpson’s World Barista Championship (WBC) win, that’s just showing the evolution of the home user.”
Leon believes coffee-discerning users are looking to recreate some of the themes that led Jack to victory at the WBC, and the Botticelli will help them add some added personal flair to their brew.
“You look at what Jack talks about with the beans and the growers, the processes, the flavours and personal touches to coffee, people are trying to create that in their own homes and without the right equipment they are unable to achieve these goals,” he says.
“The Botticelli lifts up the skill level and expectations of those home users, which can only be positive for the local market.”
What it brings to the bench
Leon says the Botticelli is not a simple consumer appliance. Rather, it is a semi-professional unit engineered for precision use.
Its dual-PID boilers are a major point of difference, with the Botticelli having separate PID control for the steam and brew boilers to enable users to dial in and hold more exact temperatures for both milk steaming and espresso extraction.
“Many machines in this class rely on a single mains switch that powers both boilers at once,” explains Leon.
if not required. Image: La Pavoni.
“With the Botticelli, users have the flexibility to control each boiler independently – so if you’re just pulling espresso shots, you only need the main switch on. But if you’re steaming milk or drawing hot water, you can choose to activate only the relevant boiler.”
This granular control over each boiler is geared towards growing that inner coffee connoisseur and promoting different settings for different beans.
Lower brew temperatures highlight acidity and floral notes, while higher temperatures emphasise body and sweetness. This means users are more likely to get the best out of a light Ethiopian roast, a dark South American roast, and everything in between.
“Dual PID (Proportional-Integral Derivative) boilers lets you customise steam and brew temperatures independently, which is crucial when you switch between light and dark roasts,” says Leon.
“The purpose for us as a brand is to have those products that get people into becoming the best barista possible. Having dual PIDs means they have control over temperature not just for brew, but for steam.”
The Botticelli can also be plumbed directly into mains water for workspace and high-use home applications, which removes the need to refill a reservoir and making it more practical for shared use.
It also features competition shower screens and an all-stainless-steel chassis.
Where it sits in the market
The Botticelli is aimed at a niche looking for more tactile control than entry-level machines but want more reliable performance and advanced features like pressure profiling and adjustable PIDs without stepping into a full commercial-scale setup.
“This is the top end of the consumer market for domestic use,” says Leon. “It can be implemented for home use, but also commercial applications like offices and showrooms for people looking for that café quality coffee in their work or home environment.
“We look at it in the context of the Cellini Mini, this is our entry point for the user who is coming from a more generic domestic machine, then this machine enables people to become more of a barista and have more manual control.
“As they start to learn their craft of making great espresso and lattes, it gives great flexibility to explore different types of extraction for coffee.”
Leon says another commercial string to the bow of the Botticelli is how it can fit into the rising popularity of gelato amongst younger consumers.
“We’re seeing a lot of small gelato bars looking to have the ability to pull shots to support their gelato making rather than serve coffee,” he says.
“But for the home user or the office worker, it gives that flexibility to create their own cup of coffee.
“Whether it be macchiatos, piccolos, lattes, espresso, or anything else, the variation of coffee this machine can create is really giving people the tools to boost the skill level of all types of coffee consumer.”
For more information, visit au.lapavoni.com
This article appears in the December 2025 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
