L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2025 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano F o r s o m e , t h e sounds might be p u z z l i n g — a c l a n k , a h i s s , a whoosh. But for coffee aficionados, there's no mystery at all. It's merely the hum and clatter of a delicious espresso drink being pre - pared. The creative design, ingenious mechanics, and attention to detail that go into espresso machines have intrigued Kent Bakke for nearly 50 years. But it didn't start out that way. In fact, at the beginning, Bakke wasn't even a coffee drinker. I n 1 9 7 7 , a r a n d o m encounter at a Seattle sand- w i c h s h o p l e d B a k k e t o a career steeped in coffee. For several decades, he partnered with La Marzocco, the ven- e r a b l e I t a l i a n e s p r e s s o - machine maker, and eventu- ally became its CEO in 1994. After his retirement in 2018, Bakke brewed up his latest venture: the Bakke Coffee Museum, where he displays some of his personal collec- tion of coffee machines and grinders. It's no small operation: Bakke's collection is one of the largest of its kind — more than 300 commercial espres- so machines and several hun- dred residential ones — and the museum features exam- ples of every size and shape. Some are purely functional; others are so highly designed a s t o l o o k i m p r a c t i c a l . Through these distinctive yet u t i l i t a r i a n o b j e c t s , B a k k e hopes to tell the story of the beverage and the machines that make it possible. Bakke's introduction to e s p r e s s o m a c h i n e s b e g a n when, just out of college, he bought a sandwich shop in Pioneer Square with some f r i e n d s . I n t h e b a c k , t h e y found an old brass espresso machine built by the Italian company Victoria Arduino. With its vertical configura- t i o n , t h e m a c h i n e l o o k e d more like a miniature steam boiler than a coffee maker. A tinkerer by nature, Bakke w a s i n t r i g u e d b y t h e machine's looks and mechan- ics. He cleaned it up and got it to work, and then won- dered whether the Northwest w a s r e a d y f o r a n I t a l i a n espresso experience. On a trip to Italy the following year, he and two friends vis- i t e d s e v e r a l e s p r e s s o - m a c h i n e m a n u f a c t u r e r s , i n c l u d i n g L a M a r z o c c o , founded in Florence in 1927 b y G i u s e p p e a n d B r u n o Bambi. B a k k e a p p r o a c h e d t h e Bambi brothers and asked if he could import La Marzoc- co machines to the US. They said yes. "It took us one year to sell the first La Marzocco machine because people had no idea what we were talking about," Bakke recalled. "We c a l l e d t h e m c a p p u c c i n o makers because that seemed t o b e a t e r m p e o p l e w e r e more familiar with." I n 1 9 9 4 , B a k k e a n d a group of investors acquired 90 percent of La Marzocco and brought its headquar- ters to Seattle along with a factory that built machines for Starbucks, a move that Bakke says was integral to the spread of espresso cul- ture in the US. On frequent trips to Italy, Bakke started amassing his collection. "I saw that Italian manufacturers weren't sav- ing examples of their own history," he said. "When I a s k e d w h e r e t h e o l d e r machines were, they would simply point to the scrap heap. I was into cool-looking m a c h i n e s a n d p r e s e r v i n g their history, so I acquired one, then another, and then another. I also purchased s o m e o f m y c o l l e c t i o n online. You can buy some b e a u t i f u l a n t i q u e I t a l i a n espresso machines on eBay." A f t e r r e t i r i n g f r o m L a Marzocco, Bakke purchased a f o r m e r m a r i n e - e n g i n e repair shop in Seattle's Bal- l a r d n e i g h b o r h o o d a n d spent years having it remod- eled. Today, museum visi- tors are welcomed by large, light-filled rooms complete with gleaming wood floors and high ceilings. The collec- tion is rotated periodically. B e s i d e s e s p r e s s o machines, Bakke's collection also includes about 75 coffee grinders (most are not Ital- i a n ) , g o i n g b a c k t o t h e 1700s, as well as a collection of antique cars. (A cranber- ry-red 1920s Detroit Electric greets visitors just inside the museum's front door). There is also a workshop where the machines are cleaned and refurbished; future plans i n c l u d e a s m a l l c a f é a n d event space. What doesn't fit into the gallery is stored on shelves in a 3,000-square-foot base- ment under the building. A m u s e u m t o u r i n c l u d e s a peek at the storage space. But even that is not large e n o u g h . S o m e o f B a k k e ' s collection remains off-site or in Italy. Taking a tour through the Bakke Coffee Museum offers a n i l l u m i n a t i n g j o u r n e y t h r o u g h t h e h i s t o r y o f espresso. Before World War II, for example, making cof- fee involved large vertical boilers with big filters. In 1939, the Bambi brothers turned the machine on its side and got a patent for the f i r s t h o r i z o n t a l e s p r e s s o m a c h i n e . A f t e r t h e w a r , Achille Gaggia patented a lever machine, and espresso went from a long cup to a short, more concentrated draw with the distinctive "foam" on top. Examples of these types of machines are on display, including La Pavone Con- corso by Diamante and the G a g g i a E s p o r t a z i o n e . One look at the gleaming r o u n d - e d g e d D i s c o Volante ("Flying Saucer"), produced by La San Marco of Udine in the 1950s, and it's easy to see how the icon- ic machine got its name. Visitors can check out La Marzocco's Poker, made in the late 1960s and powered by steam from a separate boiler. And imagine what practical fellow invented a machine called Toast and C o f f e e ( T o s t - C a f é b y Olimpic) that actually pre- pared both — at the same time! The left side featured a s m a l l h e a t e r e l e m e n t t o brown the bread, while the right side prepared the cof- fee. A floor-to-ceiling show- c a s e h i g h l i g h t s c o f f e e g r i n d e r s a n d s m a l l h o m e m a c h i n e s , i n c l u d i n g t h e ubiquitous Moka as well as the lesser-known balance coffee machine, which uses a glass siphon to produce deli- cious coffee while demon- strating the principles of physics. The Bakke Coffee Muse- um, 4600 Shilshole Avenue NW, is open for tours week- days by appointment only. The non-profit museum also h o s t s o c c a s i o n a l s p e c i a l events. Admission is free. RITA CIPALLA Bakke Coffee Museum: a collection steeped in history Kent Bakke in his museum (Photo: Abby Inpanbutr). Bottom left, floor-to-ceiling display case features smaller home coffee machines and grinders, some going back several centuries (Photo: Rita Cipalla) SEATTLE ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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