Our favourite finds from this yr’s version of Italy’s greatest meals service + hospitality commerce present.
BY ISABELLE MANI
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Featured photograph courtesy of Host Milano
Italy could also be recognized for its espresso, however its deeper legacy lies within the equipment, engineering, and design that makes espresso attainable.
Strolling by Host Milano—the world’s main commerce occasion for hospitality, meals service, and occasional tech, which is held each two years in October in Milan—appears like entering into the left hemisphere of the espresso trade’s mind: exact, useful, and endlessly ingenious. But, in Milan, the place aesthetics and tradition form even essentially the most technical crafts, the expo unfolds as a yin-yang of rigor and creativity.
Now greater than sixty years previous, Host’s espresso pavilions have advanced alongside the rise of unbiased cafés and the fashionable café tradition motion. As soon as targeted solely on industrial HoReCa (Resort, Restaurant, and Café) operations, the honest now bridges each worlds: large-scale machines and programs, and instruments that empower small companies and passionate professionals.
That evolution was particularly clear this yr, as Host Milano, for the third time, hosted the World Espresso Championships, marking the twenty fifth anniversary of the World Barista Championship, with Australian Jack Simpson taking the title.
On this article, I’ll showcase among the merchandise from this yr’s Host Milano occasion that seize the stability between custom and reinvention, craft and automation. Listed below are among the coolest ones I discovered.
Magister’s Lover Espresso Machine
Italian firm Magister‘s compact Lover espresso machine is one which dares to interrupt a century-old ritual: It doesn’t use a portafilter. That alone is a daring transfer, particularly throughout the context of Host Milano.
True to Magister’s slogan, “We’re right here to have enjoyable,” the Lover options a chrome steel physique, a 58 mm brew chamber, a set 15-bar pump, and 1500W of heating energy. Espresso flows immediately from its enclosed brewing unit into the cup, bypassing the normal portafilter setup.
It’s straightforward to function: Utilizing the stress and movement dials, you possibly can change between espresso, drip, and pour-over-style brewing. With PID temperature management, a stress gauge, and each stress and movement adjustment within the top-tier mannequin, it’s a playful little precision machine—nearly a hybrid between a prosumer workhorse and a design object.
It additionally sits on the decrease finish of the worth spectrum for machines with this degree of functionality and specs, making it a uncommon win-win: excessive efficiency, approachable value. Retail is predicted to be round €800 (about $932 USD) internationally.
The OutIn Nano for Espresso on the Go
I’ve at all times believed that espresso instruments exterior cafés must be sensible, accessible, and capable of work for everybody—whether or not it’s after a motorcycle journey or an outside sport session, or while you’re in an workplace and refuse to drink the espresso within the break room.
The OutIn Nano is a compact, USB-C rechargeable espresso maker with an inside heating system, appropriate with each floor espresso and capsules. It delivers a wealthy espresso with actual crema due to its 20 bars of stress, 198°F steam temperature, a 7,500 mAh battery, and 80ml water capability. It heats in about 135 seconds and weighs lower than 2 kilos.
It’s costlier than most handbook opponents, nevertheless it makes up for it by self-sufficiency, battery life, and common charging—together with automobile chargers. Add-ons like filter baskets and capsule adapters (priced at round $12–20 USD) add flexibility, and the corporate guarantees sturdy buyer help and spare components: one thing that actually issues, particularly for rising improvements. It’s additionally now accessible at Decathlon, averaging at round $150 USD, which makes it extra accessible globally. Actually, I used to be midway by writing this text on the airplane and already wishing I had one in my bag.
Honorable point out: the Wacaco Nanopresso (priced at round $65 USD).
Good Moose’s “Epic Jack” for Good + Sustainable Milk Frothing
We not too long ago coated the rise of computerized milk steamers within the February + March 2025 print situation of Barista Journal, and one of many manufacturers that stood out essentially the most was Belgium’s Good Moose.
The Epic Jack good milk frother, the third-generation version of Good Moose’s Jack machine, is the sort of tools that may deeply enhance café operations. It helps cafés (particularly smaller ones) perceive their operations in actual time, monitoring milk utilization, prices, and drink output for sharper stock and budgeting—and, importantly, it cuts milk waste whereas releasing baristas to concentrate on espresso, by enhancing velocity and adaptability on milk-based drinks with constant high quality.
Milk waste is a pricey, resource-intensive byproduct for cafés and—mixed with the high-quality espresso typically wasted simply to dial in grinders—stays one of many trade’s most uncomfortable sustainability contradictions (extra on how innovation can forestall espresso waste within the subsequent part).
Not like Greg, the mannequin from Good Moose that connects to an espresso machine, Jack works autonomously with its personal boiler. All that’s wanted is a water line and filtration.
Whereas Jack fits smaller cafés, the Epic Jack was engineered particularly for high-volume hospitality setups, able to steaming bigger batches of milk with the 100-cl good pitchers (1L) (all Good Moose fashions require their very own pitchers for compatibility).
For cafés that worth latte artwork, the craft is way from misplaced; it merely turns into quicker. What actually stands out, although, is the system’s precision: As soon as the barista selects the recipe, the machine reads the good pitcher and steams accordingly. Whether or not it’s oat, soy, almond, or dairy, every milk follows its personal warmth curve and texture profile, with exact, repeatable outcomes.
At a median value of round $6,000 USD, it’s an funding—however one which pays for itself over time.
GWB Expertise Helps Eradicate Espresso Waste
Maintaining with the zero-waste theme, grind-by-weight (GBW) know-how is changing into more and more frequent throughout the trade, and its newest refinements had been a significant speaking level amongst professionals at Host Milano. I selected to incorporate a GBW grinder after speaking with associates, café house owners, and baristas—the individuals who really form the actual demand for upgrading or buying new machines—by many conversations on what this regular stream of innovation means for day by day café operations from each a sustainability and workflow standpoint.
The system integrates a built-in scale that doses espresso by weight, decreasing waste throughout dial-in and preserving output constant even when grind measurement is adjusted.
At Host Milano, Venetian producer Mazzer showcased three new GBW fashions, framing GBW as the corporate’s headline innovation this yr. Every grinder incorporates a professionally built-in load cell and Mazzer’s proprietary Vibration Filtering Algorithm, which ensures correct, weight-based dosing even when the counter shakes or the bar will get busy. Main the lineup is the Kony G ($3,445 USD), a low-RPM grinder with 69mm conical burrs designed for precision and quieter efficiency in a high-demand movement. The opposite two, the Tremendous Jolly G (64mm flat burrs) and the compact Mini G, broaden the identical logic to totally different workflow scales.
Loveramics Deco Cups: The place Aesthetics Meet Effectivity
The Loveramics Deco Cup line reimagines the stacking cup by the lens of recent café design. The Deco assortment attracts inspiration from the early modernist period (developed alongside Artwork Deco) of design for effectivity. Every cup incorporates a four-step engineered base, designed to interlock not solely with itself however with each different measurement within the vary. From the 60ml espresso to the 220ml filter cup, every stacks safely and neatly on prime of the subsequent.
Hand-painted and accessible in 5 colours, the cups are dishwasher, microwave, oven, and freezer-safe, balancing artisanal character with actual sturdiness. The non-obligatory stainless-steel rack retains the set organized for storage or show in a house espresso bar.
Designed by Simon Stevens, whose work sits within the collections of the V&A and the Frankfurt Museum of Utilized Artwork, the Deco line carries the concept that engineering and artwork could make small however sensible variations.
Pricing ranges from roughly $13 USD for the Cup Organizer, $48–51 USD for the Set of 4 Cups, and $77 USD for the All Measurement Deco Cups and Saucers Set.
Keep tuned for extra protection of our time at Host Milano 2025!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Isabelle Mani (she/her) is a author, journalist, and communicator specializing within the worldwide espresso trade. Since 2017, she has targeted on writing articles and options for varied worldwide espresso information retailers. Isabelle has traveled to coffee-producing nations akin to Colombia, Kenya, Rwanda, China, and Brazil to check and analysis espresso. She holds coaching certifications from the Specialty Espresso Affiliation (SCA) and the Espresso High quality Institute (Arabica Q Grading).
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