In 2015, frequenters to Home-Barista.com—a website for coffee and espresso enthusiasts with a forum where they chat about the best at-home brewing products and techniques—posted about the need for a quality espresso maker not requiring electricity. They wanted a product they could pack up and take with them camping or on off-grid trips, but that could also profile its own pressure and last a lifetime.
Texas-based engineer Andre Vornbrock accepted the challenge, developed his passion project, and set out to craft a manual machine that could produce the perfect amount of frothy crema atop an espresso shot. After months building in his garage, Andre delivered the first version of Espresso Forge to Home-Barista.com and sold around 50 off the product website.
With Andre on the right track, Home-Barista.com’s forums served as a way for him to receive honest, public feedback, inspiring improvements for his following three iterations of Espresso Forge. With the release of Espresso Forge’s fourth version, espresso brewers and drinkers agreed the product created the perfect espresso shot.
Dwight DeBroux, who bought the product’s second iteration, wanted to carry on the legacy and purchased Espresso Forge in July to take it beyond online forums. “I believe everyone deserves a great shot of espresso,” Dwight says, who previously co-owned, and was barista at, three of Vic’s Espresso locations in Boulder and Louisville.
Dwight formed a powerhouse team of experienced coffee drinkers and brewers, including himself, Shawn Neer and Mike Murfit, who co-founded Traction Coffee Roasters in Longmont. Together, they relaunched Espresso Forge on November 1, releasing product improvements and manufacturing in Boulder County.
With a small amount of pressure, the Espresso Forge’s solid, stainless steel brew path pushes water through a commercial-size, 58-millimeter basket for a quality espresso shot. The portable, manual machine can be purchased online at espressoforge.com or at all five Ozo Coffee locations, the company’s only current in-store retail option.
At $395, the Espresso Forge is cherished by the online home barista community, as well as those who aspire to #vanlife or take off-grid trips, since the machine is portable and a way to enter the high-end espresso market without spending thousands on an industrial machine.
The Relaunch
Though Home-Barista.com forums decided the fourth version of the Espresso Forge, tweaked with the community’s suggestions, was perfect, Andre, the owner of a large tech company, had no real desire to turn his product into a business.
“He just wanted to see if he could do it,” Dwight says. “He sold a bunch, then mysteriously stopped. He did a mic drop.”
Dwight, who brews himself and his wife shots with his Espresso Forge every morning, and his friends—some of whom have the first Espresso Forge iteration—wanted to purchase a more-recent version of Andre’s invention. After they were added to a six-month-long waitlist and Dwight reached out to see what was going on, he ended up buying the company from Andre.
Dwight, Shawn and Mike have made a few improvements to the machine, including a grooved, metal band along the bottom that keeps your hands from getting too hot. The previous versions also had plastic handles, which they changed to extend the product’s sustainability and longevity. Together, the team designed an aluminum handle instead, engraved with Espresso Forge’s logo.
“In a time where we’re full of disposables, we’re proud to sell a made-for-life item. It’s a solid stainless product,” Dwight says.
When they bought Espresso Forge in July, they also bought the code to make the product’s commercial parts with CNC machines in a Boulder-based manufacturing facility. Since then, the company sources food-grade steel and mills it in Boulder to create the Espresso Forge.
Dwight and team plan to expand the number of brick-and-mortar stores offering Espresso Forge, in addition to selling online to home-brewers around the world. With Andre’s loyal forum following, some Espresso Forge fans extend as far as Italy and Budapest.