My attitude toward coffee is fairly plebian. I love it, and I’m addicted to it, but I don’t obsess over making it properly. I did pour-overs for a while, but for the last several years I’ve relied on a basic drip machine and whatever relatively decent-sounding beans are on sale at the grocery store. Espresso drinks are fantastic, but I leave making them to the experts. But now, having seen this limited run of BMW R18 motorcycle engines turned into espresso machines that German outfit ECM is selling, I’m wondering if this is the kind of hardware I need to kick coffee from a habit to a craft hobby.
ECM will be making only 80 of these gorgeous contraptions, priced at $9,185 including tax. They call it the Big Coffee Boxer, which is appropriate because it weighs 140 pounds. I do not know what goes into an espresso machine, but I’m sure some of you out there do, so I’m just going to list the topline details from the manufacturer:
It’s a lot of money to spend on a coffee maker, but believe it or not, even $9,000 is not completely outrageous in the context of espresso machines. You can easily spend over $2,000 on a good mass-produced one, and commercial units can be over $20,000.
The Big Coffee Boxer isn’t merely made to look like one of BMW’s boxers—it started life as one. As Michael Hauck, ECM’s managing director, told BMW, transforming a motorcycle engine into an espresso machine is a rather complicated process. “Working on the solid aluminium block requires a delicate touch. However, our team—from Head Designer Tiziano [Cutaia] right down to our external partners—were immediately excited about the idea and worked on it with passion.”
“Passion” is the operative word when you’re talking about German meticulousness in designing a product that brews Italian coffee as perfectly—and fashionably—as possible. The chrome against the black case and the gauges on each side are absolutely exquisite. And though I may not be an espresso expert, I’m fairly convinced that better-looking machines brew better coffee, so a shot from this thing has got to be the best in the world.
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Backed by a decade of covering cars and consumer tech, Adam Ismail is a Senior Editor at The Drive, focused on curating and producing the site’s slate of daily stories.
