MILAN – Introducing the Black Eagle Maverick, Victoria Arduino’s intelligent, sustainable and user-friendly coffee machine to date. What inspired the Maverick concept and how the company brought its creation to life. A journey through the key stages of the machine’s development, from the inside to the outside, before touching on some conversations with the baristas, those mavericks that have turned the humble cup of
coffee into something beyond a form of art.
Victoria Arduino: “From the beginning, it was our aim to make the invisible, visible. We took our cue from the achievements of the great and the good of the past when the maverick, a person who quite literally refuses to follow the customs or rules of a group, discovered a moment of genius through key technological innovations of the 20th Century.
Apply the same logic to the barista and the noble coffee machine, when a collision of
creative forces and bespoke technology can result in one, perfect, cup of coffee. But as we all know, there is an ocean of disparity between an ordinary cup of coffee, and one that has the ability to fundamentally alter the dynamic of our day: it means so much to millions of us on a daily basis, whether it’s the first wake-up shot in the morning or the post-dinner digestif in the evening.
The first Black Eagle is done so much to address this, it’s already a much-treasured coffee
machine by baristas all over the globe, so how can we improve on that? The team went beyond a zone of pre-existing ideas, further than the space that exists between the barista and technology, to a twilight plane of potential, a place where inspiration can be facilitated to create something profoundly unique. We knew we had to give the barista, the maverick, more.
Not just a bit more control, but complete domination over the temperature, the brew, the
steam, even the opportunity to shift instantly between genres of coffee. So, we gave them brand-new sustainable technology, a system to revolutionise the way they make a cup of coffee. We gave them the Maverick, and took it from there.”
Black Eagle Maverick Feauters
The Black Eagle Maverick is the next step in our history of innovation and design. It
introduces important improvements in terms of performance, precision and sustainability.
Just like T3 Genius, the evolution of T3 technology that offers the same precision and control by using 37% less energy. This important result was obtained by reducing the
volume of the stainless-steel boilers, by optimising the weight of the group, by increasing
its reactivity and precision, by improving the electronics and by channelling surplus energy to preheat incoming water.
In the Black Eagle Maverick, the boilers are made of stainless steel and have a reduced
volume (from 14 to 8 litres) and they can maintain a high pressure (2.1 bar) and thus
release high quality dry steam. Also, the advanced Steam by Wire system guarantees
the same quality in terms of delivery of dry steam, adding three controls to purge and
divide the steam between jugs of different capacities.
The Black Eagle Maverick also optimises the shape and weight of the group by 23% to enable faster heating speed and better precision and reactivity
The new electronics can even more accurately control the heating elements. Additionally, two solutions have been added that use the surplus energy from the motor (Motor Cooling System) as well as from the dispenser (T.E.R.S. – Thermal Energy Recovery System) to preheat the incoming water. With the Black Eagle Maverick, Victoria Arduino introduces Pure Brew Technology, a revolutionary method of espresso extraction and of a low-pressure coffee extraction.
Victoria Arduino matched the Pure Brew technology to a new Victoria Arduino patent: a portafilter with a conical double-mesh filter that can create PureBrew, a totally new filtered coffee extraction more syrupy and full-bodied. The brilliance of this new technology also lies in its extreme simplicity of use: just set the roasting level of your coffee (light, medium or dark) to get a fantastic new coffee experience. Those who want to try their more “Maverick” attitude, can create their own recipe.
What’s more, the simple and intuitive user interface makes everything faster and more
reactive. The barista can pass from espresso to Pure Brew mode by selecting the icon in
the home page of the main display.
The Black Eagle Maverick is available in 2 different versions: volumetric and gravimetric,
both of which are equipped with all the above-mentioned technology.
Another important improvement has been brought to the user experience and the design of Black Eagle Maverick
The new software and display of the group allow the user to visualise all the information relating to the extraction and the preparation of the drink. By means of the main display, the barista can quickly change between types of extraction, create new recipes, modify the settings and browse through all the functions of the Black Eagle Maverick.
Minimal, contemporary and solid design. To create the lines and shapes of the Black
Eagle Maverick, Victoria Arduino was not only inspired by its history, but it focused on the
needs of champion baristas, roasters, chains and speciality coffee shops that require
machines that are exciting, high-performance and sustainable. An even lower profile
design, to favour customer relations, along with captivating aesthetic elements, such as
the stainless-steel rail that echoes the brand logo and new more solid feet with more contemporary lines. The rear and side panels are smooth to allow for customisation. The
grid has a different composition with strong aesthetics and function, simplifying operation
of the machine.
Discovering the Mavericks
For the Black Eagle launch Victoria Arduino asked the collaboration of some Mavericks that saw in preview the machine and told us their story in coffee. Apart from an authentic passion for coffee, all of our Mavericks honed their barista skills from competition: pitting their wit and guile against some seriously talented competitors and making the grade. But it’s so much more than that, applying your skills in a coffee shop is one thing, standing up and being counted by your peers, and winning, is something to be immensely proud of. And we’re immensely proud of them too.
There is something else at work here also. Coffee is so much more than the sum of its
parts, it’s no longer something we spoon into a mug in the morning it’s an integral part of
our lives. However, for Maverick’s coffee is an inspiration, in each and every instance,
coffee has quite literally changed their lives.
Simon Sun is the 2019 China Barista Champion
Simon hails from Suzhou, a city west of Shanghai in China, and used to work as a fashion magazine editor. When his friends opened a bookstore in his hometown, he took over the running of the small coffee section in the corner and the rest, as they say, is history. Completely self-taught, Simon didn’t even now there was such a thing as the world barista championships until he happened across it one afternoon on the internet.
At the moment everything changed, in addition to becoming a China champion, Simon now has a career in coffee, he works with directly with coffee bean farmers, but his true calling is imparting his ardour for all things coffeerelated through teaching and education. On a more practical level, Simon is obsessed with a coffee machine being able to hold a very stable temperature to allow a different extraction profile for each coffee bean. For Simon, the T3 Genius Technology has taken the brewing process to completely new levels and challenging the status quo as we know it.
Mikael Jasin, 2019-2020 Indonesia Barista Champion
He was born in Indonesia and moved to Australia as a teenager to study, it was here, working in a coffee shop in Melbourne, that his barista journey began. Goodbye studies, hello new adventure, Mikael began competing, challenging himself something he enjoys outside of his life in front of a coffee machine- and more pertinently, winning. He started a, coffee consulting company but also works directly with coffee bean farmers and processes his own beans, so for him extraction is a key aspect of his craft, but there is something else we discovered when we talked to him too. Ninety percent of his customers don’t drink espresso.
In Indonesia the most famous drink is iced coffee -coffee, milk, sugar, light, brown sugar,
and ice cube- and as for Mikael himself, he drinks more filter coffee than espresso. For
Mikael the addition of the Pure Brew is an industry gamechanger, especially as it’s a
different genres of filter coffee.
When she was 18, Natalia Kwiatowska, 2020 Polish Barista Champion
She travelled to the southern part of Ireland, her intention to return to home to Poland and study drama didn’t happen as planned. Instead, she ended up staying for nine years where, after a stint as working as waitress, got behind the machine and began entering barista competitions.
Back at home, Natalia has her own coffee shop and is developing her business to roast
beans that she’s purchased from direct contact from growers For her, the Black Eagle
Maverick has one clear cut advantage, it’s versatility will attract more customers, yes, it’s
fast and consistent thanks to T3 Genius technology but what really excited Natalia was the opportunity to get creative again with the Pure Brew feature. Interestingly, she had initial reservations about the new design, the lower profile now allows for greater interaction between the barista and the customer, but readily agreed it feels more accessible, even challenging accepted ideas of how to utilise the physical space in a coffee shop.
After college, Lem Butler, 2016 US Barista Champion, was working as a musician in
North Carolina, he got signed by a major label but walked away when he lost creative
control over what he did. To support himself he took a job as a barista where he got roped
into helping out a colleague in the world barista competition, the performance aspect of the championship spoke to his inner musician and he instantly knew that this was something he wanted to be a part of. After winning the WBC, Lem started training baristas, but his focus is letting the coffee speak for itself and putting greater onus on the famers producing the bean.
In this respect, having the right equipment is paramount, obviously more control over the
bean from machine to cup, but Lem is also impressed by the Black Eagle’s sustainability
credentials too. He freely acknowledges that the energy wasted in a cafe is sizable and the fact that having control over the heat in the knowledge that the same heat will be recycled is crucial.
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