A Closer Look at the Text Espresso Machine

A couple of days ago, I posted about the TextSpresso machine developed by the tech and coffee geeks at Zipwhip -- you remember, right? The ultra-cool coffee machine that makes an espresso when you send it a text -- and prints your name on the crema? Here's a follow-up video with a lot more detail for all you guys that were drooling over having this baby at work:

First, lemme just say that a) these guys are on top of their publicity. They tweeted me out a thanks for the nice article and invited me to drop by the office anytime. If I weren't on the wrong coast, I'd take them up on it and b) how cool would it be to work for a company that lets you play like this? You'll notice a bit of name-dropping going on here -- that's a Jura Impresso XS90 machine starring in the video, and the company head honcho gives a shout out to Seattle Coffee Gear, where they bought it and other coffee related parts. The whole setup includes a milk cooler and grinder, and is powered by 2 servos and 3 stepper motors. 

You'll also get a close-up look at the little robot arm in action -- both on the automatic scripted run and manually controlled with -- you'll love this -- an xBox controller. You can also get a good look at the actual motor and train mechanism, and the seriously nice job they did with the slots and grooves in the countertop. I also love it that John Lauer's favorite part of the whole set up is also my favorite part -- the edible ink printing.

For those who were wondering, the coffee is apparently great. And if you get hold of the phone number, there's nothing stopping you from texting an order to the machine.

And for the record? I love their main product, too -- I'll like it even better when I can get a cell phone number for my computer so I don't have to get a cell phone at all to send and receive text messages.