La Marzocco USA has been importing and distributing Mazzer grinders for over 20 years, and there’s a good reason why: they’re durable, reliable, and make great-tasting espresso. Mazzer is entering its 76th year as a company in 2024, and it’s that longevity that makes a Mazzer grinder a perfect companion for a La Marzocco espresso machine. One of the reasons why Mazzer is special is that the company is 100% family-owned. In January 2023, Luigi Mazzer—named after his grandfather—joined the company as a Vice President.
“It’s beautiful to see your family name in coffee shops, always a humbling experience,” says Luigi. This winter, he had the chance to visit La Marzocco USA’s headquarters in Ballard as part of his world tour introduction to the company, which also includes Japan, Korea, and Australia. After graduating with an MSc in industrial engineering in Milan, Luigi started a software company from scratch with friends. They were fortunate to sell their company in its early stages, and from there, he went to work as a management consultant for Boston Consulting Group. His goal was to develop as much experience as he could outside of Mazzer’s walls until he was finally ready to join the family company. “My father never forced me to join Mazzer, but when I decided that the time had come, we were both very happy.” A year and a half later, Luigi views it as the best decision he’s ever made.
But it’s not just the Mazzer family that’s important to him. “There are over 100 families that rely on Mazzer, and it’s a privilege and responsibility to make sure the company is moving in the right direction,” says Luigi. For a 76-year-old company, that means looking toward the next 10 to 20 years instead of worrying too much about the next quarter. “Now that we’ve scaled up our factory and revamped our entire grinder line to be forward-facing, I’d love to be able to tell our story to the world.”
Mazzer has been designing and producing the flat burrs that are key to the Lux, Mini, Super Jolly, and Major grinders since 1948. They’ve also been designing and manufacturing their conical burr sets that are used in the Kony, Robur, and Kold grinders since the early 2000s. Burrs requires extreme precision in design and manufacturing, and Mazzer has made continuous improvements to its production lines to add new machines and automation to improve quality and efficiency. Walking into the manufacturing floor is like viewing a pristine example of manufacturing efficiency: every surface is spotless, and every tool is exactly in its right place. The factory itself is a mirror of Mazzer’s grinders: an engineering marvel that’s renowned for quality.
But Mazzer grinders are more than just examples of great manufacturing, they’re also excellent tools for making coffee. And coffee quality is near and dear to the Mazzer family. Each morning, Luigi says, his father will wake up and stage a breakfast that feels like watching a barista championship where he makes three to four espresso drinks with his GS/3 and Mazzer Mini for each family member. It’s that passion for espresso that drives both the Mazzer family and Mazzer, the company, to constantly be innovating. Mazzer makes grinders for more than just espresso, too. Their ZM grinder is the ultimate tool for precise filter brewing, and Luigi is partial to the Omega hand grinder, which he uses to make pour over and moka pot coffee.
Ultimately, for Mazzer, the future of grinders is tied to its all-time values: Luigi affirms that the core of Mazzer grinders will always be anchored in reliability and consistency. For a company that’s well-known for producing grinders that routinely last over 20 years with regular maintenance, it’s important to maintain that quality standard. “We could probably sell more grinders if they broke down only after a few years,” says Luigi. “But that wouldn’t be true to what we do. When your own name is on the side of a piece of equipment, the same pride you have in your family must carry over to the machines you make.”
At the same time, innovation drives Mazzer. Both stepless adjustment and on-demand grinding were invented by Mazzer to meet the changing demands of the modern coffee world, and Luigi is excited to continue to invest in research to bring new, innovative grinders to the market.
You can view Mazzer’s grinder lineup offered by La Marzocco USA here.
