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MASTER Lauro Fioretti Espresso Machine Mastermind Interview by Sarah Allen AS A PRECOCIOUS YOUNGSTER riding bicycles with his friends through the grassy terrain of Italy's bucolic Marche region, Lauro Fioretti didn't hint at the master espresso-machine engineer he would go on to become. He didn't spend sunny days inside reading; he wasn't slight, or even very quiet. He was a star student for sure, just not unusually studious. It was Lauro's natural instinct to take things apart and reassemble them, and this means all things, from guitar amplifiers to coffee itself: Even before he began his 18 years and counting with the esteemed Nuova Simonelli company, Lauro was playing with coffee beans he would buy at the market while in university, creating his own blends by adding so much of this coffee, just a bit of that one. It's safe to say he was then and continues to be curious about everything; Lauro, 47, is Nuova Simonelli's technical manager, and as such, he's responsible for designs and buildouts for new machines, one of the most highly anticipated of which will be revealed during the HOST Milano event in October. Lauro's the first to say that too much time in the lab bores him. The social aspect of the specialty-coffee industry—being able to get out in the field and talk with baristas who use the equipment he helps create—is as important to Lauro as machine development itself. Since 2011, Lauro has thrived as a World Barista Championship–certified judge— which only makes sense, really, when you consider his employer provides the famous competition with its official espresso machine. www.baristamagazine.com 81