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NICE, FRANCE TO U R I NG TH E UNIC FA CTO RY A er a week of touring the most traditional and romantic—as well as the most third wave and cu ing edge—cafés and roasteries that Paris had to offer, we hopped a plane to the south of France to visit the factory and offices of UNIC, the espresso machine manufacturer known the world over for the Tango, Z, Rumba, and Pony models, as well as the boutique machine, Stella di Caffè, which is center stage at all Barista Nation events. The rain had been increasingly cold and dark in Paris, so I was overjoyed when our plane descended on the sunny and bright French Riviera on the descent into Nice. I was there for just two days with my friend Anastasia Chovan, founder of Barista Nation, but in that time I got a wonderfully in-depth understanding of this company that has since 1919 been a leader in equipment innovation not only throughout France, but also in Europe, the United States, and Asia. Clockwise from top le : The Perco Express: One of the spectacular antique machines on display in the opening showroom of UNIC's headquarters in Nice; a hillside village near the factory; gleaming copper boilers await welding (all machines are assembled by hand from start to finish); Olivier Gastaud, one of two men who assemble all Tangos for UNIC; Aldo Ramello, one of several full-time bench testers; Philippe Macieri powder coating the machines. 32 barista magazine