Italian commercial and home espresso equipment manufacturer La Marzocco has revealed the latest addition to its La Marzocco Home line, a new espresso-focused grinder called the Pico.
Available in black or white, the Pico is currently available for worldwide sales directly from the LM Home website for US$995.
Designed to accompany the recently released La Marzocco Linea Micra or the larger Linea Mini espresso machines on home counters, the compact Pico grinder centers on a system of 39-millimeter conical burrs that the company says produces approximately 18 grams of espresso-range ground coffee per 10 seconds of grinding.
Among other sound-dampening features, the grinder features a brushless induction motor to drive the burrs.
The Pico’s grind-by-time function is activated through a simple tap of the portafilter fork. Users can program up to three different grind times through buttons on the grinder’s face.
“Pico is a dedicated home espresso grinder specifically developed to pair alongside our line of home espresso machines,” Senior Product Manager Scott Guglielmino told Daily Coffee News. “The burrs are designed by La Marzocco, and are the result of an intense development process involving 14 different geometrical designs.”
The Pico’s straight-through grind path and other details are designed to minimize static and retention for dosing accuracy, as well as to minimize cross-contamination when changing coffees. The hopper features an iris-like mechanism that closes automatically when lifted from the grinder body. The feature allows for the switching of hoppers loaded with different coffees.
Grind size adjustments come through a micro-stepped adjustment collar that alters the position of the inner cone burr relative to the ring burr. The Pico is also the latest machine to join the small club of machines — including the Baratza Sette grinders and the Etzinger EtzMAX series — of conical-burr grinders that spin the outer ring burr rather than the inner cone burr.
Prior to the Pico, in 2019 La Marzocco made the first mention of a grinder called the Swan it was developing that also centers on a belt-driven ring-spun conical burr system, and looks similar in exterior form. The Swan, which at that time was said to involve larger burrs for commercial applications, remains in development.
“The Pico is an entirely separate project,” said Guglielmino. “Both it and the Swan grinder are part of La Marzocco’s Fine Grinding project, aimed at translating the same values that we’ve applied in the espresso machine to the coffee grinder. We’re always developing new and exciting things, and look forward to sharing more.”
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Howard Bryman Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
