You’re opening a coffee shop. The espresso setup is the loudest, most expensive, most permanent thing on the bar — and it’s the one decision that quietly locks in months before you pour your first shot. Get the sizing, water, power, and drain right on paper and the build-out goes smooth. Get them wrong and you’re paying an electrician and a plumber to reopen walls you already closed.

I’m Josh at Elevation Espresso Care in Lakewood. I’m La Marzocco–trained, 11 years on the bench, and I sell, install, and service commercial machines across the Front Range. This is the checklist I walk a new café owner through before anything gets ordered.

The timeline nobody tells you

Equipment decisions lock 3–6 months before you open. Power and water get roughed in during build-out, and once the walls, counter, and floor are finished, changing them means demolition. Retrofitting a circuit or moving a water line after the fact costs multiples of what it costs to place them right the first time. The machine itself carries its own lead time on top of that, and it swings hard. I’ve had the same model land in three weeks, and I’ve had one take three months — it depends where you hit the production year and what’s actually sitting in stock. You can’t plan around an average you don’t control, which is exactly why the machine gets ordered early rather than close to open.

So the order of operations is backwards from what most people expect. You pick the machine before you finalize the floor plan — because the machine dictates the circuit, the water line, and the drain, not the other way around.

The equipment list — and what each decision hangs on

A list is easy. What matters is what each item depends on.

  • Espresso machine — the anchor. Group count is a volume decision (below), and everything else on the bar sizes off it.
  • Grinders — you need at least one dedicated espresso grinder, and most bars run two so espresso and a second coffee aren’t fighting over one hopper. The decaf question: does decaf earn its own third grinder, or do you single-dose it? That depends on how much decaf you actually sell — be honest, not aspirational.
  • Water treatment — filtration and softening specced to your measured water, not a guess (see the gotchas).
  • Under-counter plumbing + drain — the machine needs a supply line and a drain for the drip tray, and both have to land exactly where the machine sits.
  • Backflow prevention — most plumbing codes require a backflow preventer on the line feeding the machine, to protect the building’s potable water. The exact requirement and whether it needs annual certification depends on your jurisdiction and your inspector, so confirm it for your address before the plumber roughs in.
  • Ventilation — the espresso machine itself usually isn’t the ventilation driver; heat load in a tight space and any cooking equipment (oven, panini press) are what can trigger a hood requirement. Espresso-only builds are usually simple here; add hot food and it becomes a code conversation with your plan reviewer.

Sizing: drinks per hour drives group count

The one number that sizes your machine is peak drinks per hour — your morning rush, not your daily average. As general industry guidance (ranges, not promises):

  • One group — low, steady volume. Kiosks, offices, small food trucks, a slow bar. Roughly up to ~60 drinks/hour with one barista.
  • Two groups — the workhorse most cafés live on. Covers roughly the 60–150 drinks/hour band, two baristas at the rush.
  • Three groups — sustained rushes above ~150/hour, multiple baristas working in parallel.

Treat those as ranges, not lines in the sand. Pull time, how much milk you steam, and how many hands are on the bar all move the numbers. A drink-forward café can outgrow a two-group faster than the raw count suggests; a simple menu can ride one longer. Size for the rush you’ll have in year two, not opening week.

The three build-out gotchas

Electrical. Commercial machines don’t all run on the same power. A smaller single-group might run on a 110V circuit; most two-group machines and up want dedicated 220V, and a full three-group can pull a 50A circuit. Wrong voltage or an undersized breaker is the most common and most expensive miss, because it’s baked into the panel and the conduit during build-out. Know the machine’s exact requirement before the electrician roughs anything in.

Water line, pressure, and filtration. The machine needs a plumbed water line at the right pressure — roughly 30–45 PSI is the band most commercial machines want. Too low and it won’t fill correctly; too high and you’re stressing seals. And Denver water varies by source and season — Denver Water itself calls it ‘soft to moderately hard’ — but it is scale-forming enough that untreated water can still damage espresso equipment. Scale builds up on boilers and valves and is the number-one killer of café machines out here. Filtration has to be specced to your measured hardness — general targets land around 35–85 ppm depending on the machine — which means testing the water at your address, not dropping in a generic cartridge and hoping. More on that on our Denver water and espresso machines page.

Drain placement. The drip tray and waste need somewhere to go — a floor drain or a drain box under the counter, positioned where the machine actually sits. This is the one that gets forgotten until the counter is built and there’s nowhere for the water to drain. Place it with the machine, not after.

What it costs

I don’t put machine prices on this page. The honest number is the installed cost — machine plus water treatment, electrical, plumbing, and install labor — and it varies with your build. We lay out the real ranges on what a commercial espresso machine really costs in Denver. And if you’re weighing buying local versus ordering online, that comparison is here — the short version is that a machine bought online shows up on a pallet with nobody to plumb it, wire it, or stand behind the install.

Walk your space before the walls close

The cheapest hour you’ll spend on your café’s equipment is the one before the drywall goes up. That’s what the $200 Café Equipment Readiness Consult is for. I walk your space, take real numbers on water, electrical, ventilation, and volume, and hand you a plan you can give your GC, your electrician, and your plumber — so the roughing-in is right the first time. The $200 is credited toward your machine purchase.

Book the Café Equipment Readiness Consult — call (720) 634-5442. Elevation Espresso Care, 8790 W Colfax Ave, Ste 225, Lakewood, CO. La Marzocco–trained, serving cafés across the Front Range. See also our commercial sales, install, and service overview for cafés and our La Marzocco Denver page.

Common questions from new café owners

How far ahead should I order my espresso machine?

Lock your equipment decisions 3–6 months before you open. Power and water get set during build-out and are expensive to change once the walls close, so the machine has to be chosen before the space is finished — it dictates the circuit, the water line, and the drain. The machine’s own delivery lead time sits on top of that, and it swings from about three weeks to three months depending on the model and where you land in the production year — which is why you order early rather than close to open.

Do I need a one-group or two-group machine?

It comes down to peak drinks per hour, not your daily average. A single group suits low, steady volume — offices, kiosks, slow bars. Most cafés live in the 60–150 drinks/hour band a two-group covers. Sustained rushes above that point to a three-group. Size for your year-two rush.

Can I use a home espresso machine in my café?

Not for real café volume. Home and prosumer machines aren’t built for a commercial duty cycle, usually aren’t NSF-listed for commercial use (which health inspectors look for), and most run off a tank instead of a plumbed line. For a café you want a plumbed, commercial-rated, NSF-listed machine sized to your volume.

Does Denver water really hurt commercial machines?

Yes. Denver water varies by source and season — Denver Water itself calls it ‘soft to moderately hard’ — but it is scale-forming enough that untreated water can still damage espresso equipment: scale builds up inside boilers and valves, and it’s the most common reason café machines fail early out here. Filtration specced to your measured hardness protects the machine; a generic cartridge that isn’t matched to your water doesn’t.

What does the equipment cost installed?

The honest number is the installed cost, not the sticker — machine plus water treatment, electrical, plumbing, and install labor — and it varies with your build. See our Denver commercial espresso machine cost page for real ranges.