Variegate your machine,
elevate your espresso

For Enginistas who believe the best espresso machine is the one you already own – upgraded. Instead of replacing your machine when electronics fail or when you want advanced features, our open-source hardware modules let you transform it into a precision instrument that rivals any commercial offering.

Our APEC SoM and related projects aren't commercial products – they're community-developed modules that require technical knowledge, patience, and a love of both engineering and espresso. For those willing to take the journey, the reward is a deeply customizable machine that reduces e-waste while delivering uncompromising performance.

Important: Our projects are open-source hardware modules designed for engineers and technically-minded coffee enthusiasts. They require PCB fabrication, component sourcing, assembly, and electrical safety knowledge. Installation can involve working around mains voltage and pressurized systems. No warranties or formal support – just a passionate community ready to help you learn.

Latest from the Project Log

Follow our engineering journey as we explore, experiment, and share discoveries. This is where we document challenges, celebrate breakthroughs, and learn together as a community of passionate Enginistas.

2026-08-29: Structured tasting and an iOS app


This has been a pretty big week, as has the past couple of weeks - and it’s starting to show. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s starting to feel like I’m nearing polish and edge-cases. As such, don’t expect as much to happen in the coming weeks. I’ll still provide updates - there’ll probably be something to talk about, and don’t consider the project to be anywhere near stable, but it’s definitely getting usable.…
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2026-08-22: Shots that upload themselves


It’s been about a week since the last entry, and the big outstanding item from it is done - shots now upload themselves. Beyond that it’s been a fairly control-heavy week: the pump got finer resolution, brew steps learned about limits, schedules became something you can set from the machine itself, and the shot log went through four format versions, which I promise is less alarming than it sounds. Before we jump in to the nitty gritty, I’ve shot a short video showing some of the updated UI.…
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2026-08-13: Wi-Fi, scales, and shots you can share


It’s been a while since the last entry. The project hasn’t been entirely stale, I made a fair bit of progress in November, but after that I had a lot of other things on my radar. It wasn’t fully quiet - I’ve been using the GS3 pretty much daily, and I’m becoming increasingly confident that the hardware is good. I recently picked up working on the project these past few weeks, and there’s been a lot of progress in that time.…
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2025-10-29: State of the union


It’s been about a month since my last entry, and quite a bit has happened in that time. I’ve successfully validated gear pump operation (with some caveats), the TFT display is now functional, and - last but not least - just received my order of the EV2 revision of the GS3 carrier board. Time for a comprehensive status update on where things stand and where they’re heading. Gear Pump Testing I’ve successfully tested a Fluid-o-tech FG304 gear pump with the GS3, and I’m happy to report that it works.…
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2025-10-04: Sentiero


Why do I do this? When working on a project, any project, that’s a fair question to ask. I’ve been working on espresso related hardware for years now, but I don’t think I’ve ever written about why. Looking at the time and money I’ve put into it, wouldn’t it be better to just buy a Slayer or a Strada and be done with it? The La Marzocco Strada was named for the ’Street team’ – a team of professional baristas that helped design the machine.…
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