The espresso bar is a shared resource made possible by the generosity of several faculty members. Because the machine is "old school" and easy to damage, you must pass a short qualifying exam before using the machine. Find one of the "baristas" to teach you how to properly use the Rancilio Silvia espresso machine and her brother the Rancilio Rocky coffee mill. Then you will be inducted into the Espresso Club as an "apprentice" barista.
Get your personalized RFID EspressoPay card from Kevin Fu. By waving the card near the payment box, the espresso machine will deliver the elixir of life and debit your account.
These individuals are authorized to induct new members as apprentice baristas. You can become a full barista by passing a special four point review.
Emery Berger, Mark Corner, Kevin Fu, Gerome Miklau, David Mimno (espresso czar)
These individuals are beginning to enjoy the machine and have received basic training on how to use and clean the machine.
Maxence Crossley, Naomi Fox, Thomas Heydt-Benjamin, Neil Immerman, Jim Kurose, Marc Liberatore, Arnold Rosenberg, Don Towsley, Philipp Weis, Arun Venkataramani, Jack Wileden
Thomas, Benessa, and Hee-Jin maintain the automatically generated online espresso consumption statistics. We modified the electronics of the Rancilio "Miss Silvia" for electronic payments using RFID.
Contact Kevin Fu if you would like to experiment with RFID security, embedded devices, Linux device drivers, asynchronous code, reputation systems, or analog electronics. We would like a student to implement (1) a tattletale button to gently warn members who leave a mess, and (2) an LCD panel to list members' current balances and demerits.
We have photos of espresso at UMass Amherst and other universities. Send us the photo of your departmental espresso machine! Prof. Fu roasts the beans for the freshest flavors and tightly controlled quality. We acquire our beans from SweetMarias. We recommend the Liquid Amber and Espresso Monkey blends. See Maria's scientific cupping lab in our photos.