Several years ago, now, a group of us started interviewing the OGs at the factory. I was a latecomer, and really only had a backseat to the process. But as it turns out I'm now the only person on the team of interviewers who is still employed at the factory and making use of the interviews.
One funny story that was told during this set of interviews was that of the Cofex. The factory was in its infancy, but it was staffed by people obsessed with coffee. STRONG coffee. They really wanted an espresso machine. This was 1987. So when one of the forklifts had won a monetary prize at a forklift competition, the receptionist wrote up a purchase order for a Cofex espresso machine from Zabar's in New York, and submitted it along with the cashier's check from the forklift competition to our then-CFO. He said "No. This money is going to the General Fund". It's true. We were broke, and our weekly payroll was made by someone personally calling up our CFO and asking him to make the deposit. With this in mind, the receptionist meekly retreated.
Somehow the founder of the company caught wind of this transaction and asked the CFO to reconsider. He did this without telling anyone. Several weeks later, thanks to his intervention, a Cofex machine appeared and was lovingly used and tended to by one of the founding employees. He could be heard during the interview, talking about how he would personally rebuild the thing occasionally.
Last week I checked out one of our favorite auction houses and saw that there was a Cofex machine up for auction, with all of its original accessories along with a burr grinder. It was listed as an Olymbia (with a "b") and that alone made me think that maybe we had a chance at getting it. Love a good misspelling in an auction listing! I sent the listing to mrguy, and he got super interested. In the past, he had been employed as an espresso machine repairman in a warehouse in the industrial district of our fair city nearby.
One thing led to another, and the Olymbia / Cofex is ours. Turns out that the Cofex branding is something that would be added by Zabar's when they were importing Olympia Express machines for sale in the US. And the serial number tells me that it was made in 1987, just like the mythic forklift factory Cofex!
Mrguy picked it up yesterday and it is in fantastic shape. The grinder is amazing, and its glass jar is hand blown. We paid the same amount that the factory did for its 1987 Cofex. And I am super happy. Mrguy is on the vintage espresso machine forums (much as he was when we got the Weber Genesis grill) and he is happy as a clam.
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