La Marzocco—Linea Mini Espresso Machine
The La Marzocco Linea Mini is a kitchen-sized version of the Linea Classic, an espresso machine loved by thousands of professional baristas and the heart of your favorite cafes.
The goal was to showcase the cafe-like capabilities of this compact machine, while showing love to one of these cafes. We chose the The Merchant, a coffee shop and bakery in Bixby Knolls. The owner of The Merchant also happens to be the owner of this 1966 VW Station Wagon, which we outfitted with a Linea Mini. We took it for a cruise up the canyon, pulled some shots, and made some content inspired by those old Volkswagen ads.
Copywriting
I wanted the copy to be playful and honest, mimicking the charm of Julian Koneig’s legendary work for VW in the 60s.
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There is plenty of room in back of a VW bus because there’s no front. The whole thing is rear. What did we do with all the extra space? We equipped ours with a full espresso bar.
We installed a La Marzocoo Linea Mini which features dual boilers to optimize espresso brewing and steam production. We also added a grinder, pitcher rinser, and even plumbed a water supply.
In short, it’s got everything our brick and mortar has, plus an engine! The funny thing is, there’s still room in the back. Don’t tell the bakers or they’ll want us to put an oven back there too.
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Trust us, we know how annoying backseat drivers can be. That’s why we’ve trained ours as baristas.
Now, instead of serving us unwanted driving advice, we get served the finest espresso.
Sure they have a habit of grinding our gears but that’s okay when that gear is our grinder.
In fact, we’ve discovered backseat drivers make the best baristas. They’re just too good at pushing buttons.
They have experience fiddling with all sorts of dials on the dash and they’re naturals when it comes to temperature controls.
So “WATCH OUT” for our baristas, because they’re the best.
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We’re not broken down. We haven’t broke down yet. Sure it might happen one day, but not today.
When that day comes, we’ll just kick back and make some coffee while we wait for a tow.
If you’re lucky enough to be our tow truck driver, we’ll make you some too.
In fact, if you see us stranded on the side of the road, pull over. We won’t make you look under the hood (because we don’t have one). There’s no need to pretend like you’re there to help-we’ll just make you our signature Vanilla Honey Oat Latte.
Car trouble is no trouble at all when you’ve got coffee in the back.
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We’ve all heard it before. The question asked by every barista, “for here or to go?”
Maybe you thought there was only two answers, but we dreamed up a third.
“Yes.”
For when you want your coffee to be the moment rather than the moment between.
So save the paper cup and really take your coffee to go. Enjoy your espresso on the mountain not on the way.
We’ll follow you anywhere because life just tastes better the less time your coffee spends in a cup holder.
We knew there was a reason our 1966 VW bus doesn’t have them.
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Creative Director
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Photography
Graphic Design
Copywriting