Coffee trade shows are often stingy with real news. New colours for the same old espresso machines get hyped as innovation, and modest refreshes from established manufacturers get sold as the next big thing. That makes it all the better when actual innovation turns up among the same booths year after year at World of Coffee — which is exactly what Datum Coffee was.
Datum Coffee is an Austrian espresso machine startup founded by two 28-year-old mechanical engineering and design students, Christoph Konheisner and Nikolaus Potapow. What have the two built? Two prototypes, an espresso machine and a grinder, connected to each other and brewing espresso at the current state of the art. The product isn't finished yet, but the concept is promising, and it was my personal highlight of World of Coffee in Brussels.
This article is based on hands-on time with a prototype at World of Coffee 2025 in Brussels. It is explicitly not a full Kaffeemacher test. All technical details come from conversations with the founders and from Datum's website. We can only judge how the machine performs day to day once we get a production unit in hand and run it through our test protocol, which we'll do as soon as one is available.
Who's Behind Datum Coffee?
Chris and Nikolaus, mechanical engineering students from Lower Austria, now based in Innsbruck. Over roughly two and a half years, they built the two prototypes shown at the fair, a concept, and the software behind it, presenting everything in provisional, 3D-printed housings.
They founded the company largely on their own funds, without outside investors, backed by a state grant. What drove them was a question a lot of beginners ask: why do people have to dump several shots before the grind is dialled in? Their answer is datum.coffee.
The Concept: Machine, Grinder and Platform as One System
Datum Coffee isn't a single device but a duo, an espresso machine and a grinder, networked together and coordinated through a platform. That might sound like marketing, but it's genuinely the technical core of the system: the two devices exchange data, adjust parameters to match each other, and cut down the manual work of dialling in.
The idea itself isn't new. We covered the principle behind these connected systems in detail in our article "Grind-by-Sync: Grinder and Machine in Dialogue." What Datum Coffee does is take that idea a consistent step further, with the difference that its platform is designed from the outset to be open to roasteries and, eventually, to other machine manufacturers too.
What the Machine Brings
The "58 mm portafilter" is surprising at first glance: it skips the classic handle altogether and consists instead of an oversized filter basket insert.
Heating comes from a thick-film heating element. The heater warms up while the grinder grinds, which the founders say takes about 10 seconds. Whether and how the portafilter itself gets preheated is still an open question. This isn't unfamiliar technology: the Maro Model 1, one of the most technically advanced machines we've tested so far, also uses a thick-film heater (FTH) and reaches heat-up times of 4 minutes. The Roxy espresso machine, which also runs a thick-film heater, hits similar speeds.
What Datum Coffee adds on top: an automatic tamper built directly into the brew group. A hydraulically driven piston lowers down, tamps at an adjustable pressure (the demo showed 20 kg), then brews automatically. In practice: lock in the portafilter, hit start, and the machine takes care of the rest. It's reminiscent of what Sage does on some models with a built-in tamper, except that on Datum the tamper sits in the brew group rather than the grinder. That means the portafilter can still be removed so the grounds can be distributed by hand before the machine takes over.
The Datum team says a flow sensor, pressure sensor and temperature sensor are all built in. Flow and pressure profiling are said to be possible. Demos of the corresponding app or browser view showed stages and exit conditions being programmed.
Two versions of the Datum espresso machine are planned: with and without a steam wand. The founders say the steam wand will also be smart, with a temperature sensor and automatic steam control. The water tank holds 0.8 litres and includes a built-in water filter.
What the Grinder Brings
The grinder runs 64 mm flat burrs, a brushless motor with adjustable speed, and a built-in scale. Grind-by-weight unlocks a lot of the smart functionality in a setup like this. On top of that, there's electronic grind adjustment in micrometre steps. An LED display on the grinder shows the essentials, while anything more complex gets set through the app or browser.
The Grind-by-Sync principle is deeply built in: if the machine detects during the shot that flow is running too fast or too slow, it sends a signal to the grinder, which adjusts the grind setting for the next shot. We know this principle from other systems: the Mahlkönig Xenia with the E64 WS takes a similar approach, as does the startup nunc. with its smart espresso machine. What Datum Coffee is promising is an open version that, from day one, doesn't lock you into proprietary beans or exclusive partner roasteries.
The Platform: Recipes via App, Open to Everyone
Buy a new bag of coffee, and you snap a photo of the label with the app. The platform recognises the product, provided it's already listed, pulls up the roastery's saved recipe, and sends grind setting, brew parameters and drink type straight to the grinder and machine. On the next shot, the grinder sets itself automatically. Anyone who wants to step in manually can: pro mode allows multi-stage brew profiles with full control over temperature, flow and pressure.
Registration on the platform is planned to be free for roasteries. Longer term, the platform is meant to open up to other machine manufacturers too. Datum is thinking of something like an open operating system for connected espresso machines. That's an ambitious idea, and it remains to be seen how far it can actually go. A platform's value grows with its number of users, and an open platform stands a better chance of staying relevant than a closed ecosystem.
When Is the Machine Coming?
Datum Coffee is planning a Kickstarter campaign for late 2026. Anyone wanting to preorder can already register interest. Delivery is planned for late 2027. The founders were upfront about pricing at the show: the website lists 1,199 euros for early birds, with a regular price of 1,499 euros later, and that covers the machine and grinder together as a set. For comparison, the Mahlkönig Xenia alone costs considerably more. Whether Datum Coffee actually holds that price remains to be seen. As a statement of intent, it's a bold one.
Putting It in Context
The direction Datum Coffee is pursuing isn't unique. Connected grinder-and-machine systems are becoming a real trend in the home segment. Mahlkönig shows where established manufacturers want to go with the Xenia and the E64 WS. nunc. has had a similar concept with NFC bean recognition for a while now, though it's still working through its production rollout. Maro is building a learning platform around its machine with the Smart Profiler and the Maro Home shot database.
What sets Datum Coffee apart from these systems: the automatic tamper built into the brew group, the open platform idea, and an entry price that, if it holds as suggested, sits well below what comparable systems cost.
Whether all of this works in the production machine the way it was promised at the show remains to be seen. We'll test that once the time comes. Until then: a promising startup, a well-thought-out concept, and two mechanical engineers from Innsbruck who know what they're aiming for.
We've made a note to order a machine as soon as the Kickstarter goes live.
Verdict
Datum Coffee isn't a finished product yet; it's a prototype with a clear concept. Espresso machine and grinder as a connected duo, automatic tamping built into the brew group, an open platform for roastery recipes. The direction is right, the team seems capable, and the announced price, if it holds, would be a genuine statement. What the machine actually delivers is something we can only say after a full test with our protocol, which will follow once a production unit is available. Until then, we're keeping an eye on Datum Coffee, and we're curious to see where it goes.
Kickstarter: planned for late 2026 · Delivery: planned for late 2027 · Price: €1,199 (early bird) / €1,499 regular — machine + grinder as a set · More: datum.coffee
