Hi, we're CAVI
Meet Timon & Bene, the duo bringing the world's most compact full-featured espresso machine to market in 2026. Want to know how it all started? Let's go.
THE SPARK
SEPTEMBER + OCTOBER 2023
A career change. A self-built campervn. And the desire to hit the road for a while. It quickly became clear: something was missing that I had always taken for granted, really good espresso.
My setup at home was perfect for it. Just not for life on the road. That I seriously considered cramming a nearly 40 kg, 2000W boiler machine into a van was, of course, part of the experience.
The portable solutions I tried were no real alternative: too weak, too cumbersome, no real enjoyment.
And so the idea for CAVI was born, with one clear ambition: to combine both. Maximum compactness and uncompromising espresso quality.
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
APRIL 2024 - MAY 2025
I threw myself in. Sketching, testing, discarding, rethinking. Every component of a classic espresso machine was questioned – what's really needed, what can go, and what needs to be reinvented?
The kitchen became a lab. Leaks, short circuits, coffee puck explosions. It was chaos, but every setback brought me closer to the goal. Until one day, the first perfect espresso came out of the machine. That moment changed everything.
JUNE 1ST - 1:04 AM: Now CAVI was more than an idea, and I knew I was holding something truly special in my hands.
FROM VISION TO REALITY
It's official: the concept works. Shortly after, the first three identical prototypes see the light of day.
Beautiful and ready to travel across Europe with friends and testers, put to the test.
TRAVEL THE WORLD
MAI - SEPTEMBER 2025
Italy, France, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, and Spain. From icy mountain passes to desert heat.
The CAVI prototype triplets probably saw more in their first summer than most travel bags ever will.
Between trips, the machine was also lent out to roasters and café owners, putting it to the test in those settings too.
Curious about the first trips with CAVI? Take a little detour and have a look here:
POWERING UP
OCTOBER 2025
First proper prototypes, great feedback, and a thousand ideas for what comes next.
Then, what can only be called fate: my good friend Bene, over an affogato in Italy (espresso from the CAVI Core, of course), looks at me and says: "You know what. Let me finish my degree and then I'm in."
Since October, Bene has been a core part of our founding team. Simply the right person at the right time.
CAVI BEANS
DECEMBER 2025
Together with a roastery we're friends with, one of the first testers and supporters of the CAVI Core, we launch our first signature roast, the Nomad Coast Espresso.
The first batch before Christmas sells out incredibly fast, leaving us temporarily out of stock.
We're overwhelmed and incredibly grateful for the support we're already receiving at this point.
NEW HOME
MARCH 2026
After over a year of working from home and six months in a co-working space, we finally found a place to call our own.
From the very beginning, we dreamed of a small Munich-style backyard workshop.
Just in time for spring, we made that dream a reality at Herzogstraße 56, right in the heart of Schwabing.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Gathering feedback, continuously optimizing parts, writing software, building new prototypes, bringing suppliers and partners on board, lab tests, certifications, and so on and so forth.
There's a reason the startup world so often says: "Hardware is hard." But we also think: "Hardware is great."
End of 2026 – the start of preorders. That's the goal, the moment everything is building toward right now.
