How do you take your coffee?

With the Seattle-led craze for specialty coffees, more and more people are likely to reply they want an espresso or cappuccino.

And now a new company is hoping to exploit this increasing demand in Bermuda for Italian-style coffee.

Mya and Fritz Sajovitz started Coffeeworks in May this year. They plan to become Bermuda's coffee specialists, supplying restaurants, businesses and homes with everything they need from espresso machines, to coffee beans.

Mr. Sajovitz says that as an Austrian, coffee has always been a subject close to his heart.

"It all started in Vienna," he says, explaining that when the Turks tried to invade Austria, they were defeated and left behind huge amounts of coffee. Apparently, this led to the rich coffee house culture of Vienna.

"Bermuda always had a problem with cappuccino and espresso machines," says Mr. Sajovitz, who has extensive experience in the food and wine trade and has previously worked as a wine steward at Fourways, a Maitre d' at Frescos and a manager at the Seahorse Grill.

"I noticed that a lot of espresso machines on the island are in very bad shape," says Mr. Sajovitz.

Some restaurants try to use coffee machines intended for the home for commercial use, with constant breakdowns the predictable result.

He says that this gave him the idea of providing top of the range Italian coffee machines for either sale or lease.

He now supplies Italian coffee machines manufactured by Blitz for small businesses and offices. For restaurants, however he recommends the Magister machines.

Mr. Sajovitz says that the largest Magister models are capable of making eight espressos at the same time.

"There is no restaurant in Bermuda big enough to need this one, they use them in train stations in Italy where they produce thousands of espressos every single day."

Along with supplying the machines, Coffeeworks also carries out maintenance and repair work for customers - dedicated coffee 911.

Mr. Sajovitz issues his customers with his cell phone number and says: "I guarantee a response within 12 hours and a working machine within 24 hours."

If he can't fix it, he'll supply a new machine.

One of the first customers of Coffeeworks was Everest Reinsurance. Pauline McCullagh assistant vice president in Finance and Analytics, says that their Blitz coffee machine is a great addition to the office: "Everybody in our office loves it. It's a great talking point - clients and colleagues from other offices who come here all want one too."

Ms McCullagh says she still picks up a latte from Rock Island Cafe first thing in the morning, but for the rest of the day she doesn't have to go out for coffee any more.

All of the Coffeeworks machines use coffee pods, which are similar to teabags.

Mr. Sajovitz can also adapt any existing coffee machine to take coffee pods.

These innovative little pods mean less mess and virtually no cleaning. Most importantly, they contain top quality Italian coffee from Lavazza and Caffe Camardo. According to Mr Sajovitz, the biggest advantage of the pods is that they are kept in an air tight sealed package. Humidity has a bad effect on coffee.

While a good coffee machine is the first prerequisite for a decent cappuccino, Mr. Sajovitz reveals that there are also some rules for getting a good milk froth.

The milk must be cold, don't heat it over 80-85 degrees centigrade. If you overheat it your foam will collapse.

The quantities should be espresso and frothed milk. Don't bang it like you've seen them doing in espresso bars - that will separate the froth from the milk and result in an inferior cappuccino which is just coffee with froth on the top.

A perfect cappuccino is frothy all the way through.

Tomorrow and on Saturday there's the chance to put all your coffee questions to the master himself.

Mr. and Mrs Sajovitz are running a promotion at the Lindos supermarkets in Devonshire and Warwick with 20 percent discounts on Coffeeworks machines.

Alternatively contact Coffeeworksibl.bm or 234 4960