Profitec MOVE Espresso Machine Review

When Profitec first released the MOVE, I must confess…I was a little salty. As a die-hard fan of my Bezzera BZ13, it seemed to me like the MOVE (which looks a heck of a lot like a sleeker, more modern version of the BZ13) was out to make my beloved heat-exchanger obsolete. Of course, in reality the MOVE is an update to Profitec’s Pro 300 (a dual-boiler, not a heat exchanger), and has absolutely nothing to do with my BZ13 whatsoever.

But still.

I couldn’t help but look at the MOVE kind of like Woody looks at Buzz when he first shows up in Toy Story—a totally and undeniably irrational thing to do, I’m well aware. But hey, we’re all a bit irrational when it comes to the things we love…right? The fact of the matter is, I didn’t want to like this thing. 

After bringing one back to my workbench in the studio and putting it through its paces, however, even I have to admit…the Profitec MOVE is a pretty dang awesome espresso machine. 

In the paragraphs that follow, I’ll give my full review of the Profitec MOVE, from the few flaws I nit-pick with relish, to the much longer list of really cool features that, in the end, I must acknowledge…albeit a bit begrudgingly.

Why compare the MOVE to the BZ13 in the first place?

That’s a fair question. 

As I mentioned, these machines have nothing to do with each other. They’re made by two different companies, and one is a heat-exchanger while the other is a dual boiler. 

And yet, they have a lot in common. They share a design aesthetic, with an overhanging ring or BZ group as opposed to the popular E61 design. They’re basically the exact same size, too—and they’re comparable in price: if you get it with wooden accents, the BZ13 is about $250 cheaper than the MOVE, which comes with wood accents. 

If you’re in the market for a new espresso machine and have a budget of around $2,000, both the MOVE and the BZ13 would be compelling options. 

But, the purpose of this blog (despite all appearances up to this point) is not to compare these two machines—it’s a review of the MOVE. 

So, henceforth, I’ll eschew discussion of the BZ13 and stick to the topic at hand: the Profitec MOVE. 

The MOVE: An Overview

When you take it out of the box, the first thing you’re likely to notice about the MOVE is that it doesn’t look like most of the other dual-boiler espresso machines you encounter these days. It’s housed entirely in black, powder-coated steel (though there’s a distant promise of more color options to match those on the Profitec GO becoming available this year) with a brushed stainless front plate, as opposed to the mirror-finish that’s so popular. And, of course, it lacks the distinctive E61 group. 

As far as I’m concerned, both of these are positives. It’s annoying to have to admit this, but the housing on the MOVE does look sharp, especially with the wooden accents, and it’s not going to show fingerprints the way most machines do...believe me, I tried. I even brought in some volunteers from our tech department to try and grub this thing up to no avail. I also prefer the ring group configuration to an E61. It heats faster—the MOVE is ready to brew in just under 13 minutes—and you don’t have to worry about burning yourself on the group head. 

The MOVE only comes with one portafilter...but it’s a pretty neat one. Its base configuration is bottomless, but it’s got a silicone insert that lets you add a double spout. When our team first laid eyes on this thing, we were skeptical. A silicon portafilter insert did not seem like the kind of accessory that should be included with a prosumer-grade dual-boiler that also comes with beautiful wooden accents.

But we were all of us deceived, for, contrary to our conventional thinking, the modular portafilter turned out to be a rather ingenious addition. I’ll get into the details in a bit, but, as much as it pains me to say, the silicone insert is actually pretty awesome. 

Like all new Profitecs, the MOVE uses the Fast Heat Up feature to super-heat the brew boiler to 248°F so it reaches brew temperatures much more quickly: just under 13 minutes from a cold start. That’s pretty remarkable for a dual-boiler without an electronic heater in the group. Given that the MOVE also has time-of-day programming (so you can set it to turn on and off at specified times each day of the week), you may not even need the Fast Heat Up, but it’s nice to have if you realize you need a latte in a pinch.

These settings and more are all accessed through the OLED PID menu, which is front and center on the machine’s upper face. The menus all use plain language and crisp icons, so they’re extraordinarily easy to intuit. I can’t deny how much I appreciate that the brew buttons have been incorporated into menu navigation—the single-shot button enters menus and confirms settings, while the double-shot button returns to a previous menu screen. In the end, navigating the menus on the MOVE is undeniably delightful.

Using the Profitec MOVE

Looking at the Profitec MOVE is all well and good, but to truly know a machine, you have to use it. So, I brewed up some shots for your favorite YouTube stars Marc and Bryan (and all the rest of my content crew colleagues). 

Brewing on the MOVE, in all honesty, is everything I could have hoped for. The two programmable brew buttons remind me a lot of the interface on a certain other espresso machine I promised not to talk about anymore…except, on the MOVE, you can actually program both active and passive pre-infusion times, all using the press-and-hold programming feature. It’s pretty intuitive, and for me—a guy who would rather time each individual extraction than trust a programmed time to be correct two extractions in a row—it’s easy enough to set up a simple workflow. 

I will say: because I’m too much of a coward to use the programmed brew times, steaming and brewing simultaneously was a bit difficult for me—you need to press the brew button three times to confirm you want pre-infusion, stop the active preinfusion, and then initiate full-pressure brewing. Monitoring pre-infusion timing and pressing buttons all while attending to your milk frothing is a bit more than my poor, little brain could handle comfortably…so I just brewed first and then frothed, which worked out fine in the end. 

Of course, if you’re dialed in, there’s not a single reason you should be worried about using a programmed extraction time, which would make simultaneous brewing and steaming extremely simple, just like on my—

…nevermind. 

The first time I brewed on the MOVE, I got another surprise: for a vibration pump machine, this thing is extraordinarily quiet—the loudest it got during an extraction was 58 decibels. 

Another surprise I alluded to earlier was how awesome the modular portafilter ended up being. Not only does it mostly eliminate the need for a tamping mat (assuming you’re using the spouts), but it also does a better job of maintaining the temperature of your shot than a traditional metal spout. In fact, when our video producer, Marc, tested the temperature stability of the silicone insert for his review of this machine, the silicone produced a shot that was, on average, 5°F hotter than those from a metal spouted portafilter, with an in-cup temperature of 189°F compared to 184°F. 

When it comes to temperature stability during an extraction, the MOVE delivers impressive performance. We tested this with the PID set to 200°F, and a scace temperature measuring device locked into the group head. The extraction started at 199.8°F before climbing to just over 201°F and finishing at 199.2°F—a total range of under 2°F. That’s a level of temperature stability competitive with top-of-the-line dual boilers like the ECM Synchronika II, which costs nearly twice as much as the MOVE. 

Milk frothing power, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired…at least that’s what folks on Reddit have been saying. (I manage our Reddit presence, so I spend quite a bit of time on r/espresso…) So, going into using the MOVE, I was excited that I’d have at least one thing to gripe about. 

Once again, I was disappointed in that the MOVE did anything but disappoint. 

It took about 27 seconds to froth my milk, which, sure: if you’re used to larger dual-boilers or actual commercial machines like you’d find in a coffee shop, that’s somewhat testudinal. But really it only adds 9 seconds compared to the Synchronika II. And for me, I found it to be the perfect amount of time to get good aeration and infusion in my milk. Plus, if you’re going to be steaming and brewing simultaneously, your milk should be finished frothing at nearly the exact same time your shot ends. 

Final Thoughts

All right, I’ll concede: the Profitec MOVE is a better espresso machine than the Bezzera BZ13. I mean, look: it should be. It costs more (though, not by much), it’s newer, and it’s a dual-boiler. I still love my BZ13, but, for the money, I have to admit the MOVE has it beat.

I suppose the most impressive thing about the MOVE is how much it gives you in terms of features, performance, and build quality for the price. An intuitive OLED menu, easily-programmable extraction times, automatic ON/OFF scheduling, stock wooden accents, and more…(big sigh)...it really is a sweet deal. 

There really isn’t much to kvetch about, either. Even the modular portafilter—which I thought would be low-hanging fruit in terms of complaint equity—ended up being a boon. I suppose you could flag the less-than-herculean steam power as a miss, but, unless you’re used to a commercial machine’s performance, you’re unlikely to be disappointed there either. 

Now, I’m not going to be selling my BZ13 so I can buy a Profitec MOVE or anything like that, but I’m comfortable enough admitting what I’ve secretly known for a while now: I’m officially a Profitec MOVE fan. 

The photographs in this blog were taken by Grace Walker.