TreSpade - Why three Swords stand for grinding coffee

/files/u2252/AT_Brevetti_8.jpg" align="right" height="400" width="227" />From what I gather reading on forums and from my own experience the Tre Spade brand of burrs is pretty high quality.  The company is not exactly a household name even though the company's products have been on the market since 1894. According to the company profile at the end of the nineteenth century the company was owned by the Fratelli Bertoldo company of Forno Canavese (Turin) and was a significant producer of hot-forged hardware tools.

When drinking coffee became fashionable, the company became the biggest Italian manufacturer of coffee machines in the first part of the 20th century. So like Zassenhaus in Germany, this metal works factory rode the coffee wave.  Like Peugeot in France they also jumped in when the first cars came out and in 1906 they became part of this pioneering production too. Products such as pepper mills and manual and electrical coffee machines use special hardened steel conical Tre Spade grinding burrs.

So the history of quality is long with this company.  Unlike Zassenhaus or Peugeot they seem content to build for others rather than take on the marketing head aches of bringing products to the market for the coffee industry using their own brand.  I have two grinders with this company's conical burrs - my LaPavoni PBC conical burr grinder and a nice old hand mill labeled A.T. Brevetti.  Not included in the logo is instantly recognizable to only a coffee hobbyist like myself mark of three sabers with the blade facing up and the points touching.  This is stamped or engraved into the bottom of the burrs though so it is easy to miss.

The grinding assembly is actually very common with the motor, worm drive, and conical burrs in an assembly. The sheet metal or plastic might change but the guts are usually very similar. I imagine the motor comes in different wattage's depending on what the manufacturer's price point is for the grinder being built. The Lux, Le'lit PL53, Ascaso I2, and Iberital Challenge to name a few share this common set up though the complete list is much longer. Because of this you might already own a TreSpade grinder too - if so then enjoy using a quality product.  I know I like my A.T Brevetti and LaPavoni PBC conical burr grinders.