Espresso in Arc Raiders is one of Apollo’s early errands, but it hides behind a deceptively vague objective: “find an espresso machine to salvage for spare parts” in Buried City. The machine is locked inside a specific café, and you only finish the quest once you’ve extracted with the parts in your inventory.
How the Espresso quest works in Arc Raiders
Espresso comes from Apollo after completing Celeste’s quest “A Balanced Harvest.” The structure is simple:
| Stage | Objective | What you actually have to do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Find an espresso machine to salvage for spare parts | Locate a café in Buried City and interact with its espresso machine |
| 2 | Get the espresso machine parts for Apollo | Pick up the parts that drop on the counter, extract, then turn them in at Speranza |
The quest item is not automatically secured when you click the machine. You still need to pick up the actual parts from the counter and get them out of Buried City.
Where to find the espresso machine in Buried City
The espresso machine is in Plaza Rosa, on the southern side of the Buried City map. This is the only location you need to care about for completing the quest.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Map | Buried City |
| Area | Plaza Rosa (southern section) |
| Nearby landmarks | Southern Station, Red Tower, extraction point in sinkhole below |
| Building type | Café on the west side of the plaza |
| Exterior look | Red building, “Cafe” or “Caffe Da Rosa” sign, green awnings |
As you approach Plaza Rosa from the north, you’ll usually see Main Street above or behind you with a larger Arc unit—often a Leaper or Bastion—patrolling there. Plaza Rosa itself is a smaller open space with stairs and elevated walkways leading to a red building marked by a distressed café sign.
To identify the right building:
- Look on the west edge of the plaza for a red façade.
- Check for green awnings over the front windows or door.
- Confirm the faded sign over the doorway that reads “Cafe” or “Caffe Da Rosa.”
That staircase and red building are your destination. Once you climb up and step through the open door, you’re effectively on top of the objective.
How to interact with the espresso machine and get the parts
Inside the café, the espresso machine is almost impossible to miss once you know where to look. The layout is straightforward:
- You enter on the ground floor directly into the seating area.
- Immediately to your right, there is a long bar-style counter.
- The espresso machine sits at the far end of this counter, glowing with the standard yellow interaction highlight.
From there, the steps are:
| Step | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Approach the glowing espresso machine behind the counter | Prompt appears to interact (e.g. “Take espresso parts” or similar wording) |
| 2 | Interact with the espresso machine | Quest parts drop onto the counter in front of the machine |
| 3 | Pick up the dropped espresso machine parts | Quest item added to your inventory |
Two details matter here:
- Interacting with the machine alone is not enough. The machine “spits out” the parts, and only picking those up actually gives you the quest item.
- If your inventory is full, you can’t add the parts. Make sure you have at least one open slot before you click the machine.
Some runs may also have other espresso machines in nearby cafés around Buried City, especially in larger buildings. These can also drop espresso-related treasure items, but for satisfying Apollo’s quest, the safest path is using the Plaza Rosa café and extracting with the quest-specific parts.
Extraction: how to leave Buried City with the espresso machine parts
Once the parts are in your inventory, the quest only completes if you successfully extract with them and then hand them in at Speranza.
| Requirement | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Extract with the item | The espresso machine parts must be on your character when you leave Buried City. |
| Use a safe pocket (recommended) | Storing the parts in a safe pocket protects them even if you die before extraction. |
| Nearby extraction | The closest extract is directly below Plaza Rosa, at Southern Station / Sinkhole-style entrance. |
From the café door:
- Step outside onto the ledge overlooking the broken ground.
- Drop or take the short zipline down into the sinkhole area.
- Hit the extract button and wait for the metro to arrive while staying in cover.
Loadout and survival tips for Plaza Rosa
The coffee machine is easy. Reaching it without losing the parts is the real challenge. Buried City’s southern section is usually dense with enemies and cross-traffic, so it helps to treat this as a focused in-and-out raid rather than a loot marathon.
| Category | Recommendation | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Weapons | Reliable mid-range primary and a close-range backup | Lets you clear Hornets and defend the café doorway without overcommitting |
| Defense | Shield or strong survivability tool | Gives you a margin of error crossing the open plaza and holding the extract pit |
| Healing | Medical supplies and Adrenaline Shots | Helps if you get chipped down by Hornets or caught by a Leaper patrol |
| Augments | At least one augment that unlocks a safe pocket | Protects the espresso parts if you die before extraction |
On the way to Plaza Rosa, you’re likely to see:
- Hornets hovering over streets and roofs.
- Leaper or Bastion units prowling the wider Main Street area just north of the plaza.
The safest approach is to hug cover, avoid picking fights with heavies you don’t need to kill, and only clear what stands between you and the café door. Once inside, you can quickly interact with the machine, grab the parts, and then decide whether to loot the rest of the building.
Turning the espresso machine parts in and rewards
Back in Speranza, the final step happens away from the raid itself. With the espresso machine parts successfully extracted, talk to Apollo and claim the completion.
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Open the mission interface and complete Espresso | Consumes the quest item and grants rewards |
| Rewards granted | 1× Coffee Pot, 3× Adrenaline Shot |
A simple quality-of-life habit here is to claim the quest as soon as you return to Speranza, before selling or dismantling anything. That reduces the chance you accidentally offload a related item before the game has credited the completion.
With that, Espresso is done. The objective is mechanically straightforward, but Plaza Rosa’s density of Arc patrols and raider traffic makes it a good early test of how well you can move quietly, prioritize fights, and get a fragile quest item back to safety.
