A RENOWNED coffee expert has been crushed to death by a falling coffee machine in a freak accident.

Chicago man Jim Karr, a well-known member of the US coffee community, was killed while taking down a large coffee machine at Chicago’s Grant Park on Saturday.

Karr lost his balance and grabbed on to the machine, which then fell on top of him, crushing him.

He was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital but died of head and chest wounds, reports Chicago Tribune.

Karr was brewing director at Chicago’s acclaimed Intelligentsia coffee for seven years. He left in 2012 to co-found SteamVolt coffee company, which specialises in technical support to brewers and works to bring innovation to coffee brewing equipment.

His death was confirmed on Facebook by Dark Matter Coffee, which called Karr “an inspiration” to the coffee community.

“Our friend, Jim Karr, legend and mentor to the entire specialty coffee community, passed away by a freak accident while setting up for Bike the Drive,” wrote Dark Matter Coffee.

“From the day I met Jim, he was an inspiration to the direction my team and I took … Jim will be missed dearly, but his work will forever be lived out by the people he has touched in life.”

Nicholas Cho, of San Francisco’s Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters, said everyone in the cafe and coffee industry knew Karr, who he described as passionate about his work.

“In terms of the work Jim did, he was one of the very few in the country that was known as being a top expert in what he did,” Mr Cho told DNA Info Chicago.

Trey Elder of Intelligentsia Coffee said everyone from baristas to sales staff knew Karr.

“Most people that are serious about their coffee profession at some point ran into Jim,” Mr Elder told DNA Info Chicago.

“He’s definitely going to be very missed by a very large community that’s bigger than just coffee, that’s bigger than Chicago,” he said.

“He touched a lot of people in his life.”