Slayer Espresso Machine ?
- Thread starter mars
- Start date
slurp
New member
- Jun 24, 2014
- 382
- 1
Correct!
Last year I was dead set on buying a Slayer. During the SCAA Show they did not have the time the day to speak with me. I was not hipster enough I guess. SO every espresso bar in Seattle (almost all) had a machine called a Synesso. While checking out their booth and meeting the people I was very interested in the Synesso machines. Come to find out Slayer is a knock off of the Synesso.
The selling point on the Synesso for me was the people behind the machines. They are the nicest most knowledge people in the espresso machine business. Besides the people being great the machine are the most consistent machines out. We have two and they both have worked out of the box with no issues for a year now.
With my love for Synesso I have became the South Florida dealer. If you are interested in a Synesso PM me and I get you the info.
Slayer, Marzocco, Mirage... Lots of trendy bearded young chaps here in the UK too who think they know everything about espresso and machines! There are plenty of very good, capable machines with some great features for much less money.
It sometimes seems like you can't be serious about coffee unless you have one of these expensive, "named" machines teamed up with a single estate arabica. 30g of coffee ground too finely giving an over-extracted espresso in 38 seconds! It's all getting very tedious. I like change. It's great that the barista world we now live in has done much to improve coffee quality but some of the BS I have heard lately has made me question how long these trends will last?
It sometimes seems like you can't be serious about coffee unless you have one of these expensive, "named" machines teamed up with a single estate arabica. 30g of coffee ground too finely giving an over-extracted espresso in 38 seconds! It's all getting very tedious. I like change. It's great that the barista world we now live in has done much to improve coffee quality but some of the BS I have heard lately has made me question how long these trends will last?
John P
Active member
- Jan 5, 2007
- 1,057
- 4
Mark, Sandy, and the whole crew at Synesso are fantastic people. A solid machine. Solid people. Easy to maintain. Delivers results.
Coffeefix,
It all starts with the espresso and the coffee. Without excellent product, no machine can save you. That being said, you get what you pay for. There is a stark difference between the machines that are $14k+ per 2 group and those that are below that. It's far more than a "trendy" thing. When the best shops throughout the world (based on results in worldwide competitions as well as just.... going and tasting) use the same handful of machines, there's a reason why. It's because they are better. And they are better because they were designed that way. Everything from materials chosen to length and diameter of tubing to how the PID is programmed to reliability of machine to ability to maintain stable profile, whether flat or otherwise, both inter and intra-shot.
I agree, change for the sake of change is foolish unless it is an improvement. These high end machines are a vast improvement over those of the past. However, it really does take more skill to use them. It's like driving a Toyota or a Ferrari. You need a bit more skill to get the best out of a Ferrari, but if you can drive it, it's a thing of beauty.
Coffeefix,
It all starts with the espresso and the coffee. Without excellent product, no machine can save you. That being said, you get what you pay for. There is a stark difference between the machines that are $14k+ per 2 group and those that are below that. It's far more than a "trendy" thing. When the best shops throughout the world (based on results in worldwide competitions as well as just.... going and tasting) use the same handful of machines, there's a reason why. It's because they are better. And they are better because they were designed that way. Everything from materials chosen to length and diameter of tubing to how the PID is programmed to reliability of machine to ability to maintain stable profile, whether flat or otherwise, both inter and intra-shot.
I agree, change for the sake of change is foolish unless it is an improvement. These high end machines are a vast improvement over those of the past. However, it really does take more skill to use them. It's like driving a Toyota or a Ferrari. You need a bit more skill to get the best out of a Ferrari, but if you can drive it, it's a thing of beauty.
Hi John,
I agree to a point, some of these expensive machines are indeed better and have helped to improve the quality of espresso coffee.
It seems like every few minutes, the name of a new barista champion is announced and this too has increased interest in our industry and the required skills set. Both good things.
There are several hundred espresso coffee machine manufacturers now and most make several different models. Many include a top of the range model that can include a variety of different features to help get the best from your chosen coffee. I disagree entirely with your statement "there is a stark difference between machines over/under $14K". Yes there are good machines above that price range and a few that rely on their name/heritage too.
I am fortunate in that I get the opportunity to try many different machines and visit a lot of manufacturers to discuss their products, design, features, quality etc. I would thoroughly recommend that you do the same given a chance. You are correct, a huge amount of thought and testing can go into the size of the pipes, boiler, thermal reserve, jets, manual/electronic pre-infusion, thermal current, temperature control etc etc. There is quite a debate over boiler materials at present. I'm told an EU directive has expressed concerns about copper and brass use in espresso machine boilers? One Spanish manufacturer is stating that very soon, all components that hold drinking water in these machines will need to be stainless steel to comply? Another, testing the water quality from a machine using nothing but stainless has found that water quality is also compromised by the stainless... The debate goes on.
During a recent visit to a factory near Milano I was shown a new model. It had everything you could hope for and some new features that I had not seen before on any machines... The time, money and effort spent in testing and trials alone were most impressive. They had obviously aimed this model to be a competitor to a very well known twin boiler machine, a design that they had also considered. For their machine, the twin boiler design was rejected as an alternative design with independent group heaters/cool water infusion was easier to control with a PID system and gave better, more stable results.
This machine is, in my opinion, fantastic. Will it ever compete with some of the well established models in the "Barista" world? I'm sure many will dismiss it without a second look...
Barista competitions? Sure they use a handful of machines (I am sure money has an input here) but recently I've seen quite a few alternative names being used? Maybe living in the UK, our close relationship with Europe means we see more variety in this respect?
We all know that the coffee, water, grinder, machine design and several other things are most effected by the person pressing the buttons.
I like change. I like the spike in interest that our barista culture has done much to promote. I like quality coffee.
I am also an engineer at heart. If a machine is better I might believe you but I want proof!
I agree to a point, some of these expensive machines are indeed better and have helped to improve the quality of espresso coffee.
It seems like every few minutes, the name of a new barista champion is announced and this too has increased interest in our industry and the required skills set. Both good things.
There are several hundred espresso coffee machine manufacturers now and most make several different models. Many include a top of the range model that can include a variety of different features to help get the best from your chosen coffee. I disagree entirely with your statement "there is a stark difference between machines over/under $14K". Yes there are good machines above that price range and a few that rely on their name/heritage too.
I am fortunate in that I get the opportunity to try many different machines and visit a lot of manufacturers to discuss their products, design, features, quality etc. I would thoroughly recommend that you do the same given a chance. You are correct, a huge amount of thought and testing can go into the size of the pipes, boiler, thermal reserve, jets, manual/electronic pre-infusion, thermal current, temperature control etc etc. There is quite a debate over boiler materials at present. I'm told an EU directive has expressed concerns about copper and brass use in espresso machine boilers? One Spanish manufacturer is stating that very soon, all components that hold drinking water in these machines will need to be stainless steel to comply? Another, testing the water quality from a machine using nothing but stainless has found that water quality is also compromised by the stainless... The debate goes on.
During a recent visit to a factory near Milano I was shown a new model. It had everything you could hope for and some new features that I had not seen before on any machines... The time, money and effort spent in testing and trials alone were most impressive. They had obviously aimed this model to be a competitor to a very well known twin boiler machine, a design that they had also considered. For their machine, the twin boiler design was rejected as an alternative design with independent group heaters/cool water infusion was easier to control with a PID system and gave better, more stable results.
This machine is, in my opinion, fantastic. Will it ever compete with some of the well established models in the "Barista" world? I'm sure many will dismiss it without a second look...
Barista competitions? Sure they use a handful of machines (I am sure money has an input here) but recently I've seen quite a few alternative names being used? Maybe living in the UK, our close relationship with Europe means we see more variety in this respect?
We all know that the coffee, water, grinder, machine design and several other things are most effected by the person pressing the buttons.
I like change. I like the spike in interest that our barista culture has done much to promote. I like quality coffee.
I am also an engineer at heart. If a machine is better I might believe you but I want proof!
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