Decent Espresso Machines (DE1) - Any thoughts?

[ttttt91]

Hi folks

just wanted to add my 2 cents regarding owning a DE1pro for 4 weeks now.

First thing first, the company as a whole is amazing to deal with. Just outstanding customer service in every respect!! (I work myself in this area and know how difficult this is).

Regarding the machine itself:
I am really not a very experienced barista and re-starting the hobby on a Silvia last year was a very interesting learning curve. The DE1 makes it SO MUCH MORE pleasurable and successful than working with the Silvia. Better, faster, easier. What should I say. Its a great product made by phenomenal people.

I can't compare to a E61 or so. But one thing I can say for sure. The heat-up time is so much shorter. So its very economical and still fast and easy to make a high-end espresso. Keeping a traditional machine running just to have one shot after dinner?? hmmm....

Yes, Im a fan boy now as the whole concept just delivered on the promises. And improvements are made as we speak as firmware and hardware gets constantly improved.

Go, get one

Best regards
Tom

[>decentespresso]

c) I have only used the Decent milk wand once just after unpacking it. It damn near blew a hole in my 300ml jug. Lack of steam power is not an issue! When things calm down here I may temporarily move the machine to the main workbench and have another attempt using a 600ml jug and get a feel for how it froths.

I'd be very interested to hear back from you when you do those experiments, to compare the finished milk froth between your decent machine and your older, traditional one.
I won't taint the future results by telling you what I think you'll find.

Especially on these criteria:
- mouth feel of the foam
- microfoam uniformity
- longevity of latte art
- ease of creating good foam

– John

[>decentespresso]

DE1XL on a pallet, on an IKEA table.

We are prototyping various ideas for countersinking this new Decent espresso model.

This latest attempt has us cutting holes in a pallet and putting that on an IKEA table. The pallet on the ground is to raise the height to compensate for the additional table height of the pallet.

We now realize we'd rather put the grinder on the other end of the table, away from where people would approach from the right.

We're going to iterate a few times with a pallet before we cut into the nice bamboo surface. :-)

We're also working on a version of this where two DE1XL machines fit on one 1.2m long IKEA table, along with a grinder, knockbox, pitcher rinser.

Our goal is to have a handy coffee cart that we can wheel into a tradeshow, for a local roaster to pull shots at the show, demonstrating their coffee.

Here is yesterday's version of the countersunk bracket. This new version has the drip tray drain directly into a single hole so that the drip tray can be removed and cleaned without having to remove tubing.

In about 10 days we should have a new version of the bracket, as well as our first iteration of an all-white chassis.

-john

[>decentespresso]

Just got this photo a few minutes ago of the white DE1XL chassis being painted



I'm curious to see how close it ends up looking to the renders we did two years ago....

[>decentespresso]

Pushbutton power off



Because the DE1XL (and upcoming DE1CAFE) hide the back power switch behind a magnetized plastic panel, we need to have a power cut off button accessible from the front.

In the photo, you can see Fabrice holding a chassis we modified yesterday to have this feature.

The way that electricity works on the Decent espresso machine is that mains power is converted to 24V, which first feeds our computer. Then, if the computer decides that the machine should be warmed, the 24V is fed to a relay which then engages mains power. This is how we are able to completely disable mains power when the machine is asleep, yet still maintain a Bluetooth connection and USB charging.

This new power button switch will sit between the computer and the relay, to definitively turn off mains electricity if you want to. 24V stays engaged, but all "hot operations" stop immediately. The switch is waterproof and features a colored LED, so you can also see if the machine is "warming or warm".

We will start to debut this switch as a modification to the DE1PRO machines that we send immediately to people who by the DE1XL. Their deeper chassis and countersunk bracket will be sent separately afterward.

My intention is for the v1.3 machines, which should start being produced in August, to all feature a front panel pushbutton switch.

-john

[>decentespresso]

Lower-cost DE1+ and DE1PRO now available



We've now shipped machines to our entire backlog, and we have a small number of machines on-hand, which we can ship right away.

This also means that:
1) the lower cost DE1+ model is now once again available.
2) the DE1PRO is now available "a la carte" at a lower price, because you can now choose to not have it plumbed.
3) I'm hoping that we can keep up with orders, since we've been able to keep making 20 machines a week, for 9 weeks now. 9 months ago, we were only managing to make 6 machines per week.

The Decent Espresso web site has had a huge facelift.

I've written a "choose a model" wizard (photo attached) to help people answer a few questions to get a model recommendation. And about a half dozen new pages going into various decent topics.



For the past 4 years, the web site has been morphing into whatever we need at that moment. I hadn't made the time for a big rethink about how I present our espresso machine (and its variations) to people.

The decent web site sections covering our espresso machine has not been something I've been proud of, whereas the accessories pages were much better.

So: I'd love feedback on what I've done. Are you able to understand the Decent offerings better? Do you have questions you felt should have been answered? Is it still too confusing?

-john

[mariovalentim]

This also means that:
1) the lower cost DE1+ model is now once again available.
-john

Hello John,

Is the available DE1+ v1.1? Or V1.0?

Thanks

[>decentespresso]

Hello John,Is the available DE1+ v1.1? Or V1.0?

All new machines we are making are version 1.1.

The only time you will see a version 1.0 machine now, is if it is a used machine and thus discounted. The fact that it is version 1.0 will be clearly indicated.

-john

[>decentespresso]

DE1XL Conversion Kit



I've put up for sale, the kit that will convert your DE1PRO/DE1+ into a DE1XL.
https://decentespresso.com/de1xl

It's available in black or white.

We're still finalizing everything on it, so if you order now, we'll ship it as soon as it arrives.

If you already own a DE1PRO or DE1+, you previously didn't have the option of buying this model. So: I will discount the conversion kit to be the difference in price between what you previously bought and the DE1XL. Contact me if you'd like that special price.

We're going to be including all the tools you'll need to do the conversion. We're finalizing the design for our own custom wrenches, to make swapping the steam wand easy, and we'll include the appropriate Torx T10 screwdrivers too.

The most recent revision has "locking screws" in the back of the countersunk bracket. That's so a cafe can choose to lock down their espresso machines to make them quite difficult to steal.

Note that you don't need to countersink the DE1XL. If you already have a small hole in your counter, you can table-mount the espresso machine and simply slide the tubes through your existing hole.

-john

[>decentespresso]

Shades of white

We couldn’t make our mind up between two different shades of white, for the upcoming DE1XL model, so I had one sample of each made. The whiter one is also a tad glossier.

What are your thoughts?

-john

[level3ninja]

I prefer the look of the less gloss one, but I'm wouldn't order one in white.

I wonder which is easier to keep clean / how much the less gloss would pick up. One of our suppliers of electrical switchboards at work recently updated their line-up which included changing all paint to a matte finish. It looks a bit more hipster than the old gloss finish, but in an industrial setting the matte finish gathers fine particles. Especially in a rock crushing or metal manufacturing environment where there is a lot of dust. The gloss wipes down super easily and can be cleaned in seconds. The matte finish takes more time and I wonder how it will stand up long term. So I wonder, since the white will show any coffee fines it gathers, would a more glossy finish be better simply because it's easier to clean?

[woodhouse]

I prefer the look of the less gloss one, but I'm wouldn't order one in white.

I wonder which is easier to keep clean / how much the less gloss would pick up. One of our suppliers of electrical switchboards at work recently updated their line-up which included changing all paint to a matte finish. It looks a bit more hipster than the old gloss finish, but in an industrial setting the matte finish gathers fine particles. Especially in a rock crushing or metal manufacturing environment where there is a lot of dust. The gloss wipes down super easily and can be cleaned in seconds. The matte finish takes more time and I wonder how it will stand up long term. So I wonder, since the white will show any coffee fines it gathers, would a more glossy finish be better simply because it's easier to clean?

yeah my white ek can attest to that

[gc]

Can't be sure of actual colour since my screen's not calibrated, but lighter coloured one - on the right at beginning of video looks better to me. But now having seen it I probably wouldn't choose white either, but thats decor dependent I would think. I can imagine with beautiful natural wood finish turned handles it would look terrific. Not sure how it would look with a mirrored front panel like my DE1+ though.

[>decentespresso]

I can imagine with beautiful natural wood finish turned handles it would look terrific.

Agreed, working on that.

[>decentespresso]

The current state of white



It's hard for me to change everything on the machine to white, all at the same time, with the low quantity of machines that we are planning.

Thus, for now, the group head handle and the portafilter handle and the tablet and the power cable will all still be black. As I reorder and change suppliers, if I am later able to get white versions I will upgrade white DE1XL customers to those whitened components over for free.

A few minutes ago, we just ordered a sample of white silicone outer tubing for the steam wand. We'll see how it looks.

Here's a render of the current "whiteness" of the machine.

ps: thanks everyone for your feedback. We're going the the "whiter white" color, that was on the right.

-john