Portafilter stands: an essential barista tool Decent Espresso 2026-09-19 | Portafilter stands: an essential barista tool
Poaching eggs with espresso steam Decent Espresso Machines 2022-12-28 | Here's what I'm currently working on... full video to be shot live on monday.---An espresso machine makes the best poached eggs, because the steam wand is able to keep a gentle whirlpool going during the entire egg cooking process, while traditional cooking methods cannot.Recipe:- Set your DE1 to "two tap steam stop" (important!)- 1/3rd fill a fairly large pot with cold water- Steam heat the water to 95ºC, while perfecting your whirlpool- Stop the steam- Break a raw egg in the center- Let the "two tap steam stop" continue to slowly circulate the water- Cook egg for 3 minutes- ServeFull how-to video coming soon...
Espresso Gaskets, a very deep dive Decent Espresso Machines 2022-12-15 | Did you ever wonder what an espresso gasket does? How to make it last longer? Different materials its made from (NBR, silicone) and which is best? How to take out a gasket, clean it, and put it back in. What techniques work best for removing a gasket? What tools work best and worst? Everything you ever wanted to know (and a bit you probably didn't think you needed) about espresso machine gaskets.
We tested all sorts of dental tools to remove an espresso machine gasket Decent Espresso Machines 2022-12-15 | and then we made a tool with the two best ends.decentespresso.com/gasket
Coffee cart wheels stress test Decent Espresso Machines 2022-12-08 | I've posted before about we modify the IKEA BROR cart to make a low-cost Coffee Cart decentespresso.com/coffeecartIn Milan, Italy, our wheels all bent due to the rough trade show floor, and we've been trying to design a low cost wheel bracket. A big AHA MOMENT came a few weeks ago, when I thought of welding a threaded block of metal into the angle of the cart leg. We made 4 prototypes, and tested them.The good news is that the new way of holding the wheels is incredibly strong. It held fast, whereas all our previous designs couldn't survive. Alex put 108kg (238lbs) of water on the cart and with Teddy, they push it around the loading dock of our building.The bad news is that the stress from this test transferred to other parts of the cart, that we now need to address.- one wheel bolt bent. We think that if we get a wheel that has no nut pushing it away from the bracket, it'll be stronger. We've found a source for wheels like that.- the bracket pushed away from the cart, because it's only fixed with 2 bolts. We're going to drill 2 more bolt holes that people can optionally put 2 bolts through, to give the bracket a 4 bolt mounting- the angled IKEA metal leg itself bent. We think that the 4 bolt mount will help distribute the stress more. But that might be a real limit with IKEA's low cost design.Still, this is a huge improvement. We now have a bracket that doesn't bend, and "only" need to shore up the bits around the bracket, which seems doable, and not expensive to try.Once we figure this all out, we'll be selling these 4 wheel brackets to IKEA BROR carts, so you can cheaply make you coffee cart really robust, like we have.-john
4 minute salted caramel sauce, from scratch (SHORT) Decent Espresso Machines 2022-12-07 | Homemade salted caramel sauce is amazing in espresso. I also use it to sweeten and complexify coffee ice cream, a latte, tiramisu, mocha drinks and coffee eggnog.It's super easy to make, once you know how.You'll need 500g (1lb) of white sugar, 1 liter of heavy cream (quarter of a gallon), 4 pinches of salt, and 4 minutes of your time.It'll last a long time (several weeks) stored in a sealed jam jar, in your refrigerator.I am using a teflon coated Hexclad pan here. It should be safe at this temperature, because sugar melts at 186C (367F) whereas teflon shouldn't be used over 260C (500F).
4 minute salted caramel sauce, from scratch Decent Espresso Machines 2022-12-05 | Homemade salted caramel sauce is amazing in espresso. I also use it to sweeten and complexify coffee ice cream, a latte, tiramisu, mocha drinks and coffee eggnog.It's super easy to make, once you know how.You'll need 500g (1lb) of white sugar, 1 liter of heavy cream (half a gallon), and 4 minutes of your time.
Whats new in de1app v1.41 Decent Espresso Machines 2022-11-16 | WHAT'S NEW in v1.41:decentespresso.com/de1app-v141.htmlThe previous version of the de1app focussed on improving espresso making, so in this version we focussed on everything around espresso: steam, hot water, and interaction with the App. Steam - Two tap steam stop: for those that dislike the default "steam auto purge" behavior. - Reduce electricity consumption by 60% during "hot idle" by easily disabling steam and enabling it when you need it- Fast switching from Espresso to Steam- Short burst of steam (under 7 seconds) doesn't do a steam purge, just stops. Hot Water - Faster hot water flow rate, and control over it, and less stuttering- Realtime control over hot water flow rate, same control as with Steam and Flush- Hot water is now automatically temperature accurate, reducing flow if needed- Faster starting hot waterFlush - Control over the Flush flow rate, both faster and slower than previously possible- Flush auto stop timer in Insight skin- Too long a flush at too high a flow rate generates a warning, and also triggers group head warmup, to prevent too-cool espresso making- Realtime control over Flush flow rate, same control as with Steam and Hot Water App - Smart Charging: prevents the "tablet battery swells" problem, extends battery life. Automatically keeps battery charged between 55% and 65%.- Tap-on-blue-colored-numbers throughout the app, to get a full screen data entry page. No more tap-tap-tap on +/- controls- Enrique's attractive DUI controls now used widely- GHC Purple LEDs flash each time a profile is update
How to make espresso from light roasted Panamanian Geisha coffee beans Decent Espresso Machines 2022-11-08 | Here is the video we shot with Cole, where we pull his light roast Panamanian Geisha as a Turbo shot, a Filter 2.1, and an Allongé. We discuss the relative merits of each approach.I was pleased with this most recent episode, not least of which was Cole's "I think found our unlock for these beans" which was the Allongé recipe. These were a *gorgeous* Panamanian Geisha when he made them as filter coffee, so I was "psyched" to do these justice.Summary:- The Turbo shot was surprisingly good. Great concentration, I liked the acidity more than the other two presenters. Perfume was amazing. Tweaking the profile made it worse. A slight "flavor hole" on the middle of the palate.- The Filter 2.1 was quite good, and as Cole mentioned, resembled a traditionally made filter coffee. If he hadn't seen it made, he would assume that's what it was.- The Allongé recipe really unlocked this bean, filing in that "flavor hole" and broadening the shot overall. We did lose mouthfeel, but it was a delicious coffee, not fatiguing at all, with low acidity.- After the show stopped taping, we tried another bean of Cole's that was more fruity, and it was far-and-away the best coffee of the day. Where the Allongé approach really excels is in bring out fruitiness in coffee, what Rao calls "fruit bombs", while holding acidity down.Coffee beans from: https://forward.coffee/
Stale Medium Roast (Dial In Decently) Decent Espresso Machines 2022-11-04 | What to do when you've bought too much of a coffee bean you like, and it's going stale? We bought Square Mile's "Il Grifone", which was a one-off roast that was supposed to give us a 3rd wave take on "the best of Italian espresso" for London Prufrock's Faema Lever Machine. Because it was a one-off, we bought more than we intended, and now we have to figure out how to make this aging bean taste its best.Grind settings: - the white Niche grinder on the left was on grind setting of "9" and a 15g dose- the black Niche grinder on the right was on grind setting of "19" and a 16.5g dose
Deep dive into Raos Filter 2.1 (using Square Miles Filter Roast) Decent Espresso Machines 2022-10-28 | ...
Dial in Decently: Light roast Rao Allongés on the Niche + Lagom P100 with Square Miles Filter Blend Decent Espresso Machines 2022-10-24 | We'll be trying to make espresso with a light roasted bean meant for pour-over coffee.Can we do it? Does it taste any good?In this episode, we spend an hour dialing in the Rao Allongé espresso recipe, trying different grind sizes, and both the Niche conical grinder and Lagom P100 large flat burr grinder. We also discuss the effect of a filter paper on the bottom of the portafilter basket, and show how that greatly improves the Allongé when make with the larger-flat-burr P100 grinder.
Dial in Decently with Square Miles Red Brick - Great value medium roast a solid seasonal blend. Decent Espresso Machines 2022-10-21 | We'll be doing our best to dial in the famous Red Brick coffee beans from Square Mile.shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/red-brickRed Brick is a good, every day drinking bean. It's somewhat lightly roasted, but not too difficult to make a nice espresso from. The price is quite good, and it's what most people visit London's Prufrock cafe, have drunk there.---Sorry about the audio buzz at the start. We fixed it from 13:45 minutes on in the video.
Dial in Decently: Square Mile El Dama is a medium light roast for the light roast curious drinkers Decent Espresso Machines 2022-10-21 | ...
Decent talks about 3rd Wave Water Decent Espresso Machines 2022-10-21 | This is the research paper referred to in the video:THIRD WAVE WATER ESPRESSO PROFILE MINERAL RETENTION IN A DECENT ELECTRIC HELICAL STEAM COILthirdwavewater.com/blogs/news/third-wave-water-espresso-profile-mineral-retention-in-a-decent-electric-helical-steam-coilhere is where you can read more about Third Wave Waterthirdwavewater.com
Conical vs Large Flat burr grinder: pros and cons (Niche Zero Grinder vs. Lagom P100) Decent Espresso Machines 2022-10-21 | John and Paul explain the benefits of each kind of coffee grinder. When to use one or the other, and why home espresso newbies are better off with the less expensive grinder.
A Magnetic Portafilter Stand for Weber Workshops Coffee Grinders Decent Espresso Machines 2022-09-19 | Made for Weber Grinders (Key, EG1, etc...) we've made a short run, of hand fitted magnets to our portafilter stands. These attach to the hidden magnet in Weber's current model grinders. decentespresso.com/portafilter_stand
Decent and Weber Key grinder, with our portafilter stand Decent Espresso Machines 2022-05-15 | I've glued a magnet into the Decent Portafilter Stand that it magically finds the right place on the Weber Key Grinder, thanks to a hidden magnet underneath the wood. Here's my workflow for making espresso shots with the Key and my DE1PRO.
(Summary) Zoom: What you need to know before you turn on your DE1 Decent Espresso Machines 2021-11-12 | Summary from the zoom: youtu.be/wiFJC0CQ4HMWhat wasn't included in the summary:-what's the right water?-Descaling.-Charging your tablet while you unbox.-Visualizer extension.-Data points on graphs.-Using graphs for feedback.-Brief look into the manuals.
Zoom: What you need to know before you turn on your DE1 Decent Espresso Machines 2021-11-12 | For this zoom topic is on what you need to know before you turn on your DE1.We went through quite a lot of information throughout the whole zoom. We had some good question get asked that unfortunately didn't make the summary so if you watch the summary and thought it lack some points please watch the full zoom
The Sniff Test Decent Espresso Machines 2021-11-08 | The Sniff TestOur most recent batch of heaters arrived two weeks ago, and we noticed a plastic smell, that seemed to also permeate the steam. That got us very worried.Every time we get a new batch of water heaters delivered, we do the sniff test. In the past, that's been running steam and several members of staff smelling the steam as it comes out of the machine. Our concern is that some cleaning product, solvent or other chemical used to make the heaters, might remain. We do run each machine for 2 hours before it leaves the factory, but the sniff test has always been part of our process.In order to figure out where the smell was coming from, Decent Engineer Alfred did two things:built a hot water recirculation device, sending water from each heater through a fine mesh filter, and turning each area into a aeroseoling device, to make smelling defects easier.completely dismantled the heater into its parts, and heated each individually on a commercial warming plate. We found the main culprit of the smell. Though the heaters are made for us, they have needed some reworking, and part of that has been us (at Decent HQ) putting high temperature shrink tubing around red-cable electrical connection. That's been fine, but with this batch, we asked the heater maker to do that for us, and... they didn't use the material we approved, instead swapping in a rubber that smells terrible when heated. That's the black tube on the right. So, we're going to cut them off the 6000 heaters we received, and put the correct shrink tube material on ourselves.Alfred also found that a slight plastic smell comes from the insulating rubber ring right below the electric terminal, pictured above with the left arrow. Unfortunately, that's difficult to replace, and that has a very specific role, is glued in, and we would have trouble replacing it. On the positive side, we could only detect the smell when we put this part practically inside our nostrils. Getting to a point where the Decent can get warm, without generating any smells at all, is my goal. Given, however, how many different materials are used (we worried about that cable tie, for instance, in the middle of the heater) it's an ongoing process, or of swapping out every part with another, until we slowly reduce all parts that give off smells when warm.We do find that the warmth-caused smells drop off massively after a few hours of warm use, which has always been the case, and after 2h at the Decent factory, the machines have mostly lost their smell when warm. But... still, I do think that for a few days, after you get your Decent, you might notice a smell if you put your nose directly to one of the vents on the espresso machine. I'd love to achieve zero-smell, but perfection is hard to achieve. We'll keep working at it....-john
(Summary) Zoom: DE1s Limiter Feature Decent Espresso Machines 2021-11-05 | This is a summary from the zoom call here: youtu.be/j25vyD7WgOQ
Zoom: DE1s Limiter Feature Decent Espresso Machines 2021-11-05 | This week were lucky to have Shin join us and help go through the limiter features on the DE1 and how they related to your puck resistance and grind. We go through some example graphs to identify when the limiter was functioning with the reasons why and discuss techniques you can use to help solve a particular problem with your extractions.We also go through the new profile that Shin has created called "We Got Your Back" , which uses some of the techniques he discusses from the zoom . You can find this profile below in our Diaspora forum for DE1 owners.Profile link:https://3.basecamp.com/3671212/buckets/7351439/messages/4305622227
How pressure profiling changes Espresso flavor Decent Espresso Machines 2021-10-27 | In this video, we will discuss how pressure profiling can change various aspects of an espresso shot, including the body, acidity and more. We also discuss what kind of espresso shots are more suitable with and without milk.
Insight skin, dark mode Decent Espresso Machines 2021-10-22 | The Insight skin on the de1app is now available in "Dark Mode", in the nightly de1app. There is still some fine tuning work to do, but it's close.
Zoom: Rao Allonge with the Niche and Lagom P100 Decent Espresso Machines 2021-10-15 | Here is this weeks topic on Rao allonge with the Niche and Lagom P100. We go through our workflow and reason behind the changes we make. I also go through what i like and how you can transfer your workflow from the Niche to the P100 seamlessly.Note: apologies I got my terminology mixed up a little and used Robur instead of Conical when describing the Niches burrs.
(Summary)Zoom: Roa Allonge with the Niche and P100 Decent Espresso Machines 2021-10-15 | A little too much info to cut into one short video so we summarized the Niche portion for you guys. The P100 details can be found in the full length zoom here: youtu.be/GplDlAAKEnk
The new v1.43 Decent tablet stand Decent Espresso Machines 2021-10-15 | In August, we started to make a new version of the Decent Espresso Machine, numbered v1.43. All our XL/XXL models are now in stock with this. We still had about 200 machines of v1.42 DE1PRO to build, which is why this newer version wasn't immediately available in the DE1PRO model.Yesterday, I change the "choose a model" page decentespresso.com/model to let you choose v1.42 or v1.43, and wrote up a page about the difference. The only change is the tablet stand, and this video shows how it works.If you're indifferent to the tablet stand improvement improvement, you can save USD $100 by buying the v1.42 model now. I've started taking pre-orders now for the DE1PRO v1.43, and they'll ship toward the end of November.We've been working extra hard since July to build up stock of machines for the Christmas season. At the moment, we have stock of all Decent models.The barrage of news about chip and parts shortages has spooked me, and we've been investing virtually all our profits into building up stock of parts. We're paying a premium, of course, but that's much better than risking "factory slowed down or closed", which surprisingly many companies are having to do.-john
Summary Zoom 10: Flow calibration and how to use it Decent Espresso Machines 2021-10-07 | This is a short summary of Zoom: Flow calibration and how to use it : youtu.be/Nr9_sFbhwIs
Zoom: Flow calibration and how to use it Decent Espresso Machines 2021-10-07 | This weeks topic we explain what the flow calibration is and how you can use it to tune your favorite profile or to your favorite roast to become more consistent and balanced in terms of flavor. We also go through what it will change in terms of the quality in cup and also why.We use the Puck sim 0.2mm to calibrate and also discuss other methods that you can use if you don't have a puck sim.
(Summary)Zoom: Steaming techniques with the DE1 features Decent Espresso Machines 2021-09-30 | This is a short summary of the important points from our zoom call right here: youtu.be/mFCjcx6fZYQ
Zoom: Steaming techniques with the DE1 features Decent Espresso Machines 2021-09-30 | In this video we look into some of the features in the DE1 app. Specifically the real-time flowrate control when steaming milk. As flowrate dictates pressure we can simply put control the speed at which we steam milk allowing you more flexibility to the way you like to texturize milk.We also demonstrate the differences in the quality of milk at different ml/sec.
History of espresso machines (Quickly summarized) Decent Espresso Machines 2021-09-27 | From the first espresso machines to today, the "recipe" for how they do their magic has been a combination of temperature, pressure, and water flow rate over time. In this video, we use the Decent to show you the "recipe inside the machine" from famous and important machines from espresso's past.This is a deliberately simplified, whirlwind tour of the history of espresso machines, from my perspective. I show photos of important machines from history, that were typical of that stage.My version of espresso's history is overwhelming about Lever machines, a brief E61 mention, pressure profilers like the Bianca and Rocket R9, and then Slayer, who were the first to suggest a radically different view on espresso extraction, finally addressing the different needs of light roasts. Many thanks to Claudio and Simone of The Lever thelevermag.com magazine, who greatly aided me through lever machine history in the making of this video. I'm currently working with them on an article-length version of this historical view for their magazine, which I really wish were called "Be-Lever magazine".-john
Zoom: Deep dive into milk steaming techniques for dairy & non dairy drinks Decent Espresso Machines 2021-09-24 | In this video we will go through a few details of what defines certain drinks in a region and how to steam different milk types like Oat, Almond and Soy as well. We also discuss to makes certain milks suitable for coffee.
Decent Espresso DE1XL/XXL v1.43 unboxing Decent Espresso Machines 2021-09-20 | In this video, we do an unboxing of our DE1XL v1.43 espresso machine. We show what you'll get in the shipment and how to set up your machine to make coffee.For more information: decentespresso.com/overview
Zoom: Clean and care for your DE1 (Descale) Decent Espresso Machines 2021-09-16 | We have Paul and Dennis continuing the maintenance series. This time covering the Descale process from start to finish. We also cover the water tank and the thimble n the process. Of course we cover the reason for why we must have this in our maintenance, what would happen if you didn't descale and how other machines on the market carry out this process.
Zoom: Clean and Care for your DE1 machine Decent Espresso Machines 2021-09-10 | In this Zoom call, we will look closely at the grouphead internals including the brass plates and focus on the cleaning functinos and techniques used to make sure things run smoothly.
RIP Decent Tamping Kit 2016-2021 Decent Espresso Machines 2021-09-01 | When Bugs & I moved to Hong Kong to set up Decent Espresso, with the intent of building espresso machines we knew nothing about manufacturing. Really, nothing. So... I started by designing coffee accessories and thereby getting an education. While a few of my coffee accessories have been somewhat successful, the Tamping Kit was a dismal failure. I sure learned a lot! The biggest lessons were:1) just because something costs a lot to manufacture, doesn't mean that your public will value it. In general, while people say they like nice packaging, they don't want to pay for what it really costs.2) it's really difficult to assemble something that comes together from many different suppliers. The Tamping Kit was frequently unshippable, due to one accessory being out of stock. Each accessory came from a different supplier, and because we were a small company, our lead times were long, and our inventory easily depleted, as we only had money for a maximum of 6 months of stock.3) selling a bundle to a public who likely already own some of the items, is well-nigh impossible. Nobody wants to buy duplicates4) don't stamp the name of your specific product on the expensive packaging! If the suitcase had just said "Decent" on it, we could have re-used the suitcase for other products, but because it said "Tamping Kit" it was doomed to be used only for a glacially-slow selling product.5) if you assemble a bundle of separate products into one, make sure you sell the bundle quickly. Otherwise, parts of the bundle will obsolete, and then nobody will want the bundle of not-current-generation parts. I made 4 major revisions of the tamper during these 5 years, causing chaos.6) the "Barista Kit" was less of a failure, because it offered greater value (more stuff in the suitcase) but was still plagued by "cannot ship" through perhaps a third of its 4 years of life.7) Rather humorously, there are company out there that directly copy whatever Decent does, and several are now offering "Barista Kit" bundles (even the same name) in fancy packaging, such as amazon.com/Motta-7580-Barista-Kit-Black/dp/B01GRPC09A - and perhaps they'll read this text, and realize that imitating is only a good strategy is the person you're following knows where they're going. :-DIn the end, it tooks us 5 years to sell out the (only) 500 Tamping Kit suitcase we had made. The suitcase design and mould costs...never recovered. We steeply discounted these (at the end, 50% off) to finally kill this off.To celebrate the last ones shipping, we decided to hold a "wake" with a Tamping-Kit shaped cake, so that .... it could leave us with a good taste in our mouth!But, boy, in another sense "mission accomplished" ! We learned so much about manufacturing this dud product, so in that sense, "failure" has been a success.-john
Zoom: 9 Bar extraction with Preinfusion Decent Espresso Machines 2021-08-30 | This week we will be exploring a straight 9 bar extraction again but including preinfusion this time. We will cover what to expect with this type of extraction and how to dial it in with data from the graph.
Damians D-Flow Profile Decent Espresso Machines 2021-08-29 | A new project by DSX-skin-author Damian, this profile features its own dedicated user interface controls that simplify tuning it for your beans.
Insight Photoshop Explanation Decent Espresso Machines 2021-08-28 | If you are working on your own version of the Insight skin, this video explains the relationship between the animation frames in Photoshop, and how they correlate to states in the de1app, which you can download for your desktop at decentespresso.com/downloads
Zoom: Pour-overs + Q&A with the Decent Decent Espresso Machines 2021-08-23 | Decent Espresso's pour over follow up and general Q&A session with myself Paul, and joining us as our host will be Mohammed. Some cool discussions on possible ways to use the tea portafilter and we take a tour around a Decent Users café, where we explore there setup.
Zoom: Straight 9 bar extraction without preinfusion Decent Espresso Machines 2021-08-23 | This week we will be exploring a straight 9 bar extraction without preinfusion. We cover what to expect with this type of extraction, how the DE1 range distributes water in the grouphead and when might this type of shot be useful. We also look into some R&D projects for a sneak peak into the future of Decent innovations.
Espresso is difficult Decent Espresso Machines 2021-08-20 | This video explains the difficulties you'll have in making good espresso. Half the problem can be solved with technology that does what it told, and then tells you what it really did. The other half of the difficulty is human, and this video lays out what we're doing at Decent to help with that. decentespresso.com/overview
Ensuring a good spray Decent Espresso Machines 2021-08-20 | A little clean of the pour over basket will be required from time to time. This is to ensure a straight spray emanating from the shower hole. If the spray wavers or is not straight then it is likely that it is not creating enough turbulence either. Sometimes its not coffee grinds but a spec of calcium build up.
How the DE1 helps with pourovers Decent Espresso Machines 2021-08-20 | Those that have made manual pour overs an act of Zen will know how we have to multitask at times. Until it becomes muscle memory. For new comers this can be a challenge. The DE1 and the V60 preset lets you focus on the key areas like agitation during blooming.
Does a Decent V60 taste different or better? Decent Espresso Machines 2021-08-20 | Here we weigh in the Pros and cons between the two and my own conclusions from a person who enjoys the Zen/theatre of a pour over.
How Brew equipment affects your brew Decent Espresso Machines 2021-08-20 | We look briefly into what material your brewer is made from Glass or ceramic, plastic or metal and how it affects your brew. Also a little insight on which will be better brewing darker or lighter roasts.
Scott Raos V60 preset Graph Analysis Decent Espresso Machines 2021-08-20 | A dive into the graph details of the Scott Rao's V60 profile
