Ok, so I finally got the online store working…all we have for sale (for now) is the Limited Edition Slayer T’s   ;-)

You can pay via Visa, MC or PayPal…which is far more convenient than mailing a check…and whats better than ordering Slayer merchandise while sitting at home in your ginch?

Cheers

Jason

I read Gizmodo every day and just saw this pop up on my RSS… needless to say I was more than a little shocked.

Check out the story of Slayer in New York at RBC here at Gizmodo: A Little $18,000 Espresso Machine Called Slayer

The coffee scenes in Portland and Seattle differ more than you might think, especially considering that the two cities are less than three hours apart by train or car, and share similar demographics, climates, &  cultural attitudes.  Sam Lewontin touches on what the Seattle coffee scene could learn from Portland and what it might take to catch up.

The opening of Heart Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon has garnered a huge amount of buzz in the Northwest coffee community, and it’s easy to understand why: It’s clear that a great deal of money and attention to detail were lavished on building out the space. It’s a polarizing design, certainly (sparse seating, cool colors, cavernous ceilings, very industrial chic), but there’s no doubt that it’s a work of care and precision. Love it or hate it, it’s hard to deny that it’s audacious and interesting.

Thing is, it’s not particularly out of the ordinary in Portland. Beautiful, well thought-out spaces have been opening left and right in the past two years: Ristretto Roasters’ café on Williams, Barista in the Pearl district, Coffeehouse Five and the Red E in North Portland—to name just a few. There’s almost no part of Portland that’s without an ambitious, forward-thinking café. It’s little wonder that the coffee scene there is widely considered to have eclipsed the scene in Seattle, long considered the birthplace of modern specialty coffee.

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Slayer shirts arrived in a nick of time for 2010.  If you want one, just let me know.

Be sure to include your complete address and $3 for postage.

The shirts are $20 each. Sizes are  M,L, XL and run small.

If you’re in Seattle you can also pick yours up at Studio 238.

Our address is:

Slayer

5628 Airport Way S

Studio 238

Seattle WA 98199

Cheers,

Eric

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Thoughts on business on Slayer on the past and future year.

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This post is rather a rambler.

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So before going further, I want to thank you all for your support this year.  2009 was an epic year for us.  This was the year we completed designing, and finally introduced, and began building the Slayer.  For over two years prior we’d been working toward 2009.

And our work continues.  We continue to fine-tune Slayer.  There are some components that we are improving and some features that we are adding in 2010 to make the machine better yet. These improvements are based on what we’ve learned from the field, from cafe operators using Slayer in the real world.

Many people have experienced both espresso and brewed coffee on Slayer already.  Even more will hopefully get the chance when we introduce a brand new brew mechanism early next year.   Over the past few months my attention has been galvanized on getting this work completed, which has been both exciting and all-consuming!

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Bean Scene Magazine (click here to view)  in Melbourne featured Slayer as the cover story for their November issue.  The article was an over-the-top free association on Slayer and I just loved it.  I especially enjoyed the way Steve captured the essence of Slayer as “an irrational exercise in exuberance” because this joy in creating a new super-functional machine that celebrates the human element illuminates our path even now.

You can read everything in the issue, but one final feature of the article worth noting is the way Slayer the machine is described in the context of the important new ways independent roasters and retailers are considering their business.  They are making money with coffee, raising the bar on quality for their customers, and doing good at origin through innovative thinking and exploration. . . and action.  Even if you are not roasting your own coffee, it is possible to align your cafe with an independent Third Wave roaster who is.

My thanks to Steve Agi, the editor of Bean Scene, coffee fanatic, and beloved “caffiend”.  Your article was terrific!

Eric in Seattle

(Slayer’s 1.4 gallon dedicated preheat tank supplies buffered 193 degree F water to brew & steam tanks)

In newer generation espresso machines, brew temperature stability is achieved through three features:  independent, but relatively small brew tanks, PID for temperature control, and a supply of pre-heated water to each brew group.

On most machines with independent brew tanks the main water inlet to the espresso machine comes through the steam tank, and there is no cold water inlet to brewing.

On these machines, the steam tank supplies pre-heated water to each brew group through a heat exchanger (HX) that draws heat from the steam boiler and distributes it to where it’s needed. This happens in real time as you pull shots. During peak periods this hot water draw can be as high as 12-16 oz per minute.

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Click video to play

Happy to report that Slayer arrived in Melbourne. Hearing some good things here about the coffee extractions happening at St. ALi’s.  However, I was delighted to receive an actual video from Matt John, a recap of the arrival, unpacking, installing, first use and party that followed Slayer’s debut.  If you happen to be in the neighborhood of St ALi be sure to check it out and let me know what you think.

By the way, this machine is serial number 1.  Much fought over, I finally managed to wrest this notable machine away from other hands, get it into a box, and shipped off to Salvatore who has been waiting since before we even debuted Slayer in Atlanta.

I also want to acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Sal for “getting” the Slayer concept long before most people did, and putting real cash money out there, thereby helping us make the whole thing possible.  I can’t say enough about how important you early adopters are.  So thanks for that Mr Salvatore!

Best regards,

Eric Perkunder in Seattle

(Pieced together from conversations in noisy places while over caffeinated. . . and augmented as required)

“Slayer espresso machines are showing up now in real cafes all over the place.

Melbourne, San Francisco, Kirkland, Ann Arbor, and Calgary.  Soon more will be showing up in New York, Germany, Vancouver BC, New Zealand, Portland Oregon, and beyond.

For us this is the beginning of something very exciting.  Introducing an espresso machine specifically designed for the expert user, that enables variable pressure brewing for flavor profiling.  On the way, we have sampled hundreds of coffees.  What we have found is almost all coffee benefits from the lower pressure, pre-brew phase that Slayer pioneered.

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Reading this, I think Ethan makes one good point: no one is perfect and  unfortunately we do live in a time and place where even posting a comment to the Cloud is emitting tundra-melting CO2.  In this sense, we are all hypocrites and posers. However, I also think Ethan misses a larger point.

Assume for a second that artisan roasting is akin to Art. . .

Art isn’t MAINLY about the product.  It’s about the process.  Art is verbular (if that’s a word).  It’s the process and development of the artist which is reflected in what he or she makes of an object or even of life itself.  Art is an individual activity.  Individuality is its essence.

For me Duane is above all a coffee auteur.  From this small thing he created Stumptown.  When I buy his coffee I am acknowledging HIS accomplishment.  I am not a big enough fool to think drinking a certain coffee or buying any product REALLY says anything TRUE about me other than I have enough money to buy it.

Unfortunately for Duane, as you market your art, you are essentially attempting to transfer your genius to a product, and then to a customer who can afford to pay. This process is largely psychological. However,  transference like this is at the heart of most marketing today.  It is also at the root of consumerism.  Consumerism destroys souls and the physical environment too, which of course is bad (and actually boring from the perspective of personal growth). But we do this to ourselves. 

Ethan seems to forget that “consumption” of anything is the problem and not the fact that some guy from Portland who a particular magazine has styled a “Messiah” is doing his best to keep it as real as he can.

Anyway, that’s how I see it.  I think that Duane’s creation is amazing, and I am so pleased to know the genius behind it, even if just superficially, in this one facet of coffee.  Duane has CREATED his magnificent art and presented it to the world.  What the rest of us do with it is our problem not his.

I won’t address the comments about Portland here.

Eric Perkunder in Seattle