Does anything provoke stronger feelings and louder opinions right now than the mere mention of pressure profiling?  In specialty coffee, I don’t think so.   For this reason alone the topic merits some discussion here.  It also merits discussion as Slayer is on the verge of introducing a machine that takes full advantage of brew pressure deltas, by which I mean the ability to brew coffee with more than a flat pressure profile, to enhance coffee quality.

Since this is a blog about the broader aspects of our industry, and not simply an advertisement for Slayer, I want to reflect on my own relationship with brew pressure profiling first, then relate it to Slayer.  So here goes. . .

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I’m posting this picture of Dan Urwiler posing behind the proto-Slayer:  Slayer’s prototype.  The fit and finish of this pre-production machine is far less refined than the production version.  The proto-Slayer was almost 100% handmade, and went through numerous iterations before reaching the version shown here.  Like most prototypes, proto-Slayer reflects many  tweaks and changes made along the way.

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Dear Reader, 

When you share your thoughts on this blog, we sit up and take notice. We love hearing your musings, answering your questions, and listening to your wise words of advice.  

In fact when I think about it, there is really only one thing that makes us happier. This is your Art. . . 

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Ever notice how projects that you’ve been working on for a long time can seem to reach their conclusion in a burst?  All the elements that go into realizing that vision of the perfect espresso machine come together at last, and you are there . . .

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Slayer deploys a magazine of multiple tanks in a cylindrical cluster, similar to the barrel configuration of a Gatling gun.

Slayer’s tanks are mounted to ribs which are attached to a central spar.  This happens to be the way the wings of almost all fixed-wing aircraft are made.

However, our inspiration was not Boeing, though aircraft design and construction did play into our thoughts. Nor was it guns.

Nor was our inspiration the human anatomy, where a highly specialized skeleton is enclosed by the body, while the body provides higher level functionality and sensory support, but not raw structural strength (for this kind of thing see, insects and arthropods).

However, analogies from nature that dovetailed with our thinking were validating.

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