We were inspired by one of our employees, Molly Soeder, to make a modification to the drain pan. This was clearly inspired due to her (former) responsibility of having to clean and maintain the 2 group on our bar. In the past, coffee grounds would collect on the left side of the drain pan due to the slope of the pan. It was her suggestion to simply add a reverse slope to the other side, causing the grounds to flow into the drain. Great idea…and so the Molly Drain Tray was born :)

We’ve also had numerous requests for the ability to lower the overall drain tray assembly. So we’re now offering the option of a lowered drain tray bracket, which is 1/2″ (1.27cm) lower and provides this additional distance between the bottom of the group head and the dray tray.

Click either picture for a larger view

Thanks for the suggestions everyone – keep it up, we’re listening!

Slayer Pre-Brew Timer Option

This is one of our newest options available on Slayer, a pre-brew timer.

When you press a button under the group you engage the timer. When engaged the time is quickly and easily set with a rheostat, located below the drip tray, and controls the Pre-brew phase of the extraction. After the time expires the machine automatically kicks into full pressure.

If desired, the barista can still move the actuator back to the pre-brew position to lower the pressure towards the end of the shot. Each group is independent and can have different times or simply be turned off and the group is back into full-manual mode.

This option is great for extremely busy cafes, but would also be useful for cafes where there is only one barista who’s needing to manage the bar and till as it allows them to focus on various tasks without having to watch for pre-brew saturation.

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

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

Recently some commentators have lumped Slayer into a category with La Marzocco and Synesso.  I don’t really mind this, because the comparison reflects the fact that Slayer defines a new category of equipment: ultra-traditionals.  These other machines play in the premium range, but Slayer is perhaps the first purpose-built machine for the Third Wave.  It is by design the ultimate traditional barista machine.

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Prior to SCAA, I had anticipated that we would be somewhat busy with everyone wanting to actually see & play with this machine that they’ve read about. However there is no way that I could have dreamt that things would be as insane as they were. We arrived at 10:00 each moring to set up and would immedieatly have people coming by and when the show floor opend at noon things went mental until well after 6:00.

To say that I was overwhelmed with the number of people who took me up on the offer to bring their coffee is an understatement. I had such a great time pulling shots with all you guys – and tasted some of the best espressos in my life! I can’t imagine that there will be another espresso ‘perfect storm’ with the SCAA & the WBC & the launching of a cool new barista espresso machine all happening at the same time. This resulted in our 10×20 foot booth being packed with easily 50 people. Several people said that they had to come back 3 or 4 times just to get close enough to the machine to take pictures & pull shots…and this was the first time (since 1993) that I have not walked the SCAA floor, I just didn’t have time.

Thank you everyone, who came to hang out at our booth!!  If you didn’t make it to SCAA, check out the video that Chris took with his little camera. It was shot opening day between 12:00 and 2:30.

Cheers

Jason

Coming to terms–finding the right words!

Espresso machine manufacturers like to lay claim to a tradition of hand-made espresso machine manufacturing.  Maybe you’ve noticed this too.

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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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