https://youtu.be/EzAMbvexk8w For anyone who wants to know what goes on inside a Decent, this will be very interesting. Love them or hate them, the making of a Decent is a truly remarkable achievement. Of particular interest to me is John Buckmans commitment to ensure that every Decent is able to be upgraded with any new feature meaning that there is no need to sell a machine in order to get the latest features. Also of interest is the Bluetooth and wireless chip that can simply be unplugged and replaced if ever needed. 8,000 Decents are now out in the wild.

There’s no denying that’s a nice, well thought out piece of engineering

Full respect to John from Decent, clearly an innovator. I wonder how much better would the DE1 look if a product designer made it? Saying that, the glossy white one looks much nicer than the black.

> @"whinmoor85"#p31859 how ~~much better~~ would the DE1 look if a product designer made it? [upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/diJ2Sm8.jpeg]

Having owned a DE1 I can vouch for how great they are as a piece of tech. I really like the simplicity of the design too. Besides a few software hiccups on the tablet it ran very well. I just felt I never got the most out of the machine especially for the money I paid.

@"CoyoteOldMan"#p31865 not sure that's much better! How about this... [URL=https://i.imgur.com/guIZ6Mh.jpg][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/guIZ6Mh.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

@"tompoland"#p31890 Lovely but pricey.

Inside a Decent DE1

Rob666

tompoland Lovely but pricey.

tompoland

Rob666 true, but from a design point of view, it spins my whizzer a lot more than the Decent. Still, one man’s meat…

CoyoteOldMan

tompoland not sure that’s much better!

Indeed not - it was a firmly tongue-in-cheek post. In fact, when Synesso issued the press release for the ES-1 I was surprised how much like a Decent it looks!

Cuprajake

ive always been fascinated by the decent, as i do love to tinker lol

Petre

Expensive but at least we can see where the money goes. Some other brands be like: here we go we just put same 50y old tech in a smaller package, give us 5K cuz we have big name.

JonWoo187

Petre Thing is 50 yr old tech simply works… current overpriced/overrated machines trying to reinvent the wheel will never beat something like a Cremina that’s been around since the 60s IMBHO. I’ll also gladly say that the modern trend/fad on machine function, burr design, etc. is more about making underdeveloped coffees more palatable, thanks to the Turd Wave movement. If the Cremina could keep up with my daily use I’d jump back to using one… had a 1977 model years ago and achieved phenomenal results with it, even while using a 50 yr old KyM copper cylindrical espresso-specific hand grinder. Only beef with the Cremina is I could only get 4-5 doubles from it at most with a bit of flushing/cleaning and I consume more than that these days. Otherwise I’d gladly take it over any machine made at any price these days.

Sham

Nice video, as an engineer this video is a really fun watch. Watching things like this really makes me want to build my own espresso machine from scratch! Maybe in 20 years I’ll have a spare few hundred k to make a prototype (and then get some real funding) to make one!

tompoland

Sham too soon to place a pre-order?

Sham

tompoland I’ll happily take your money and make you wait an indefinite amount of time as per the traditional way 😉

tompoland

Worth a read https://worksinprogress.substack.com/p/in-pursuit-of-decent-coffee?sd=pf

Petre

JonWoo187 def Cremina was not the kind of machine I had in mind with my comment, spring levers are still one of the top tech you can use right now. But I was looking at the new linea micra. Instead of focusing on improving the mini, they just recreated it in a smaller package, who asked for that really.. Price is still quite high for what it offers imo.

JonWoo187

Petre Well the original Cremina was/is manual lever as I personally would avoid the spring with any machine. I agree on the Micra among others and will never bother with any machine that requires a phone/tablet/app to make adjustments. Technology will never replace hands-on skill/technique, just a training wheel approach to make espresso easier/more consistent for the masses.

Petre

JonWoo187

I think technology has good things to add on the table but I also respect the preference of users who are experimented enough and want to go full manual, there’s always room for both worlds.

JonWoo187

Totally agree, but will also point out that so much focus is placed on equipment when the real changes can be made with the coffee being used. Stepping into home roasting really puts things in perspective as to what is the ultimate variable in it all.

tompoland

This article will no doubt be greeted with the normal spectrum from applause to ridicule.

Personally I feel inclined to identify with both.

At the ridiculous end of the spectrum is extraordinary the lengths that a manufacturer will go to for a relatively small improvement.

At the other end of the spectrum I applaud the effort … for the same reason.

The article is written by Ben Champion who, pardon me, championed the cause of better group head parts at Decent Espresso.

https://decentespresso.com/doc/v2gh

Sham

tompoland Nice read. The iterative design is totally normal for anything that’s remotely novel. I wonder how much that mould cost…

tompoland

Sham it’s one helluva machine for sure.

tompoland

A bit surprised to see Spo has a Decent on his bench. It was a surprise to Decent founder John Buckman too. The first he knew about it was when he saw this video on YT.

digitalphilosophy

Why would it come as a surprise? Would JB expect Spro to have asked about a discount on a machine or request a trial model to review?

Or is there history with Spro being less than enthusiastic about the Decent and him purchasing one for review came as a surprise?

JammyDodger

digitalphilosophy Why would it come as a surprise? Would JB expect Spro to have asked about a discount on a machine or request a trial model to review?

John doesn’t really do discounts on machines for clout or reviews, at least that is my understanding. I believe he would rather have a ‘warts and all’ response from reviewers so he can improve the product, which I respect. John mentioned that he was surprised at Spro buying a DE1 as he had stated in a previous video that he puts a lot of stock in tactile experience, and the DE1 is renowned for being rather the opposite of this.

tompoland

digitalphilosophy Spro has routinely resisted recommendations to try a Decent. He mentions that himself, right up front. He’s also open about his preference for espresso making to be “tactile”.