Our coverage from the 2013 Melbourne International Coffee Expo continues with more from our friends at Oslo, Norway’s Kaffikaze. Harald Johnsen Vøyle and his sister, Ingri M. Johnsen, armed themselves with a notebook and camera, and went on a whirlwind dazzle-tour of the MICE merry-go-round. Here they’re exploring the brand new one group Slayer.
It is safe to say that the new one group Slayer Espresso Machine was one of the most interesting sights to see at MICE in Melbourne. Jason Prefontaine, owner of Slayer, gave us a run-through on what’s up with the brand new Slayer one group. If you’ve been following Slayer on social media (@SlayerEspresso on Twitter & Instagram) you might have seen pics of the one group machines by now, but if not, these are among the very first photos and details publicly published on the new machine, which made its debut at MICE.
No more mechanical valve and seals to change.
This little beauty has the signature look of a Slayer, but has actually been totally redesigned to a near molecular level. Mr. Prefontaine told us that the group head was originally mechanically activated, and this could cause some issues when the usage volume was high. The new V3 brew group has an electronic three-way solenoid valve, which makes the whole thing a good deal more stable. While the earlier group head had been designed for 50.000 cycles before preventative maintenance, this newly developed little badass is made to go a full one million.
Robo-testing extreme conditions.
Ongoing for about a month and a half so far, Slayer’s robot monkey has been doing a new activation every 6 seconds, 24 hours a day. Just look at that .gif up above, and watch in splendor as Slayer executes…and executes…and doesn’t stop for God or country. After hooking it to water they realized all their windows were getting foggy, so they were forced attach the steam wand to a hose, bringing the hot water outside the building.
The new Slayer one group has a few more key features.
We personally had a chance to check out some of the new features on the Slayer one group, and left impressed. Mr. Prefontaine and his team were keen to show of the machine’s ability to flavor profile by virtue of adjustable flow rate control. The machine features a dual boiler and pre-heat coil, with steam managed by a pressure transducer. Most exciting of all, this new Slayer features a digital touch interface with fingertip swipe technology – this is how one manages temperature stability (PID), shot timers, power management and more. We came away feeling like the digital interface had a lot of different practical uses for the home or shop user, with a lot of responsiveness to discover once you’re using the machine regularly.
Befitting Slayer’s growing presence in Australia and the fact that this show was staged in Melbourne, the Slayer one group comes in a 220 volt / 10 amp option as well as a 110 volt / 15 amp model. The Seattle-based manufacturers are now taking pre-orders on the one group, which they will be displaying next at the 2013 Chicago Coffee Fest (happening June 7th-9th). For now, go watch that robo-gif again! It’s hypnotic.
Follow Harald Johnsen Vøyle (@HaraldVoyle), Ingri M. Johnsen (@IngriMJ) and Kaffikaze (@Kaffikaze) on Twitter!
