Slayer Single Group - Initial Impressions

 I’ve now worked with the new Slayer Single Group for enough time to have some initial thoughts to share.

First, just to set expectations and provide context.

1. I’m going to ignore aesthetics and emotional attachment and appeal. I know that I have a strong bond with my old vintage La Marzocco GS; I knew in advance that any new machine was going to feel like a sacrifice aesthetically and emotionally; but most of all I know that pretty much everyone who reads this doesn’t care how a Slayer Single Group compares to a 1970 La Marzocco GS. Because few if any people will ever have a chance to pull shots on that machine much less own one. So the comparison is pointless to anyone but me.

2. I’ve pulled shots with three different coffees (Maquina Ex Machina, Onyx Trilogy Public Label, Klatch WBC). I’ve used five different baskets (Caffewerks 3K and BaristaFlo, Slayer stock, La Marzocco Strada 21g, VST 18g). I’ve made drinks for myself and Valerie. I’ve served a bunch of people around 30 drinks in two hours. Drinks have been a mix of straight espresso, cappuccino, and a few macchiato. I’m using my trusty upgraded Anfim Super Caimano Titanium grinder. My workflow is: grind, dose, tamp, flush, preinfuse (~15s), extract (24s to 30s depending on coffee). Oh… Yeah, I do not weigh anything. 

3. My frame of reference consists of the machines I’ve worked on extensively (i.e hundreds if not thousands of drinks served). The list includes Kees van der Westen Mistral and Speedster; La Marzocco Linea, PB, GS3, Linea Mini, and GS, and super modified Grimac Mia. 

Summary

The Slayer Single Group is an incredible accomplishment. You can work with it just as you’d work with any top commercial machine – without material changes to your workflow, with no compromises, and with no required work-arounds. And yet it is a very small footprint home machine which plugs into standard household power and is exceptionally easy to live with. I would feel comfortable serving a steady stream of visitors for hours – but also can just hop out of bed and be serving great drinks within 10 minutes. It’s very easy to use, and very easy to learn. It steams milk as well as if not better (and with less effort) than any machine I’ve ever worked on. It’s exceptionally easy to clean and maintain and is, in general, a very very easy machine to live with.

Sourcing and Install

I sourced the Slayer through Terry at Caffewerks. He’s a friend, but they’re also one of the best companies in the business and I’d probably have bought through them even if he were not a friend. The machine was air freighted directly from Slayer to Kauai.

The Slayer arrived in a very trick custom crate, designed to be broken down and stored for future use. Uncrating was easy, and setup was very simple. 

Unfortunately, one of the compression fittings had loosened on the plane and started leaking slowly once powered up. Side note: always open the case of a new machine when you first install it so that you can visually inspect all plumbing as it first heats up (a small inspection mirror helps). Terry along with Slayer customer and technical support were all very helpful and a quick re-seating and careful/gentle re-tightening of the compression fitting fixed the leak (and it has not leaked since).

Once all ready, it took about 40 minutes to become fully temp stable.

Adaptations and Adjustments

I have worked almost entirely on machines which have steam wands on the right side. Switching to steaming on the left was initially very strange, but adaptation was actually quite quick.

I have never worked on a machine that has this kind of pre-infusion. This was by far the biggest adaptation I’ve had to make. To be honest, initially I thought I’d simply not pre-infuse as I’ve not had many shots pulled with complicated pre-infusion that tasted consistently better than a standard flow-rate restricted La Marzocco. But then I taste tested, and there is a clear difference on this machine. I’m not going to categorically say “it’s better with pre-infusion” but I personally do have a slight preference. Because my workflow with milk drinks has always been to start brewing, then steam while brewing, I have found that I prefer using the pre-brew timer mode when serving a larger group.

Initially, I was not loving the texture of the shots - but reduced pump power to 79% (reducing brew pressure) and found a great sweet spot for my taste.

I’m old-school, and have pulled a lot of shots of espresso, so I extract by flow rate, color, time, and volume. I’ve not used a shot timer in decades other than when calibrating - and it’s kind of cool to have a visible built-in shot time right in front of me.

The cup tray is a lot smaller than what I’m used to, and that’s mostly been a good thing. I’ve had to curate my cupware down to what I truly use. The only drag is when I’m serving a lot of people I tend to go through warm cups quickly, and the hot water wand is a bit too wimpy to really use to pre-heat cups. I have a utility sink right next to the machine, however, so I’ve adapted by simply taking “table bussing” breaks and collecting and washing cups regularly.

Results in the Cup

The most noticeable difference in the cup with the Slayer (for me) is the consistency. Consistency of extraction and consistency of flavor is exceptional (on par with the best of the machines I’ve used).

Contrary to Slayer’s marketing, I actually don’t find that there is a “signature flavor” of the Slayer. Instead, in my experience the “signature flavor” of the Slayer is due to its basket - while the machine itself is neutral. E61 machines, to my taste, produce shots that are consistently muted and smooth and rounded and “lower midrange” dominant - and most La Marzocco machines produce shots that are transparent and exciting with both enhanced lower end and high end (but with a flat spot in the middle) - and the Mistral from Kees is expansive and loud with a very balanced profile. The Slayer, however, is a bit like a modern professional studio monitor speaker. It is, on its own, profoundly neutral with no corrections and no “softening of any edges” but can easily be used to mimic many other signature flavor profiles. This makes the Slayer a pretty amazing machine to use for tasting and evaluating coffees. 

Vacuum tube home audio enthusiasts talk a lot about “tube rolling.” This is the process of swapping out various tubes in your amplifier(s) to tune the overall system sound to your liking. With the Slayer, “basket rolling” has a more significant effect than it has on the other machines I’ve experienced and you can follow the same kind of process to tune the flavor profile of your espresso. Whereas, with other machines, you’re starting from a base “system profile” that has a signature and that is not neutral, and are “correcting” that profile to try and match your desires – with the Slayer Single Group, you’re starting from neutral and adding the “colouring” that fits your taste.

Using the stock Slayer basket yields shots that have the rounded, smooth profile of an E61 but with the enhanced low and high end of a La Marzocco and exceptional body and viscosity. The basket is very forgiving and easy to use, but the shots do lack clarity and transparency and definition of flavor. Using the BaristaFlo from Caffewerks resulted in shots that taste very similar to a classic stamped basket La Marzocco shot. The shots still have good body, but with enhanced clarity and distinction as compared to the stock basket. With the Strada basket, shots taste like what I would expect from a Mistral but with a smoother, less “heavy metal” profile and more integrated flavor, but with a weird combination of slight muddiness and a less creamy mouthfeel. Switching to the Caffewerks 3K basket yields shots which are similar in profile to an LM PB but with exceptional transparency and a very smooth profile and a bit of a roll-off on the low end along with the slight loss of viscosity I associate with the PB. I did not have good results from the VST basket.

In the end, I’ve been switching between three baskets. With nice, balanced and well-developed coffees without any off notes I find the 3K basket gives me what I want. If the coffee is still nice and balanced, but is under-developed, I find the stock Slayer basket meets my needs. For coffees that are unbalanced or have any off flavors, the BaristaFlo basket seems optimal.

Life with the Slayer

And now we get to the good stuff…

This is where the Slayer truly shines. This machine is just so easy. It’s easy to use. It’s easy to work with. It’s easy to work on. It’s easy to adjust and it’s easy to clean and it’s easy to maintain. 

It’s just an easy machine to live with.

And that’s amazing.

I absolutely love how simple it is to clean the Slayer. Between the auto-cleaning cycle and all the stainless steel and the lack of brass and the overall smart design - the usual drudgery of keeping your espresso machine clean is massively reduced.

I love how simple it is to make drinks with the Slayer. The combination of the timer and the shot mirror makes sense-based extraction easy. The steam wand is kind of magical. No other machine I’ve used has been so easy to produce great milk texture with. The layout is completely intuitive and barista-focused.

For all of its aggressive body design, the Slayer really is a no fuss espresso machine.

As of right now, there is only one issue I have with the Slayer Single Group. And it’s a known and not easy-to-solve problem. For some people (and I am one of them) the touchscreen isn’t super responsive. My skin is dry and has a lot of callus and scar tissue so this is not a huge surprise and for the most part is easy to manage. The only time this becomes a real problem for me is when trying to reduce brew temp. For some reason, the down arrow is by far the least responsive to my touch and it often takes me asking Valerie to come and use her thumb instead.

Should You Buy a Slayer

I’ve not mentioned one key thing about a Slayer Single Group. It’s very expensive. It is, in fact, so expensive that it is in the same price range as many commercial single group machines as well as a ton of exceptional “semi-commercial” home machines.

So if you can afford to buy a Slayer, you’re very fortunate and you’re very likely to end up with a great machine.

I’m not going to debate the whole “is it worth the money” thing. That’s impossible.

Instead I’m going to answer the question, “if you’re one of the fortunate few who are well off enough to be able to afford a Slayer Single Group, what would make you buy it over the other options?”

1. If you make espresso drinks at home every day - but also entertain others and make a larger number of espresso drinks in a short amount of time every once in a while - then you should at least seriously consider the Slayer.

2. If you’re not a mechanical engineer, aren’t a gear head, and find drinking good coffee more enjoyable than modifying your equipment - then you should at least consider the Slayer.

3. If you are doing a lot of milk drinks back to back at least some of the time, but care deeply about the quality of your espresso - then you should at least consider the Slayer.

4. If you don’t want to stress about finding replacement parts and want something easy to service - then you should at least consider the Slayer.

5. If you care less about the drama and the show than the result in the cup - then you should at least consider the Slayer.

6. If you want a machine that is plumbed in, you are going to use commercial water treatment, are creating your own espresso bar, and you want something where working on it feels more like working the bar than making coffee at home - then you should at least consider the Slayer.

7. And if all of the above are true - I would suggest that the Slayer Single Group is probably the machine for you.

If you’ve read this far, and are curious and considering buying a Slayer Single Group, and just happen to be planning a trip to Kauai – let me know. 

Goodbye and Hello

 I have never owned anything that I care about as much as my vintage La Marzocco GS.

And frankly, that's kind of underselling how I feel about the machine. It's a rare piece of coffee history -- but it's also an incredibly important part of my personal story.

I loved my time working in coffee. I loved the people I worked with. I loved (and love) coffee. But sadly, I don't have a ton of connection to that part of my life anymore. When I left Stumptown there were very few co-workers who remained friends with me. And when I left the coffee business, there were very few business colleagues and acquaintances who remained friends. Over time, many of those who remained have drifted away. But a few, a small few, stayed with me. One of them is a guy named Terry Ziniewicz. Terry and I met while I was at Stumptown, and became close after I'd left. Over time I became tight with not just Terry, but also his amazing partner Kelly and his entire family. When Terry sold his company Espresso Parts NW, he gifted me the espresso machine that had been his long-time booth machine. The GS.

Terry knew that I loved the La Marzocco GS and dreamed of one day owning one. So he made my dream come true. And that's how the vintage GS became my most treasured possession. It was my connection to Terry and Kelly. It was my connection to coffee (and my time in coffee). And it was an incredibly kind, thoughtful, and meaningful gift.

Of course, none of this would matter if the thing produced Nespresso caliber espresso. But that machine? That machine was not only special, and meaningful, and historical, and (frankly) sexy AF.... In the hands of a skilled barista it also produced amazing espresso.

And for roughly two decades, I used it most every day to make drinks for myself and for Valerie. I used it to make drinks for friends. I used it. Pretty much daily.

But using a 1970s vintage Italian commercial espresso machine as your daily source of coffee is a bit like using a 1970s vintage Italian sports car as your daily driver. The joke about actually driving vintage Italian sports cars is that you need a mechanic small enough to fit into the trunk (with all their tools). And that joke became some painful foreshadowing for me over time. 

At first, the issues were small. The brew button's actuator broke and it turned out that the company that made the part went out of business back in the 1980s or something. And these small issues were always things I could work around. Sure, I couldn't brew and steam at the same time as I had to manually hold down the brew button to brew. Other small things failed like the steam wand gasket, but we figured shit out.

But then the leaks started.

For context, early La Marzocco GSs are notorious for the leaks. They did not have groups that were welded onto the boiler. Instead, the groups were bolted on using a janky "cage" set up and a big old gasket. Needless to say, these gaskets would start to leak as they aged. And replacing the gasket was a huge challenge due to the way the cage was used to bold the group on. So every once in a while, the machine would be out of service for a while for repair (often by Terry of course). This was non-optimal, but was something I could manage.

But then the leaks got worse.

You see, as that boiler and that group and those gaskets heat cycled, things stop fitting. Metal deformed. Things stopped aligning and most of all, things stopped sealing. Last year, Terry flew over to Kauai and brought parts and tools and crazy ideas for how to fix the leaks. And it worked.

For a little while.

But then there was a small leak - and this time it shorted out a switch. So the machine had to be shut down, a part sourced and replaced, and then (with fingers crossed) the machine was fired up while we all watched to see if there would be leaking. And there was no leaking!

At first.

But then the leaking started again, and soon after that, there was another short. But this time it was the controller for the machine. And most of all, it had become clear that there was no stopping the leaks anymore. Perhaps the boiler is too warped now. Perhaps the group attachment is deformed. Or maybe the machine is just simply old and tired.

Regardless, I realized it was time to let it go. It was time to say goodbye.

The only thing that makes this moment okay for me is that the GS is heading back to Terry. I'd left the machine to his son in my will anyway - and it was time for it to return. I hope that Terry is able to do something amazing with it. He's talking about interesting resto-mod ideas, and he's the kind of mad scientist who probably will be able to pull something amazing off. And that will be great. It will be amazing to see that machine functional again.

It breaks my heart to say goodbye. But it's time.

And it definitely makes it easier to say farewell when I've just taken delivery of a brand new Slayer Single Group. Sure... it's not a piece of coffee history. Yeah... it doesn't have the same personal meaning. And OK... it's nowhere near as sexy. But it's a very, very nice espresso machine. And it's brand new. And it's under warranty. All the parts are currently being made (and are available). It runs on standard household power. And everything works.

I will never stop missing the GS. But I'm one week into owning the Slayer, and it's really good. The shots are good. Steaming milk is 1,000,000 times easier than on the GS. Most of all... it's just low stress.

Goodbye GS. I've loved you - and I always will love you.

Hello Slayer. You are the first espresso machine I've ever actually purchased - and I think you're going to be great.