by Abe Carmeli on Sun Feb 14, 2010 12:07 pm The place was nicely packed at 3:00 p.m. as Silvia was dialing in the grinder and extraction parameters. It took a good 20 minutes before she was happy with her shots, and as I received mine I was looking forward to that hazelnut bomb I remember from my last visit at RBC. It was a sweet shot with wonderful creamy body and indeed a strong hazelnut in milk chocolate backbone. The featured coffee was Brazil Nossa Senhora Aperacida Peaberry.
John asked if I would be interested in taking the Slayer for a spin. The man is clearly a mind reader.
Cora Lambert, the director of coffee and head barista at RBC was kind enough to give me a quick rundown of the machine's operation and off I went.
As I prepped my first shot I took a closer look at the three group Slayer from the Barista's point of view. It is very elegant and minimalistic in its design, and in the age of digital displays, it uses an analog pressure gauge next to each group. The handles operating the steam wands are clearly a homage to the Synesso. An additional practical touch is an angled reflective stainless steel plate that runs across the machine above the drip tray. It serves as a mirror giving the barista a view of each group from the bottom up. When pulling a shot, I could clearly see how the shot progresses, without bending. I could see the basket as it is saturated, a cue to move from preinfusion to full pressure.
driving the Slayer at RBC. In the picture Silvia Magalhães Brazil National Barista Champion & Abe Carmeli. Note the reflective stainless steel panel angled above the drip tray.
After a quick flush I locked in the portafilter and moved the paddle to 6 o'clock - the preinfusion position. The pressure gage barely moved for 6 seconds then started climbing up very slowly until it reached 5 bars. That looked like 20 seconds to me. I moved the paddle to full pressure position, and cut the shot at around 45 seconds. That would be a very slow pour for a double basket on a standard machine, but on the Slayer, most shots run between 40 and 50 seconds because of the very slow initial pressure ramp up. It tasted sweet and nutty but a bit grassy. Visually, the shot looked flawless, a clean centered cone, nice tiger stripping with no visible channeling.
A grassy note in espresso is usually cured by letting the coffee rest for a few more days before pulling a shot. Can pressure profiling get rid of a grassy note? This may be a fool's errand but it looked like a fun play to test drive the Slayer.
I pulled a few more shots, changing the pressure profile timing. This time 10 seconds before the end of the shot I moved the paddle back to the pre-infusion position. I watched the pressure crawl back down to~ 7 bars by the end of the shot. That very slow and gradual decline is reminiscent of a spring loaded lever machine, and cannot be done on a regular pump driven espresso machine. Flavor profile has changed, the shot was sweet, milder, and rounder, but there was that grass again. A few more tries with pressure timing and the shots went all the way from boringly sweet to, weird and undefined, but the grass note never fully disappeared.
All in all, this is a very enjoyable machine to work on. I suspect that the long preinfusion gives the machine a big forgiving factor in regards to channeling. The timing of the pressure stages gives the barista another tool to influence flavor, but consistently timing the pressure stages to achieve a desired result takes practice.
Many thanks to RBC's staff, John Moore and Silvia Magalhães for their hospitality, I had a great time.
