Haskens wrote:At what point would you consider bringing the DE1+ back? Or if you don't have that set in stone, when do you expect to start taking orders for those again?

I really don't know, sorry! Last month we managed to ship 161 machines, which is a far cry from the 360+ orders we saw coming this month.

Now working saturdays, hiring more staff, adding another 3000 sq ft, we will have to see how many more machines we can make each month.

So... to answer your question more directly, I'd say "if we can make more DE1PRO/DE1XL/DE1XXL machines per month, than we can sell in a month, then we'll bring the DE1+ back".

Thus, it really depends on two things:
- how much faster we can make machines (without compromising quality)
- how many machines we sell per month.

Haskens wrote:And last question on my mind - will you be using this opportunity to release DE1+ v1.5 when it does return?

version 1.5 is not planned for anytime soon. I'd figure at least a year, but maybe not for several years. The v1.4 models are really stable, and we are only making small DFM (design-for-manufacturing) hardware changes to that line now.

My R&D team has been reduced to 3 people, who have been told to take a year or two, to think of something really great. All the other engineers are now focussed on building what we have invented.

-john

Have you considered a "steaming sidecar" that would provide concurrent steaming and brewing by adding a stand-alone steamer to a DE1? Your steaming technology is unique and there is little competition other than the bellman steamer and a quick mill steamer.

This transparency is one of the key factors that led me to order my DE1XL. Thank you for doing this.

Last week I was about to buy one DE1+... too bad for me but your choice is respectable.
I am also ready to buy a PRO version instead even if it is about $500 more expensive but XL is way too big and more designed for pro/shop than my kitchen, I think the PRO would definitely deserve attention when your backlog would hopefully be reduced...

pizzaman383 wrote:Have you considered a "steaming sidecar" that would provide concurrent steaming and brewing by adding a stand-alone steamer to a DE1? Your steaming technology is unique and there is little competition other than the bellman steamer and a quick mill steamer.

We have, but
- it's not clear how much demand there is for this, as there are already standalone steamers on the market
- technically it would cost us almost as much to build as the DE1, so the price to consumer would not be good
- at a small price over this dedicated steamer you'd get an entire DE1, which provides a lot more value for the money.
- the latest DE1XXL model provides really good steam power, so we're not underpowered any longer for commercial use

So...no, we're not likely to make a standalone steamer.

Full respect for your open and transparent communication John. The regular comments on your pragmatic and reasonable style gave me a lot of confidence in placing my order.

I'm planning to use the DE1XXL for a specialty coffee type of shop. will i have any problems with the workflow ? Can this model brew and steam milk at the same time. Thank you

A few weeks ago I read Dennis Hew's ebook https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08V1X75JG/ on latte art, and really enjoyed it.

However, I do think it's mis-titled, because the first 150 pages don't discuss milk at all, and are instead an excellent beginner's guide to espresso making.

I particularly liked the ample illustrations, because I was able to flip through, not reading the text, and only looking at the illustrations, to decide if I wanted to read that section. Very reader-friendly.

I contacted Dennis and he & I have worked out a deal, where he's helping us make a Decent-specific version of his book. We're adding new chapters and illustrations, and I have two staff members here in HK working on it with him. We're hoping to get it done within 2 months. Fairly fast, yes, as we'd already gotten started on our own beginner's book.

This ebook will be available for free from our web site, and also available as a print-on-demand or Kindle from Amazon.

As more and more new-to-espresso people are buying Decents, I felt we really needed to improve what we did for them, so that they can go from zero espresso knowledge to making something they're happy with. Dennis' book is almost ready-to-go, and with his illustrations, is better than what we would have cooked up on our own.

And now...please help me pick a better book title. "Be Decent at Espresso" was only meant as a placeholder, and is pretty weak. If you have any suggestions for the title of this beginner-book, please make then below. Thank you!

-john

sophea wrote:I'm planning to use the DE1XXL for a specialty coffee type of shop. will i have any problems with the workflow ? Can this model brew and steam milk at the same time. Thank you

None of our machines brew and steam at the same time. Cafes buy two or three of them, and then they can.

For workflow examples, take a look at the Ten Minute Challenge videos:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... uOMbhsu8eD

particularly this on with two DE1XXL:

John,
The Decent website can be a challenge to navigate. For example, the DE1XL has an image with the metric dimensions of that model but I could not find the same for the DE1Pro anywhere. I would have expected it to be on the Pro's page or maybe on the comparison chart.