[Music]
so this review has taken me a good long
time to get out here it was five months
ago that I last posted a video about the
decent and that's a pretty long time but
here's the issue that I have I don't
make espresso every day I don't have an
espresso machine at home I don't want
one at home and even at work I may not
make his present every day and if I do I
may not have time to put in to make
espresso with the decent so it's taken
me five months to really kind of get my
head around it to think about it and
come to what I hope our opinions worth
sharing to start with I want to talk
about some things that I really like
about the decent machine the de1 plus
and then I want to talk a little bit
more about some things that I struggle
with a little bit using this machine is
it feels like you're on the cutting edge
it feels like nothing else I've ever
used primarily because you just get so
much data before after during your
espresso right to be able to see the
amount of data that you can both live
temperature live pressure live flow and
if you have the scales connected live
weight of liquid in the cup all on one
screen as it's happening that's kind of
amazing that's really like nothing else
and to be honest at the price point that
it's at nothing really touches it I
don't think it's a cheap machine but I I
think it's staggeringly good value for
money if you consider what it's capable
of
versus other machines at that price
point
a second thing I love and I kind of just
touched on it a little bit but flow
itself is fascinating right to be able
to to see flow which is kind of an
output variable right like if you
consider pressure as an input and you
consider the resistance of the cake then
what you get as a resulting output is
flow flow rate right there it'll show
you if a channel happens in your pack
because flow will increase you'll be
able to see if your espresso kind of
Falls to pieces and suddenly flow picks
up at one particular point seeing flow
is super interesting and and then in
theory being able to profile a shot
based on desired flow is a whole new way
to think about espresso and that is very
very very exciting
they'll I'll touch on this a little bit
later right now the potential is not
completely met by the Machine the
insides of this thing are to me a little
bit over spec it can do a lot of stuff
it's got a lot of hardware in there now
the upside of this is that it feels
future-proofed
right like it feels like updates to
software will increasingly unlock
functionality and potential in the
machine as more and more is understood
about how it can make better espresso
now the downside is you might consider
that there are perhaps more points of
failure I haven't had any hardware
issues so far like I said I'm five
months in I'm pretty careful about the
water I put it inside my coffee machines
so you know that's going to be the
primary point of failure for any coffee
machine though there is a lot of thought
got into stuff like descaling
decalcification within it something that
is actually really fantastic about this
machine is the community that's growing
around it now decent host a kind of
community message board you get access
to when you buy a machine and that is a
fascinating place that is an extremely
active community and extremely
thoughtful community that I'm very
grateful to have access to and be a part
of I I don't think I've seen as kind of
thoughtful some self-starting like
people are creative things people are 3d
printing things to share within the
community I love this kind of approach I
love this kind of community I think
that's in
be powerful and it's definitely a real
added bonus of buying a machine like
this and ultimately I like this because
it's been a great tool for me right it
has allowed me to learn more about
espresso it's been allowed me to sort of
think about it in new ways and that's
been extremely valuable to me now you're
gonna ask the question and quite rightly
you're gonna ask the question well how
are the shots does it make amazing
coffee well it can and it can make
terrible coffee just like any coffee
machine and you know I'll be honest I I
don't think the next great leap in
flavor is gonna come from hardware I
don't think grinders are gonna unlock
anything I don't think espresso machines
are gonna unlock anything they're not
going to kind of create aromatic
compounds that aren't there already but
I like it like we're gonna get the best
of what's there I think the next great
leap actually will come from raw coffee
rather than from from hardware so don't
think that this is gonna somehow make
you a magically better espresso than
you've ever made before I'll be honest
what I'm interested in is is my worst
espresso being fantastic right I'm
interested in everything being very good
or above that's really interesting to me
that's really desirable for me and at
the moment that that isn't necessarily
what this machine offers right like it
offers so much opportunity so much of an
enormous playground for experimentation
that you're going to make some terrible
coffees and it's gonna expose some flaws
in your coffee making right you'll be
able to see more clear than others
before if you're Park prep isn't good
and that's that's ultimately I think
that's a good thing but I think that
really is important to consider when we
talk about who this machine is really
for
this machine another thing I liked is
extremely portable this machine just
runs on a tank that sits underneath the
machine it's really easy to fill I just
fill it from the RO output line at work
which has a little bit of blended hard
water in there to get like a nice level
of minerality that's easy it comes in a
flat case I mentioned this in the
previous video so it's extremely easy to
pack down drain put in a flight case
roll around turn up use and that's
fantastic one quick thing I have to talk
about before I move into the stuff that
maybe I struggle with a little bit more
is that I don't drink milk really to be
honest and so I don't really steam much
milk and so I can't really speak to the
capabilities of steaming those machine
the times I've used it it's been good
but I can't really offer you an in-depth
review on that because I'm just not
making milk drinks day-to-day right I'm
just not I'm typically just making
espresso and drinking that that's all
I'm kind of interested in I'm sorry that
I can't give you a really in-depth thing
on that it's steamed milk plenty of
steam I have no issues with it but I
just can't deep dive on that today so
let's take maybe talk about some stuff
that you might call the downsides now
I'll be honest I've made espresso
primarily in more commercial
environments or sorry with commercial
equipment for a long time
and to be honest I miss buttons I miss
real life buttons that click that have
some level of haptic feedback to them
that touch screen just doesn't really do
it for me for a start-stop experience on
on a coffee machine now I completely
understand why a tablet controller is
actually a pretty smart way to go
having the brains and the display be
external be upgradable removing a kind
of really key point of failure I think
is a good idea but you know some days I
just wish there was a little stop start
button on that too just for the just for
the go moment right just to know that I
have pushed go now the tablet itself is
something of a contentious thing a lot
of people kind of annoyed at the idea of
a tablet on there I like the idea
broadly speaking of a tablet I have
spent so long inside the walled garden
of the Apple ecosystem that that the
Android as an experience frustrates me a
little bit right it's a tiny detail and
ultimately I would kind of describe this
machine is actually being a much more
androidy experience than an iOS type
experience right you have all of the
functionality unlocked it's a total
playground but there are days when that
means getting to the one simple thing
can take just a moment longer than you
want right like it's it's there's a lot
of menus there's a lot of options you
can kind of tap around play around look
up loads of different profiles there's a
lot and some days I just wish for some
simplicity and if you don't want all of
that stuff then this is definitely not a
machine for you if you want all of the
details all of the features everything
that's this machine a final note on the
tablet actually is that the cable that
links the tablet to the machine to
parent is a Bluetooth connection between
the two that's an annoying little cable
to me the solution of having like a
little standoff of the machine to hold
the tablet is good but I can be a bit
heavy-handed at times and it's kind of
easy for me to knock things and let that
cable just unplug this a little bit too
easily I think I'll probably upgrade it
to something just a tiny a little bit
longer if I can find something it's like
2 to 3 centimeters shorter than I want
it to be it's a tiny little detail but
it's called me out a couple of times
where I haven't noticed that knocked it
out and the tablets getting pretty low
on power and here's my primary concern
which is best described as analysis
paralysis with this much data it can
very quickly be overwhelming and
frustrating I worked out pretty early on
that I couldn't just roll up the machine
pull a shot and walk away because the
moment I pulled a shot well there was
something that I wanted to understand
more or change or tweak and lo and
behold 15 20 shots later I was like ok I
have to stop this now and go and do the
thing I meant to be doing so it will
draw you in and that can be you know
frustrating and I had this issue early
days with things like pressure profiling
now where you know suddenly all of this
possibility meant loads of
experimentation but my coffee didn't
taste any better and actually coffee
making that was already difficult got a
little bit more difficult so
that side of it can be a little bit much
it's taken me a while to sort of think
the way the machine wants me to think
and you know I've used such different
equipment for a long time that you know
the funny noises it makes as the group
head comes up to temperature
and that can stuff at the start of the
shot and just that they're kind of
different noises the pump makes and all
that kind of stuff it catches me off
guard a little bit and I think if you're
used to a certain type of experience
that will catch you off guard too I
don't think it's a bad thing that the
machine is a little bit noisy but it's
definitely something to consider
let's summarize with a few different
points can this make great coffee
undeniably yes I've had some really
interesting really delicious shots from
this I really enjoy the Bluetooth scale
connectivity that works quite well it's
been it's been a lot of fun to use I've
made terrible shots limit but I've made
terrible shots on just about every
machine I've ever owned so everything
that's particularly instructive
there are certainly profiles in the
library that are a little bit kind of
easier softer gentler and they're really
not there for exploration they're there
for just to have an easier experience
but unfortunately I can't go down that
rhythm too excited to interested to play
with other stuff for better or worse and
so who should buy this coffee machine if
you want ease and simplicity in your
life this isn't necessarily the right
machine for you I think in time some
learning will come out of this machine
that will make other machines for future
machines much much easier to use much
more forgiving help improve that were
shot you're gonna make but in the short
term this this is easily an overwhelming
thing and it's for someone who is really
really interested in espresso if you're
making coffee at home that would mean
you want this to absolutely be a hobby
something you want to dedicate time to
and it will be a very rewarding tool for
a hobbyist but it is undeniably that
kind of a machine you should want to be
a part of that community that is there
that is active I think is extremely
worthwhile you're gonna learn a ton and
interact with some really smart
passionate people but but really that's
who this machine is for people who who
really want to get their hands dirty
making espresso everyday who want to
learn him want to experiment and who are
okay with the fact that you know you
might pull some accidentally bad shots
you're gonna end up going through more
coffee with this machine whether you
like it or not you might have a
tremendously good time I know
do but if that's a kind of issue for you
then I would say maybe right now hold
off you know what I mean that's just not
what this is to me really built to do I
think it's worth revisiting this machine
again in the future and the reason being
is that the firmware updates that are
coming out have been substantial as one
recently and definitely I expect to see
increasing potential unlocked inside
this machine as that community begins to
understand what's valuable and what's
not right when it comes to stuff like
flow which is really a whole new
uncharted territory what we need to
understand that a little bit more right
now it's kind of easy for a flow profile
to get off track and the way the machine
compensates for that is is still improve
it for me I've had it where it's kind of
pushed the pressure in the wrong
direction and to try and increase the
flow and that's actually decreased the
flow and and so we've kind of got into a
kind of negative feedback cycle there
and sort of shots have derailed and that
can be a little bit frustrating but that
is one of the things that is improving
I'll probably revisit the machine again
in the future to see what's changed in
both my approach to using it as well as
any potential software changes that are
substantial that have made real
differences to using the machine as
always thank you so much for watching if
you've got thoughts ideas comments
requests leave those in the comments
down below I'd be very interested to
read your thoughts if you're a fellow
decent espresso machine owner does that
match your experience are you having a
similar experience to me some of the
thoughts to me or actually you having a
totally different one I really do want
to hear about it thank you so much for
watching and I hope you had a great day
you