If I were to spend €2500 on an espresso machine again, it would be for a Decent Espresso Machine. What is delivered here is a coffee playground that has no equal. The Decent Espresso Machine could be as disruptive to the ambitious home market, roasteries, and even gastronomic concepts as the Ikawa turned the market for sample roasters upside down.
This article was created after a 4-hour test of the Decent. Patrizio Frigeri visited us at the Coffee Academy and walked us through the different functions. Patrizio is a two-time Swiss vice barista champion (2012, 2013) and works as an engineer and roaster. For the past six months, he has been pulling his espresso with the Decent.
Appearance, Basic Equipment, and Options
The Decent arrived complete with its own carrying case, including all necessary tools. Anyone who has ever loaded or reloaded a professional home machine like the La Marzocco GS3 will miss their workout or turn green with envy. The machine is assembled in just a few steps.
Included: an Android tablet for control, though the software can also be installed on your own hardware.
Two burnt ceramic bowls serve as the water reservoir and drip tray. One might argue that these are less stable than a plastic container. But who hasn't wondered, when using a Dalla Corte Mini, how to clean the plastic water tank there!? The ceramic bowls are open and naturally dishwasher safe.
A handle screwed on the front of the machine solves a problem – it compensates for the machine's low weight. Lightweight espresso machines often rotate while you're portafiltering.
Finally, a scale that connects via Bluetooth to the tablet and espresso machine. We use this later to calibrate milk pitchers and control the machine.
The machine comes in various versions. The DE1+ variant is intended for private household use. The Decent Espresso DE1Pro targets offices, home baristas, and restaurants. With additional components, the machine can be connected as the DE1XL model to mains water and external boilers, making it ready for heavier commercial use.
The machine measures 22.5 cm wide, 42.5 cm tall including the panel, and 48.3 cm deep when including the protruding handles of the holder and portafilter. The machine weighs 13 kg and is delivered in a matching case.
The housing is entirely metal and well-crafted. The portafilters and baskets are, unlike many high-end dual-boiler machines in the price range above €2000, extremely precise and microscopically inspected. Professional tampers of size 58.5 can be used.
The First Espresso – What's That Rattling?
Technologically, we still have a lot to mention to describe the machine fully. But before we get lost in those depths, we pull the first espresso.
It rattles, stutters, and makes sounds we've never heard from an espresso machine. What is that? Every vibration pump is loud. But the sounds from the Decent are unusual. It sounds the way specialty espresso tastes if you're used to dark, Italian espressos. But today we don't want to win an acoustics award; we want to evaluate coffee. Incidentally, the reason for the sounds is that the phase angle control doesn't put the vibration pump under full load but rather engages it according to the desired pressure curve.
We brew a "classic Italian espresso". But we could also follow the profile of a lever machine or leave familiar paths entirely. With the control software, you can build practically any pressure profile of any espresso machine.
In just a few steps, you can change or disable the pre-infusion time. We start with a rising curve to 4 bar and then continue with a pressure of 9 bar.
For espresso, we use our filter coffee Alessandro. It's roasted quite light and tastes far too sour with this profile. Classically, we would now start adjusting the grind size with a "normal" espresso machine, changing the brewing ratio, or switching the coffee. Not so with the Decent.
Switching Profiles Instead of Switching Grinders
Of course, we can also work classically with the Decent. If we continue with the "filter coffee", we could, for example, grind coarser and switch from a beverage ratio of 1:2.5 (20 grams of coffee in the portafilter, 50 grams of espresso) to 1:3 (20 g in and 60 g out). Adjusting the brewing temperature could also help if the espresso machine allows it.
With the Decent Espresso Machine, we change our approach. We switch from a pressure profile to a flow profile.
Pressure Profile vs. Flow Profile in an Espresso Machine
Most espresso machines work with constant pressure over the brewing time, e.g. 8 or 9 bar. Some have a kind of pre-infusion due to their design. Pressure profile machines allow you to control the pressure during brewing. This principle exists in espresso machines for the home market, like the La Marzocco GS3 MP, and of course in commercial machines.
The Decent allows a different kind of control, namely flow control or flow rate control on the output. Instead of controlling the pressure, it is adjusted to the effective output speed. If water flows too quickly through the coffee bed, either because the grind isn't fine enough or Channeling occurs, the machine reduces the pressure. This results in less aggressive extraction and increases the likelihood that the espresso is more enjoyable than it would have been with a "normal" pressure profile.
The machine essentially compensates for imperfect grind size or sloppy leveling and tamping. Of course, it can only do this partially, and clean coffee preparation is equally essential for really good coffee to emerge.
Blended Water and Temperature in Decent
Directly above the shower, the Decent controls the water temperature. A built-in temperature sensor constantly communicates with the software and adjusts the mixture of hot and cold water to the desired temperature. This is the only way the Decent principle works: controlling and anticipating the templates. Andere Espresso machines install control shortly after the boiler or thermo-unit and programmieren via standard deviation account for expected heat loss until the water outlet to set the temperature.
The Decent has two thermo-blocks installed, one for brewing water and one for steaming milk. This doesn't happen simultaneously, by the way, because the pump used is fully occupied in both cases. The thermo-block principle has advantages and disadvantages. Advantages include that no large water tank needs to be heated, making them more energy-efficient and ready for use faster (about 5 minutes for the Decent until the first espresso). The disadvantage is often temperature stability. But this is less due to the thermo-block itself than the fact that these are often installed in cheaper machines and compromises are made on temperature control units and sensors.
Decent follows a similar approach as Sage and demonstrates what's possible when you don't let a thermo-block heat on its own but flank it with sensible tools. Used this way, I think there's a lot to suggest that the thermo-block and related systems (thick film heaters) will displace boiler systems as the supposed crown jewel of home espresso machines.
Play with Me – Set and Save Profiles
The machine's adjustment options are virtually limitless. We brewed an espresso with a brewing time of 50 seconds. It was really delicious. Scott Rao, a virtuoso in extraction matters, writes in his Blog about extensive brewing pauses that he inserts in the middle of espresso brewing. This is reminiscent of brewing filter coffee, where you also incorporate a degassing or bloom pause.
The possibilities with the Decent in terms of flow, pressure, and temperature are so enormous that you can easily get lost. Fortunately, on one hand, you can fall back on pre-programmed profiles, and on the other, you can consult the community, which I'll discuss further below.
For control, the Bluetooth scale also plays an important role, communicating with the software and weighing the actual espresso amount in the cup. The scale is robust and part of the machine package. The scale is similar in function to an Acaia but looks more like a coarser tool aesthetically. I accidentally dropped it on the floor, which didn't cause any lasting damage. The scale enables volumetric control. For example, if 40 grams of espresso is in the cups, the scale sends a stop command to the espresso machine.
Milk Steaming Works Well Too
If you've just spent many weeks developing a new brewing profile, you might be less interested in the Decent Espresso's milk steaming capability. But here too, the machine does a good job. Thanks to its own heater, steaming can begin immediately after brewing (not in parallel due to pump capacity).
The Bluetooth scale comes into play again here. The pitcher size for different pitchers can be programmed. Then you place your milk volume on the scale. Based on your own preferences, a steaming duration can be programmed. Optionally, a temperature sensor can be used that also communicates with the software.
In our case, we simply positioned the pitcher once and inserted the steam wand into the milk. The machine then steamed the milk to a silky, latte-art-capable foam. This was slightly too voluminous for Philipp's preference, though we didn't make any fine adjustments.
Community and the Decent Diaspora
A highlight of the Decent is certainly the community that congregates on a Basecamp platform. Many users as well as founder John Buckmann provide direct feedback to users and support with problems and challenges. Some users, like Damian Brakel or Scott Rao contribute to knowledge sharing, profiles, and further developments. The software has open programming interfaces, and so many mods and skins are available that provide individual views and functions for the machine.
Errors and improvement possibilities are also collected on the platform. As a result, Decent has now developed further builds and hardware updates itself, such as a grinder stand that weighs the weight of ground coffee and feeds it into the software.
Sharing profiles is reminiscent of the Ikawa principle or also Artisan. In both cases, roasting profiles can be shared with a community and advance everyone.
Pros and Cons and Conclusion
As you can see from the article, I was enthusiastic about the possibilities the Decent offers me. The variety of functions is gigantic and the playground enormous. Possibilities can also overwhelm. The machine is only suitable for you if you can also ignore options.
If you're looking for pure, simple functionality and ideally just one button, this machine isn't right for you. If you don't appreciate digital formats, you won't be happy with the Decent at the moment either. If you're placing the machine in a museum or in a noise-sensitive environment, the acoustics will probably be problematic.
If you want to learn something about espresso, challenge yourself, and perhaps discover something new, the Decent is a great step. For coffee schools, roasteries, and coffee aficionados, I can't imagine a better espresso machine in terms of value for money.
As coffee makers, we'll put one of these machines in the school and incorporate it into our courses. In addition, we can then write some more videos and tests and guides on espresso extraction for you.
To the Decent Espresso website: https://decentespresso.com/
From the failed ZPM Kickstarter to Decent Espresso. Article in Barista Magazine.
We have no financial connection with Decent. As always, we write, test, and tinker freely, in this case after testing the machine of our friend Patrizio Frigeri, a passionate user of the Decent Espresso.
