We’ve been in love with Slayer for some time. Our first post at The Compass featured Sunergos Coffee’s downtown espresso-focused concept shop, which boasts the first Slayer ever installed in Kentucky. Photographer Brian Moats’s snapshots of Barista Parlor’s machine made us feel strangely patriotic (perhaps because Slayer espresso machines are designed and built in the USA). And Slayer’s recently released single group machine had us wishing the limit on our credit card was slightly higher. Given our long time crush, we couldn’t be anymore giddy to welcome Slayer to our growing list of sponsors. To commemorate this momentous occasion (for us anyway), we’ve curated a list of our favorite customized Slayer espresso machines.
Ström Coffee
With rivets evocative of America’s most famous propaganda icon and bright orange accents that demand your attention, Ström Coffee’s 2 group Slayer is one of the boldest we’ve seen. The fact that Ström is located inside a remodeled Airstream trailer is too perfect. If Kinfolk hasn’t found out about this place yet, they should.
Anonymous
No, this elaborate piece of customization isn’t going to the infamous hacker group, but a high-profile client that prefers to remain incognito. Ironically, the theme of this 3-group machine is transparency, with the 12 liter boiler clearly visible in neon green. Maybe one day we’ll be important enough to see this elegant beast in person.
This Single Group Machine
Did we mention we love Slayer’s brand new single group espresso machine? Admittedly, we’ve never actually touched one, but we saw one at SCAA and we would be more than happy to lend our opinion anytime Slayer wants to send one our way (please?!?). If you’re looking for a customization, it’s hard to do better than this copper and white ash combo. Just look at it! Wood grain like that belongs on a Louisville Slugger. We expect these machines will start to pop up in restaurants, coffee labs, and enthusiasts’s kitchens everywhere.
I can’t taste “cool” unfortunately. Never found a place that replaced a La Marz with one of these babies and the quality in the cup ever improved any. (Usually, they got worse for a while as baristas tried to dial in on new equipment.)
This argument is unfounded. Slayer is more than a boutique piece of eye candy for the trendy. Slayer offers the barista more control over important variables than any machine that has preceeded it, leaving the responsibility of creating a “cool” shot of espresso in the hands of its user. Espresso machines don’t make coffee. People do. Only a lack of understanding of Slayers’ innovative concepts will result in lack-luster results.