Hi - there are times to point at your ES1. But many times - as I continue to learn - it’s either my own inconsistency or not reproducing my workflow. What brings me comfort is reading/watching/learning to help learn how to improve my approach. IMHO a great reading and visual resource is here. Hope this helps others.
Hi - I feel like this happens to me more often than not…and happened today while I was sprucing up my workstation and doing some cleaning of the ES1. Just by “rocking” (rotating) the dial? You can currently wake your ES1 from sleep.
The proposal? Make this a customization where we have a choice to:
a) press the dial,
b) disable the dial, or
c) set it back to default of any movement.
That would support us cleaning up and around the dial and the small viewer without a high chance of turning the machine on when we rotate the dial a click.
Please save me from feeling more clumsy (than I am) when all I am doing is cleaning up.
Red Rooster Coffee Roaster ES1 Review
Hiya everyone. Ok - I have something to admit. I have been rather addicted to seeing how “da pros” are thinking about the ES1 over the last few weeks on YT. In some ways? It makes me feel better that a lot of folks are doing the same thing that I did. Let me explain.
So an observation on what I find interesting is how the seasoned barista as well as the home enthusiast (well and I can almost guarantee you a noobie) will pull a first shot to encounter some of the same challenge. I do have a professional explanation, but first the observations
The two challenges I see with the first experience:
- Many do not want to slow down and read everything or review all resources before starting
- We get a short first shot
We then go a few different ways - and this video illustrates in summary “keep trying…and go down the rabbit hole until you stumble into the right mix of settings”. I think I counted 6? Shots in and the barista gets a desired result.
And so the professional explanation for the miss that is happening is from the lens of how adult learners actually learn. Many (not all) want to go down the path of experience first (or experiential learning).
Now the business I happen to be in? Which involves a level of instructional design also knows that if you miss on any portion of the experience? You can instantly lose the learner. But in this case the learner just also paid a pretty heavy sum so there is an inherent value (if you will) for the person to keep trying. In this case? The barista finally gets it. And yeah many of us will eventually get it. But we are taking some real time to get there. And we are going to get dissatisfied.
What many will resolve towards is another thing I learned in my travels in teaching people is the waeftri (pronounced wave-tree) which is “when all else fails, try reading instructions”. And a person may or may not know where to find great resources like Reddit (and this sub) or other media where they can get the detail they need to continue.
What I am going to suggest to you Fellow? As literally a fan of your products? Is that this disconnect is not a consumer issue. Please consider two proposals:
- change the workflow of how the product is currently shipping and support the machine being delivered with the volumetric settings off
- change your instructions on how to pull your first shot
This will only make the many? Have more success on a first try and boost your UX (user experience).
Thanks for listening to the rant…
https://youtu.be/bohqiGacNTs?si=gRqWq-BM3Kn1CG-3
A hat tip to (a very brave) Jacob Salamon for tearing down an ES1. Thank you for the careful disassembly.
Note: Personally? I wouldn’t recommend doing this (even if you are someone that has taken the chassis off of a computer or a piece of tech before)…only because I wouldn’t want anyone to void a warranty. That said I figure to share it in one of the places that has one of the better repositories of information about our favorite new machines on our coffee bar.
My personal observation - I was happy to see a neat way to potentially develop a method to switch out the chassis for another without absolutely making a hot mess.