John went into his first 10-minute challenge completely unprepared and averaged 1 espresso a minute. Total: 10 espressos in 10 minutes, using two DE1XL and one Niche grinder.

Due to having no consistent workflow at all, he never managed to have both machines running. So using two DE1XL didn't bring any benefits at all. Among other things, the cups weren't in reach so the setup wasn't ideal either. In other words: John's choke points were his inconsistent workflow and the setup.

In his second 10-minute challenge, John prepared as many lattes as possible on two DE1XL, using one Niche grinder. Due to workflow issues, he managed to make only 5 drinks in 10 minutes and spilled one drink. As in the previous challenge, the choke points lay in John's lack or inconsistent workflow and a lot of mistakes (such as forgetting to hit "start" or spilling a drink). Also, the grinder was too slow. This time, John had the cups in reach, though, so he had improved at least one part of his setup.

The third 10-minute challenge brought a big surprise: John was nearly as fast one one single DE1XL as he was on two. He managed to make 9 double espressos in 10 minutes. Since John was used to working with one machine, workflow was no issue in this challenge. Instead, the weighing and grinding process was slowing him down the most now.

Making as many lattes as possible on one DE1XL, using one Niche grinder, was the goal of the fourth 10-minute challenge. The biggest surprise was that John managed to make as many lattes on one machine as he'd made previously on two. In fact, he was more likely to make errors when using two machines. The main lesson he learned in this video was that he should start the next espresso brewing before he pours the milk to make the latte art. Furthermore, John contemplated using two Niche grinders to always have another portafilter ready to go. In other words: there was room for improvement by adapting the setup and the workflow.

One DE1XL, two Niche grinders, pre-weighed bean doses and plenty of portafilters is what John's setup looked like in the fifth 10-minute challenge. Applying all the learnings from previous challenges, he managed to make 17 espressos in 10 minutes, which equates to 102 espressos an hour. He even only had one Niche running for a time and made a few other minor mistakes, meaning that he could have cranked out even more coffees if he had done everything flawlessly.

In the sixth 10-minute challenge, John tested how many lattes he could make together with Paul on two DE1XL machines, using one for espresso and the other for steaming. Unfortunately, he had only one portafilter. So he had to wait for the brewing process to finish before he could prepare the next, which slowed him down. Using two portafilters would have been ideal. None the less, they managed to make 9 lattes in 10 minutes, which equates to 54 potential lattes an hour, which is faster than many cafés.