The first indication that a lot of thought had gone into this grinder was the packaging. Most grinders come in a big box with some foam or cardboard at the bottom and top ‘holding’ the grinder in position. The foam encasing was fully surrounding the grinder and inside were three separate compartments, one for the grinder, one for the hopper and another for the portafilter holder. No chance for the components to bash each other and break. The most likely part to break during shipping of a grinder is the hopper, so the packing reassured me that we won’t have too many broken hoppers reaching customers.
Out of the box this thing is small. At only 370mm tall and 125mm wide it is by far the smallest grinder in the home grinder category. The size is perfect for kitchen work tops. If ever your wife (or husband) complains that your coffee grinder is too big on the kitchen worktop then this will keep them happy.
As can be seen on the left photo the at first glance the control panel can look daunting but once you try it out and get used to it its very easy to operate. There are 3 buttons labelled Espresso, Filter and Press, by default they are set at 10, 20 & 30 seconds respectively. They can be individually programmed. They control the amount of time the grinder will run, they don’t adjust the grind, you still need to change the macro setting to your chosen brewing method. There is a little bit of playing around to get your times how you like it then once you have worked your times make a note of them on paper. Because if you unplug the machine it will reset back to factory settings. To set the grind time you just use the up and down arrows to increase or decrease the tome on the display and then keep pressed the button (espresso, filter or press) for 3 seconds and it will programme that button.
There is also a manual option. You press the manual button hit start to start the grinder then start again to stop it.
The Sliding levers on the sides of the control panel move the grinding burrs to adjust your grind. There are 10 macro (right hand slider) settings and 20 micro (left hand slider) settings. One notch on the Macro equals 20 notches on the micro slider. You only need to adjust the micro slider to dial in espresso. When you want to grind for other methods just move the macro slider.
Now for the coffee….
My first instinct with this grinder is that it wouldn’t grind fine enough for espresso. So my first test was to take it to the finest possible setting. I ground and levelled off a Double basket in a La Marzocco portafilter.
I locked it into Joe’s 2 group Synesso Cyncra and turned the paddle to extract and…well nothing. I let the pump try to ram water at 9 Bar through the coffee for 25 seconds but not even a drip of coffee was visible. Well it past that test, it choked a Synesso Cyncra. Impressive. Now id tried to see how much I had to back it off to get the extraction I was looking for 50ml in 25 seconds.
I took the Macro slider back down 3 full settings from the top and the micro slider one up from the coarsest setting.
This is what I ended up with. I’ve levelled the basket but not tamped.
A really nice grind that looked about right. This is what it produced.
This shot produced about 65ml in 25 seconds. A little too course.
To get what I was after, 50ml in 25 seconds, I had to go to the very middle of the left slider and 3 down from the top on the right slider. Here's the result.
Taste was amazing. Joe’s coffee certainly helped on that front but the grinder certainly held up its part of the equation.
So to answer my initial question can it grind fine enough for espresso the answer is a resounding YES!! There even more than enough leeway as the burrs become dull to go finer.
Onto the accessories. The grinder comes with a portafilter holder and a bin for use when grinding for press or drip.
They both slide securely into the grinder, but another nice touch is that it’s not crucial for either one to be in place to start the grinder. Fantastic if you have a naked portafilter or don’t want to use the attachments. The portafilter holder can be adjusted via a screw to adjust for your style of portafilter. The idea is great and it holds your portafilter quiet ingeniously.
A problem with a lot of grinders is grind retention. That is coffee that is left behind in the grinder and will come out when you next grind, but is stale and therefore affect the taste of the coffee. After grinding for 25-30 espresso I wanted to see what the retention was like. Here’s a shot of the chute.
Looks OK there. Id call that nearly zero retention.
Next test was to grind for Drip and Press. I didn’t make any adjustment to the micro slider. All I did was move the macro slider to the positions marked on the grinder corresponding to drip and press. Here the shot for Drip
Nice even grind that could be improved with some adjustment. And the shot for Press.
Could be a little courser for my liking, but I hadn’t moved the micro setting to the most course setting.
Conclusion
This grinder won’t be leaving my kitchen. It makes my wife happy and it makes me happy. It truly is an amazing grinder. The quality of the grinding is first class with the least amount of clumping ive seen from a doserless grinder. It’s a great all round grinder in a small package.
Highly Recommended.
