boar_d_laze wrote: I have two grinders at home. One, a Ceado E92, is on demand, the other, a La Cimbali Junior Max Hybrid, has a good, mechanical doser. I prefer using the Ceado because it grinds better tasting shots and is easier to maintain, not because it lacks a doser. A good doser isn't a problem.

Rich, having just read your Ceado E-92 First Impressions and looking at some more information about that grinder, I'm very impressed. I like thinking in terms of a comparison between Compak K10 WBC (doser) vs. Ceado E-92 (on-demand) over simply a Compak K10 vs. E10, because the Compak and Ceado will give difference results in the cup and offer varying user experiences. I'm still leaning towards conicals simply because I know they produce quality results and I can't go wrong starting with a conical burr grinder.

Joe Fish

If you have the counter space and money I say go for a big conical like a K10, Kony, Ceado e-92 or the like.
You probably won't regret it going for a quality grinder like that and the convenience and consistency it can give. (Based on everything I've read about them, no hands-on experience, and reading your replies here and what you're looking for). And if you regret it you can sell later at a small loss.

Btw. if you're not in a rush why not go for used?
These are commercial build quality machines and meant to last a very long time.
With a little patience I bet you could find a 'titan' in good condition at an equal or maybe even lower price than a new Forte.

I certainly hope a K10 is not overkill but now worry my wife will go slightly mental because I actually bought one today...(a demo-used 'Pro Barista', in practically new condition).
Didn't exactly need another grinder but offer was too good to pass by and I've been looking for a used electric conical grinder with a doser for a while and K10 was among top 3 on my list.

It's overkill for sure. But, I love mine. It's so easy to use. And, how about this - we're signing a contract on Monday to convert a 1/2 bath off the kitchen into a coffee nook to house my espresso machines, grinders, brewing devices, green coffees - well, you get the idea. And, of course that means we have to create a new bathroom, so the office will be converted into a master bath. And, it's all on account of a Braun steam "espresso" maker failing about 4 years ago. Let's see, $2000 for espresso machine, $600 for another espresso machine, $250 for a used Pietro grinder, $1000 for a used K10 PB, many dollars for various brewing devices and now $XXXXX.XX for remodeling. Oh, and then there's the roasting. How can I justify it? Well, I don't smoke, drink or play golf. That's the best I can do.

RedMan wrote:Btw. if you're not in a rush why not go for used?
These are commercial build quality machines and meant to last a very long time.
With a little patience I bet you could find a 'titan' in good condition at an equal or maybe even lower price than a new Forte.

Yea I'm in no rush... so I'm going to keep my eyes out for local deals. Good luck with the wife and the K10

bean2friends wrote:Let's see, $2000 for espresso machine, $600 for another espresso machine, $250 for a used Pietro grinder, $1000 for a used K10 PB, many dollars for various brewing devices and now $XXXXX.XX for remodeling. Oh, and then there's the roasting. How can I justify it? Well, I don't smoke, drink or play golf. That's the best I can do.

I'm not going to lie - I've already purchased a water filtration system for plumbed-in operation, scale, upgraded my kitchen island circuit to 20 Amp, and have the counter-space reserved for my soon-to-exist espresso setup. I have my first espresso blends lined up I'm going to try from the local roaster, and have some Illy espresso and cappuccino cups a phone call away... Yup, my kitchen will be taken over!!

Joe Fish

Any way you go with this, you will end up with the Compak K-10. Most probably the doser model, unless you are OK with throwing away half of every bag of beans you'd buy.

You'll see..

"If you are only pulling a couple shots a day; say one in the morning & one in the afternoon, you'd be purging the grinder twice each day. At this rate you would be throwing away close to half of every bag of coffee you buy or roast. If that doesn't bother you go with a hopper fed or On Demand style grinder. If it does get a grinder suitable to single dosing like the K10 P/B."


One thing i would say about purging, although i may be commiting a coffee crime here, is we never waste any of our purgings or missed grinds mistakes etc, what we do with them is tip them into a bag and then into a sealed jar and use them as and when we want to in the French Press, it may not be freshly ground or to the correct coursness but we still enjoy a far superior cup of coffee than you will get in over 90% of the bars and cafes out there

Londonplug wrote:One thing i would say about purging, although i may be commiting a coffee crime here, is we never waste any of our purgings or missed grinds mistakes etc, what we do with them is tip them into a bag and then into a sealed jar and use them as and when we want to in the French Press, it may not be freshly ground or to the correct coursness but we still enjoy a far superior cup of coffee than you will get in over 90% of the bars and cafes out there

French press using stale coffee ground for espresso?

We need an emoticon showing queasy disgust.

"French press using stale coffee ground for espresso?

We need an emoticon showing queasy disgust."

Well not perfect, but not too bad when you want to make a quick drink in a hurry without the fuss. and as i said it still tastes better than most that you would go out and pay for, Could get worse i see some people purge their stale grinds into the first shot that gets given to the wife LOL

I just got a K10, upgrading from a Mazzer Mini. I'd never single dosed before, i was just running the hopper with about 200g of coffee in it. No big deal, a little purge in the morning and maybe a wasted double shot when changing grind settings.

I wanted the E10 (on demand version of the K10) to keep doing my thing you know, and also because it looks cool. But in the end, i chickened out and got the K10 PB to avoid electronic gremlins and the such.

It turns out the K10 PB with a full hopper is just to darn fast for me. I regularly overshoot my grind time and end up with unused coffee in the doser and when i'm trying to dial in a coffee, i burn through half the bag before i get it right. Now i could argue that this is all due to the grinder not being broken in yet, but we could also argue that i lack talent.

In the end, i've resorted to single dosing and... i like it. Never overshoot, easy grind change with the chamber empty. New chute design is easy to clean. La la land really.

So my take on the big conical on-demand versus mechanical doser is this:

- Get the on-demand grinder, fill up the doser and live with the purges and grind adjustment "waste"
- Get the mechanical doser grinder and single dose

There, i just settled it, delete all those other 25 page long threads on the subject.

Londonplug wrote:
One thing i would say about purging, although i may be commiting a coffee crime here, is we never waste any of our purgings or missed grinds mistakes etc, what we do with them is tip them into a bag and then into a sealed jar and use them as and when we want to in the French Press, it may not be freshly ground or to the correct coursness but we still enjoy a far superior cup of coffee than you will get in over 90% of the bars and cafes out there

I save the purgings to give to my son. I always give him a bag of some freshly roasted coffee at the same time. He allows that he prefers the freshly roasted, but he uses both and just adds more adulterators to the leftover stuff.

DickC