My problem is I don't upgrade, I add. I never sell the old stuff, it just accumulates in the basement!

Great points. What is the real difference? The burrs are practically the same, save the size. If I had to guess, I wouldn't have thought the SJ was even a close 2nd to the Robur, as the Robur has a conical burr.

Any idea?

For the record, I didn't think the Mini was even remotely close to the Robur, while the SJ was. However, the other Titan reviewers thought the SJ was just as good as any of the big conicals, and on that I disagree; to me the Cimbali Max and all the commercial conicals were a slight but definite step up from the SJ. I advise a buyer with that budget level to go with the Ebay SJ rather than a new or Ebay Mini.

I moved from an endless chain of bad grinders and $200 home machines to an SL70 & Innova conical, then a Tea and Mini, now a Semi and Compak. I'd recommend any of these setups (although a used SJ is better idea than the Mini). There were detours through Solis, Isomac, and Versalab grinders, none of which I'd recommend. More controversially, a recent stint with a PIDed pair of Silvias as a two group test machine left me much colder than I expected. The Silvia gives shots with the body of a commercial espresso machine, but with very poor taste clarity, worse than many other home machines. I would not recommend it as a starter machine for people primarily interested in coffee taste. I'd spend the extra few hundred and go straight to an Expobar, Bezzera, or Oscar as a starter machine.

But the main thing that sticks out is that low end equipment either makes it impossible or very difficult to get the nuances of a coffee or to work the taste. So I would advise either going cheap for people who are not sure they are interested in this, or budgeting for commercial gear for those who do.

A consistent 1 point was a huge difference in this competition, since it had WBC style, 0 to 6, scoring, with taste points multiplied by 4. Most of the grinders won or lost by 1 or 1/2 point in just one of the two rounds at each weight, when they performed consistently. The inconsistent grinders always got clobbered in one round. Iirc, this happened to all the non-commercial grinders, including the Versalab. The full commercial Mini did not perform inconsistently, but it did perform consistently worse.

another_jim wrote:However, the other Titan reviewers thought the SJ was just as good as any of the big conicals, and on that I disagree; to me the Cimbali Max and all the commercial conicals were a slight but definite step up from the SJ.

At least one of the TGP reviewers (me) would also disagree. I didn't think any of the other grinders came close to beating the Robur. There did seem to be consensus that conical burrs were more forgiving/easier to dial in/had a larger sweet spot than planar burrs. But I thought the SJ held up quite well in this impressive lineup, and I preferred the SJ taste profile to at least one of the Titan conicals.

Upgraditis is a terminal disease for folks like me, although fortunately not a fatal one. In my case, much of it is driven by curiosity. For example, I'd enjoy owning a PID'd espresso machine at some point, just to experiment with more reproducible brew temps. But I also realize that, above a certain level of gear, the improvements are marginal. I reached that level a couple of years ago with the SJ and the Vetrano.

question for Jim and John (or others who have compared)

what about the Kony ?
since I have a mini now and am looking to upgrade my grinder from my Mini

my pasquini and mini were a great pair but now that I have the Elektra I noticed a huge jump in my shots and am curious if I can squeeze a bit more out of my Elektra A3 with a grinder



I think my upgraditis has been a great step every time and going from a Krupps back in the 80s to a Estro Profi to a Pasquini to now my Elektra A3 each step has been worth it
now the grinder upgrade starts

while I suffer
its a pain I am worth living with and lucky my wife allows it

so the question is whats after my Elektra A3 in about 5 years

I knew this was going to get nasty and good!