So I'm leaning towards buying a Linea Mini currently, and using the "savings" from not buying a GS3 towards a new grinder. Seems like the Mahlkonig K30, Peak, and Macap M7 all have their adherents on here. Or should I look at Mazzer Robur?

I have plenty of space, height and width. I like drinking Full city+ Ethiopians mixed with Brazilians. Not interested in hand grinding, I have one. Current grinders are Cimbali hybrid, Mazzer mini, Rancilio Rocky.

I'd rather buy the K30, of course, if there isn't a huge difference in my usage - I do drink SO, but not light roastings, which are way too sharp for me. Don't like channeling, but who does?

I purchased a Linea Mini and had the same question. I have a La Cimbali Jr and prior a Mazzer Mini. Decided that because of single dosing, I would purchase an HG One. The HG One does produce nice fluffy grinds and produces a good shot, however I really don't like the manual grinding and plan on offering it for sale. I purchased a Fiorenzato F4 as Chris Coffee had a promotion when purchasing the Mini and I thought it would make a good 2nd grinder for my wife's drip and other uses. Turns out, I really like the grinder and it doses easily and nicely directly into the portafilter and give as good as the HG One. I have decided, it may not be worth it to purchase a K30 for my limited personal use? (I wonder if the HG One grind compares to the grinders you mention as it would be a good benchmark for me?!)

I am not sure whether you prefer a flat or conical grinder but if you want a terrific 83mm big flat, take a look at the Ceado E37s. 1st Line also carriers the E92 conical which I believe is 71mm. They are both very easy to maintain and the E37s retains around 8 grams, the E92 has much more but it comes with the territory of owning one these beasts. The HG1 is excellent if you don't mind hand cranking for your shots.

I have a Compak K10PB with my Mini and it works great. If you don't mind using a doser, it's one of the best values around at about $1,500 for a titan class conical grinder. The electronic doserless one looks nice too, for about $500 more.

I'm not sure whether I prefer flat or conical at this level either - seems to be a lot of back and forth here on which is better, or really, at the upper end, if it even matters... (my interpretation).

I'd prefer a grinder that doesn't trap grinds in random annoying places, at which the Cimbali is a master.

I think I have mixed feelings about using a doser - some think, and this makes sense to me, that it decreases clumping? I maybe should make a post about that on grinders.

jeffb wrote:I purchased a Linea Mini and had the same question. I have a La Cimbali Jr and prior a Mazzer Mini. Decided that because of single dosing, I would purchase an HG One. The HG One does produce nice fluffy grinds and produces a good shot, however I really don't like the manual grinding and plan on offering it for sale. I purchased a Fiorenzato F4 as Chris Coffee had a promotion when purchasing the Mini and I thought it would make a good 2nd grinder for my wife's drip and other uses. Turns out, I really like the grinder and it doses easily and nicely directly into the portafilter and give as good as the HG One. I have decided, it may not be worth it to purchase a K30 for my limited personal use? (I wonder if the HG One grind compares to the grinders you mention as it would be a good benchmark for me?!)

That Chris's recommends the F4 for use with the Linea Mini says a lot, considering they sell plenty of far more expensive grinders that someone purchasing a mini would probably be willing to buy. It looks like a very nice and civilized grinder that is "practical." (Well, as practical as anything can be when considering how immensely impractical the quest for ideal espresso is.) The Mahlkonig is a 64 flat, why should it be that much better than the F4 58mm flat?

I used to own a Cimbali Max grinder, and I agree that it was very messy and tended to accumulate grounds in hard-to-reach places. It was also noisy, ugly, and seemed a bit cheaply made. I didn't feel like the improvement in flavor was so great as to warrant the downsides. I wasn't sorry to see it go.

The Compak is vastly nicer in pretty much every way. Quiet, fast, and not very messy. It's also easy to clean out the doser and chute, provided you remove the finger guard. It also brings out some amazing flavors from the coffee - most agree it's as good as any grinder on the market, including ones costing considerably more, assuming you like the flavor profiles that big conical grinders tend to emphasize.

There is no right answer about whether dosers are better than doserless grinders. Dosers can help break up clumps, but they seem a bit clunky to me. Doserless grinders appeal to me as being simpler and easier to use in theory, but are frequently messy and prone to high grind retention and clumping in reality. Personally, I'd rather not have a doser if I could have a doserless Titan style grinder that wasn't messy or subject to high retention and clumping, and that didn't cost the earth. The Mythos sounds excellent, but it's too big and expensive for my tastes. I actually really like the Vario - obviously the price and size are much friendlier, but it isn't in the same league as the other big grinders in terms of taste or build quality. The doserless Compaks seem nice, but I'm not sure how much coffee they retain in those chutes. For the money, the dosered Compak K10 PB is the best compromise from my point of view.

KmanChu wrote:The Mahlkonig is a 64 flat, why should it be that much better than the F4 58mm flat?

Apart from the 65mm burrs having a lot more useable surface then the 58mm burrs there are quite some things that sets these two grinders apart.

The whole grinder as well as the burrs are machined in their own factory, specialized in making grinders to the extremely high German engineering standard. Sure, some German companies mess about with test results from time to time (VW joke), but the k30 vario is a proven commercial workhorse with its reputation proven worldwide. Things like threadplay, machining tolerances and (electrical)component longlivety come into play aswel.

The Italian fiorenzato, uses "off the shelf" burrs and other parts produced and used in masses with cost efficiency as one of the main targets.
Comparing this to a average 64mm flatburr grinder I'd say it wouldn't matter as much, but I think the general consensus on this forum is that the k30 by mahlkonig is outperforming its class/burrset.

I'm not saying the fiorenzato is bad, and in fact it will probably do more then fine next to a linea mini in a home- or even light commercial setting.
Its just not anywhere near a k30vario which is probably capable of keeping two or even three linea minis pulling shots without breaking a sweat...

Beezer wrote:I used to own a Cimbali Max grinder, and I agree that it was very messy and tended to accumulate grounds in hard-to-reach places. It was also noisy, ugly, and seemed a bit cheaply made. I didn't feel like the improvement in flavor was so great as to warrant the downsides. I wasn't sorry to see it go.

The Compak is vastly nicer in pretty much every way. Quiet, fast, and not very messy. It's also easy to clean out the doser and chute, provided you remove the finger guard. It also brings out some amazing flavors from the coffee - most agree it's as good as any grinder on the market, including ones costing considerably more, assuming you like the flavor profiles that big conical grinders tend to emphasize.

There is no right answer about whether dosers are better than doserless grinders. Dosers can help break up clumps, but they seem a bit clunky to me. Doserless grinders appeal to me as being simpler and easier to use in theory, but are frequently messy and prone to high grind retention and clumping in reality. Personally, I'd rather not have a doser if I could have a doserless Titan style grinder that wasn't messy or subject to high retention and clumping, and that didn't cost the earth. The Mythos sounds excellent, but it's too big and expensive for my tastes. I actually really like the Vario - obviously the price and size are much friendlier, but it isn't in the same league as the other big grinders in terms of taste or build quality. The doserless Compaks seem nice, but I'm not sure how much coffee they retain in those chutes. For the money, the dosered Compak K10 PB is the best compromise from my point of view.

Yeah, this is prettty much exactly my thought process. How much coffee does the compak with the doser retain? And what's your daily usage/cleaning regime?

I like dosers, as long as they don't retain stale grinds in a noticeable way. Which is the obvious bugaboo... And I'd prefer not to waste coffee on a pre run in the morning to get fresh in there, though thats not the end of the world.

If you single dose, do the few simple mods I posted on H-B back in 2010(?) & don't mind sweeping out the chute your loss from each dose run through the K10 PB will be one or two tenths of a gram. You will lose more the first few times you use it or after a cleaning as you are filling up the nooks & crannies in the burr chamber. Each morning I usually run the grinder with my vac attachment over the chute outlet to clear out any loose day old grounds. This will pull out grounds from some of those spots so I add an extra gram to the first dose.

I run my K10 through a foot switch so hands are free. I typically start clearing the chute when the actual grinding noise subsides & let the grinder run until the chute is clear. I'll do one bump & sweep after that but little comes out.