I'm on the hunt for a top quality grinder that fits under 16'5" cabinets and is convenient to use.
I would like to keep the beans in the hopper and extract shots once or twice a day without too much hassle - ideally no need to declump/WDT, no need to purge coffee, no cleaning up spilled grinds. I'm willing to pay for convenience and quality.

Based on grinder height under 16'5", I'm tempted by:
- Trying to further shorten the hopper of a Ceado E37S
- ECM S-Automatik 64 Burr Grinder
- Nuova Simonelli G60

Yet sounds like all of these have retention issues when used with a hopper - 4-5 gram being stuck in the grinder.

How do you respected home baristi deal with the retention issue?

- Do you accept the staleness? And does this notably degrade the cup?
- Do you purge 4-5 grams before use?
--- And doesn't purging greatly increase the Total Cost of Ownership? Coffee suddenly costs 35% more! Should I buy a better grinder in the first place?
--- Does purging 4-5 grams actually avoid the staleness?
- Do you just pre-measure?
- Or did you buy a grinder without retention issues if used with a hopper? If so which one?

I have a Mazzer Super Jolly Electronic which I have not modified other than to remove the finger guard in the chute. I keep the hopper loaded with beans and purge about nine grams prior to use which seems to be sufficient. I use WDT for the best distribution in a bottomless portafilter.

Rocky

Thanks for sharing your approach, Rocky. Sounds like a solid plan for an especially good cup!

I did some estimates on the cost of the purging approach. Looks a bit pricey in the long run (as in between $419 to $754 for five years) and would love to consider some alternatives before taking that path.

What do others do? Suddenly spending $1k extra on a grinder with minimal retention doesn't sounds at all bad.

The diagram below shows my estimates on the cost of purging:

You either keep a hopper loaded and deal with retention & purging, or get a grinder that can single dose, there is really no in between.

It really comes down to a trade off of sorts between your personal desires for making coffee.

Hudiny wrote:Thanks for sharing your approach, Rocky. Sounds like a solid plan for an especially good cup!

I did some estimates on the cost of the purging approach. Looks a bit pricey in the long run (as in between $419 to $754 for five years) and would love to consider some alternatives before taking that path.

What do others do? Suddenly spending $1k extra on a grinder with minimal retention doesn't sounds at all bad.

The diagram below shows my estimates on the cost of purging:

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You have to even double that (or more) if you make coffee at different points in the day. That appears to assume only making coffee one time.

ALSO, it doesn't factor in lost coffee for grind setting change purges.

The sette 270w has max 2g retention, fits under your cabinets, has an amazing work flow and produces great quality grinds. I don't know of a better grinder for you, plus it's pretty cheap.

In my case the cost of purging coffee can be more expensive. If you drink 3-4 shots per day, you may wish to purge every time. The grinded coffee looses its aroma even during 15 minutes, they say.

Secondly, if you occasionally buy some more expensive coffee, say Yemen Haraaz or Kona or Esperalda Geisha, some of them are $39 per pound. In these cases it just does not seem right to purge, somehow. You need a single dose grinder.

I've got manual grinders with less than 0.1 gram retention

bachampion wrote:The sette 270w has max 2g retention, fits under your cabinets, has an amazing work flow and produces great quality grinds. I don't know of a better grinder for you, plus it's pretty cheap.

That's surprising. I thought it'd be lower. When you say "max," do you mean max retention after a thorough grinder cleaning, or every use will have approximately 2g retention?