It always amazes me that people think too widely spaced grinder detents are a fatal flaw. For the 558th time, start the grind at the finer detent, turn it one step coarser halfway through. It's annoying, but not fatal.

I would advise against the Mini, since it's a step sideways rather than up. Every Italian and Spanish grinder manufacturer makes a top-end home grinder with a flat burr between 54mm and 58mm. I know of at least 9 models. The MDF is the Chevy of this family, and the Mini the Mercedes, but they have roughly the same grind quality.

A real step up in taste quality is going to the Super Jolly or any other 64mm burr grinder, which is the basic commercial size. Ebay is your friend for going this route. Again, within this class, there are really civilized grinders, like the Jolly, fairly basic, like the Cimbali Junior or Rossi RR45, and strictly Dodge, like the Cunill, with prices to match.

The other, somewhat surprising choice is to go cheaper. The conical burr grinders, costing around $200 to $250, made by Nemox, Lelit, Pavoni, and Ascaso, which use an excellent burr set made by Trespade, produce a grind that is equal or maybe a hair better than those of the basic commercial grinders. They are noisy and a pain in the butt (although the Lelit and Ascaso are said to be fairly civilized), but they produce excellent quality.

That's the first time I've ever heard someone saying that the MDF and the Mini are on the same level. That seems like a pretty big stretch to me. The build quality and adjustability of the Mazzer is vastly superior to the MDF. While I imagine that the Super Jolly is somewhat better than the Mini, the Mini is certainly a big step up from the MDF. Of course, if you can find a used Super Jolly for less than the cost of the Mini, then by all means go for it.

Other good grinders in that price range would be the Macap M4 stepless, La Cimbali Junior, and Compak K3. Right now, I believe the Compak is the lowest priced of these choices, so it might be the best bang for the buck.

Suzanne,

When it comes to many "things" surrounding the making of espresso, they are merely "tools" to help you learn and/or "double-checks" to make sure you haven't picked up any bad habits. A bottomless portafilter is one such tool. So, too, is a scale that weighs in 0.1 g. increments, or one-tenth of a gram, such as this one for example. Just as a bottomless portafilter can help you with even leveling and tamping of the basket itself, a scale will help you to know the weight of your dose -- whether you make a "classic" 14g double, or "updose" to 16, 17, or even 18 grams for a double. I consider both to be necessary tools, but not something -- once you get the hang of it -- to use everyday.

I'm not actually sure if WLL sells bottomless portafilters (pf); the link I provided you with in my earlier post is to Espresso Parts NW, who will sell you a bottomless pf, or turn a pf your already own into a "naked" one.

Cheers,
Jason

zin1953 wrote:So, too, is a scale that weighs in 0.1 g. increments, or one-tenth of a gram, such as this one for example.

There are better and less expensive choices on eBay as suggested in Digital scale deals.

I agree, Dan (and Suzanne, you definitely should shop around!), but this is the scale I have, which may or may not be available on eBay, and I wanted to illustrate a scale that measures 0.1 grams.

Thanks you guys. I appreciate all of that. It's really good to know I have a place to come when I have questions and need answers. This is obviously the place to get those answers.

I will research all of those options, especially for a new grinder, because that is definitely something I've known for a while that I need to upgrade, but after spending $1,000 for my Expobar machine, I need to wait a little while longer.

Thanks again guys!