I've been waiting impatiently for about a week and today picked up my new grinder! I first read about it here and on CG. There wasn't much info about it, other then it being a 350watt 64mm "Chinese Mazzer." The only person who had used one was Paul Pratt in HK, who bundles them with the La Marzoccos that he sells. Enough of a recommendation for me

The manufacturer (HeyCafe), is in Shanghai, and after many emails and phone calls I bought one from their distributor in Beijing.

My first impressions are really good! It is solid and well designed. I took the burr carrier out and there seemed to be no "money saved" inside, which I was concerned about. I've only pulled one shot so far. It was slightly better (in terms of crema and lack of off tastes) then the best my old grinder has produced, so things are looking good .

Here's a couple of pics-


It towers over my little Caravel!

Unfortunately there was a miscommunication with the distributor and my model doesn't have a timer ... will see what I can do about that!

Henry

Why do you want a timer?

Do you mind if I ask how much it cost? In my travels in China all of the import stuff that I see (usually Saeco) is overpriced but I'm curious to know what it costs to get this Chinese-made grinder in China.

Gotta love those wonderful, sparkling Chinese apartment kitchens.

brad

Hello Brad, it cost about $320. You can buy a Rancilio Rocky here for about $550

I'm not sure if I would really use the timer if I had one, but Paul P. said the designer had improved on the standard Mazzer timer so I wanted to see for myself.

re: Chinese apartments... yea, that 80's concrete and white tile look is nice, huh?

Henry

A great price if the dialing system was well-built and the burrs were machined (and had a good design, which is a must right?). I always say, or may not, but the point is that I always think that the best grinder choices must always be investigated locally. In Saudi Arabia, the best grinder (financially-wise) is the Nuova Simonelli MDX which is sold for almost the same price as the Rocky in your place. I know that Nuova Simonelli is a known Ieetaaliaan manufacturer but I wish I could pay only for the thing, like in your case, rather than paying for the thing and the badge , which effectively doubles the price in my case.

Congratulations for the deal... I am interested to hear more about how it performs, how the burrs look like, and whether it has a practical dialing system or not.

EDIT: By the way, why should they imitate Italian names rather than naming it "ChinChang" or "ChinChong" or whatsoever...

orwa wrote:By the way, why should they imitate Italian names rather than naming it "ChinChang" or "ChinChong" or whatsoever...

I agree... I saw on one US website it stated quite clearly "Laranzato... made in Italy"... which is clearly bs. Of course, the Laranzato brand is just a US re-seller, the actual brand name is "HeyCafe," which if you look at a lot of Asian coffee-related brands (especially Taiwanese) would fit in quite well. Nothing 'Italian-y' about it!

Today I met a big translating deadline and caught a few hours of sunlight! Here are the pics I took-




and...

I took the bottom panel off so I could remove the PF fork (a useless grounds-catcher, as far as I'm concerned...) and snapped that photo of the insides.

I'm liking the design a lot. It's taking me some time to get used to a doser! In spite of that the espresso is flowing well. Much longer shots... blonding takes place much more gradually then I'd become accustomed to. I need more time before I can express how they shots taste differently... all I know now is that the are gooder...;)

Henry

Thank you for sharing, a great grinder for a great price. Good that the little ones from the east are helping the prices down. $300 is really an awesome price for such a grinder, given that some of the KitchenAid ProLines have been sold for such a price, and that the way inferior Nuova Simonelli Grinta is sold for a slightly higher price (can you believe it? the Grinta is a joke, though a serious joke when compared to the ProLine, which in turn is a silly joke).


The Grinta!! Much better in photos than in reality... This is a cheap toy!
(this is the batteries model)

Hi to Henry and Brad,
I was reading your comments and thanks for the compliments.
I am Ilan from Hey Cafe and we are the designers and producers of the HC600.

It should not be a problem to apply any food grade grease on both thread and friction surface between dial and top burr holder in order to improve improve the dial movement.
There should be no concern for back turning of the dial or burr holder as this system was designed with 3 "ears" that are preventing the burrs rotational moment to exceed to the dial.

For any further questions please contact us at the factory. or here at this site.
Factory's telephone numbers can be retrieved from our web site. http://www.heycafe.com

thanks for using our grinder...

ILAN

And Orwa... Orwa too is very interested!

I am serious, I have been chasing grinders for too long, and it doesn't seem that the size of my budget is well-recognized by the Italians. I tried in the past to contact the Taiwanian Flying Eagle brand for that matter but they said I was totally out of their market. Do you think that I can obtain one of these grinders in my place in Saudi Arabia?


EDIT: After reading some of the things written again, I had a doubt that you may have misunderstood some of the things I said, please don't. The part on the Chinese names is a only due to my desire that nations other than the Italians start making espresso equipment and use names that relate to their cultures, which was something explained to me when Henry said that your name is HeyCafe and isn't Laranzato. My lack of chinese terminology in that regard should not be taken negatively. About the other comment, namely that of the little ones from the east, I meant only the humour of a totally different player from a totally different place, and nothing else. That is, I wanted only to emphasize distance.
I only say that for the little chance that you may have misunderstood something I said. If you don't, saying it will not hurt, but if you did, not saying it will .

Heycafe Myster wrote:I am Ilan from Hey Cafe and we are the designers and producers of the HC600.

While the grinder looks quite nice, paint in the threads points to a lack of QC.
What steps are taken to ensure no paint in the threads?

Heycafe Myster wrote:For any further questions please contact us at the factory. or here at this site.

Hello Ilan, thanks for posting here!

I'm also interested in what you have to say about the paint, since it seems it might be related to the stiff grind adjustment. I'm planning on cleaning mine out with paint thinner (while holding the machine upside down!) as mentioned in that thread.

If possible, can you also tell us more about the design? Was it licensed from Mazzer, or is there no patent on the design?

re: timer/ no timer question I mentioned earlier in this thread- I got an email from Harmonie at the company yesterday who told me that the model I received (with a simple on-off switch) is sold for the local Chinese market, while models with the timer are sold to the US (and other?) markets. So besides the switch my grinder should be the same as those sold anywhere else.

Off to practice using the doser

Henry

I am a shamed to say you are right about this point, we had one batch of machines that was stained as the picture is showing, and of course it was already corrected on our assembly line.
you can use paint remover or thinner to easily remove these stains.

To the best of our knowledge there is no patent pending for this particular design.
There are few similar existing designs in the market.

Thread must be accurate and stiff, the reason for that is the top burr holder is "floating" on springs if the thread will be lose and free the top burr holder can "dance" freely while grinding to reduce the grind quality.

ILAN

orwa wrote:Thank you for sharing, a great grinder for a great price. Good that the little ones from the east are helping the prices down. $300 is really an awesome price for such a grinder,

Keep in mind that $320 is the price of the grinder IN CHINA where it is manufactured. It would be more once shipping and duties are factored in for your country.

brad

Yes right but there is a good margin for similar costs while maintaining the viability of the offer. This looks sturdier for example than the MDX which is sold for $560 around and for the chance that the burr is of lower quality I have thoughts that the Super Jolly burrs might be compatible (which I can get original for great price). Anyway even without such a replace I think it's fine, and most importantly... I like red .

Pricing outside China markets (we are currently selling in more than 12 countries) is very competitive taking the machines details (if comparing apple to apple).
The HeyCafe brand is a "made in China" but other than that it is owned and managed by westerns.
Our burrs are fully compatible with Mazzer burrs (64RC hardness) and we can also promise 400-500KG of ground coffee between services.

ILAN

Heycafe Myster wrote:we are the designers and producers of the HC600.

Producers sure... designers?? not so sure...

no offence but... if we're to call you designers for changing product color from gray to red (and reducing price to half), then what we're supposed to call mazzer guys... plain engineers?? maybe...

No offend taken, my friend, wait to see our new models machines to be revealed this October...
Any new industry should start somewhere and we decided to start where the success proven record is already exist (And i would not under estimate the ability to cut the price into half on a product which is not a labor intensive product...moreover if you check the details of our machine you will see some improvements comparing the original design and for sure not just color changing)
Hey cafe is intending to re define grinding concept and our fresh ideas are going to impact the entire industry, I can promise you that.
We hope to contribute to the grinding industry same what Japanese car makers contribute to the car industry.
Memorize the name HeyCafe
Wait and see.



ILAN

Heycafe Myster wrote:To the best of our knowledge there is no patent pending for this particular design.
There are few similar existing designs in the market.

So, I am curious, do you (or anyone else) know if Mazzer holds/still holds a patent for their grinder adjustment, i.e. the spring-mounted upper burr housing that is held down by a super-tightly-threaded adjustment collar? That is the only thing that strikes me as odd. I always assumed that the reason that Macap and other manufacturers don't use that design in their grinders (which IMO is quite superior in terms of both convenience and safety) is because they couldn't, because Mazzer has a patent on that. However, I have no idea if they hold that patent or in which countries it is held...

The floating burr is not under patent; Fiorenzato uses it on their grinders.

Heycafe Myster wrote:(...) wait to see our new models machines to be revealed this October...

Need any help with testing?

Henry