Intro
More than a month ago two glorious events happened upon me. First, I received my new grinder, a big conical (68 mm), the Compak K10 WBC. Shortly after that, my trusted dealer (Van Pommeren in Utrecht) gave me a La Marzocco single basket. Using the K10 made me a very satisfied man; therefore I decided to share with you my positive experiences in this post.

Selection
For five years I have been a satisfied Mazzer Mini owner. I had no idea that a better grind quality was even possible. That was until I read the well known threads "the Titan Grinder Project" and "Can it beat the Robur" on Home-Barista.com. Then I realized that the taste of my espresso's could be further improved. But how to choose the right grinder?
Reading and rereading these threads and interpreting plusses and minuses of the tested grinders and comparing the findings with my own requirements, I unfortunately found no clear winner, a grinder that stood out and was unique by having all the qualities I looked for. I hate compromises; I want it all: excellent grind quality, reliable, good service (that never should be needed), neat, no clumping, easy to clean, but also smaller than 60 cm.
Unfortunately, there is no place in my country where I could A-B test high-end grinders of various manufacturers.

Therefore I visited several shops, even a distributor and also several fellow espresso addicts in order to slowly learn more about the subject of top grinders. After tasting espresso's from a lot of different combinations of espresso machines, grinders and espresso blends I unexpectedly found the espresso machine that I wanted (but not searched for) and later bought (the Izzo Alex Duetto). But a grinder? No, they were all different and none made a lasting impression. The doserless ones clumped, some of the dosered ones were messy and none of them had that sweet and pleasant taste I read about in the above mentioned threads. On the contrary, some of the big commercial grinders did not even taste better than my Mini.
So I further studied the subject by reading the relevant posts on all espresso websites and blogs I could find with Google. After some time, I noticed that there were three grinders from my original shortlist that were regularly mentioned by satisfied users: the Mazzer Robur, the Anfim Super Caimano and the Compak K10 WBC. All very different; all with their own set of plus and minus points.
Because I wanted more specific information about hopper alternatives and modification possibilities (Anfim SC: how about making a stepless version and when will there be a conical version, Mazzer Robur: how to remove the auto fill, does the Mini hopper fit and so on), I shot emails to various manufacturers. The only one that answered my email was Compak (even within a day!).

I already read on the various websites that Compak was more customer oriented than others by acting fast on user complaints and offering incremental improvements of the K10 WBC (the plastic fork was replaced with a metal one, the unreliable on/off switch with a sturdy circular one, the integrated doserlid with an easily to remove one - just like the Mini, offering different size hoppers and so on). Their commitment by sponsoring the World Barista Championship and letting the competing barista's use their K10 was a positive factor that confirmed my confidence in this brand.
So I had a good feeling about Compak. Also noticeable was the competitive price. The K10 WBC is far less expensive than the Robur and even less expensive as some medium conicals like the Kony and the MXK. Further, in the mentioned threads I read that these medium class conicals (62 mm) all had a rather bright taste profile, a quality I despise.
Hence I made my dealer happy and ordered a K10 WBC. The dealer gave me the option to choose between three hoppers: the standard one (1,7 kg), the one of the K3 (900 grams) or the short mini (275 grams). I choose the last one, giving my grinder, including hopper, a total height of 48,5 cm. That is so neat, a big conical in a short package. Price paid was Euro 1129,=

Things I do not like
What I do not like in big conicals is their big, difficult to clean chute. Before every session you have to clean the chute to prevent stale grounds mixing in with your fresh ones (about 5 grams in the K10's chute). Cleaning the chute is hindered by a plastic box sitting above the chute. With most big conicals this is the auto fill "feature". With the K10 WBC it is called a "hand protector". Upon questioned, Compak gave me explicit instructions on how to remove the hand protector (and warned me that this hand protector has a function: protecting my safety). Great, thanks for the warning and the removal instruction, problem solved.
Although I prefer dosers because of their more clumpless grounds, most of them leave grounds after the dosing. This is hardly neat. Happily, on the internet there are instructions to be found on improving this. For example on http://www.espresso-passione.com ; see the page "Sweep mod for the K10". By the way, the proprietor of this informative and fine looking website seems to be a nice fellow, sharing his espresso experiences with us in an open and honest way. This is not the typical proud owner defending his buying choices against imagined attacks from others. Therefore I was sorry for him to read that he had to sell his K10 because his better half found the K10 to be too big to deserve a place in the kitchen. Am I naive in thinking that the K10 just looked beautiful standing besides that GS/3? By the way, this is the old model K10 WBC you can see, the one with the integrated doserlid. Unfortunately for him, he downgraded to a Mahlkönig K30. Several times I tasted espresso's ground with a K30 and a K60 (twin hopper); every time I found the taste harsh and bright. If this guy knew then about the three different hopper options Compak offered, he possibly would have bought the short one and had met less female resistance with his K10. Poor guy.

In use
You will not overlook the K10. With the short hopper it looks like a military robot from Star Wars. Short, fat and black. And heavy. And very functional. Its manufacturing quality looks outstanding to me. I think it could outlive me.
Normally I buy espresso beans in kilo packs. After opening a kilo pack, I divide the beans over eight glass jars and the hopper. I place special lids over the jars and suck them vacuum with my little Solis machine. The idea behind this operating procedure is to start each session with relatively fresh beans. Therefore I like the small 275 gram hopper. On average I use between 80 and 120 grams per session.
Working the K10 is a pleasure. With its big motor (760 W) and low RPM (300) the high pitched sawing sound of the Mini was replaced with a pleasantly low sounding roar; like cruising in a V8-equipped saloon. Further, grinder speed is high. Filling the LM single basket takes about three seconds (Mini 14 seconds). It could be me, it could be the K10, but on sight I can grind the exact right portions. No timer is needed.

Taste profile
The first coffee I put in the hopper was the freshly roasted single origin "Big Mexican" by a nearby Dutch roaster named Golden Coffee Box. The name is referring to abnormally large beans. Before I had the Duetto, I never liked single origins. Their taste was sour and too simple for me, lacking the sweet complexity I like so much with the better mid-Italian blends. Because of the Duetto's PID-controlled temperature adjustment possibilities I learned that a lot of the single origins need a higher temperature than a HX-machine standard can provide. This one needs 98°C (offset is 10°C). With the Duetto/Mini combination the "Big Mexican" turned out to be an average nice espresso. With the K10 the taste became much softer, sweeter and new taste layers were revealed, just like a good blend. I was positively surprised. The improvement in taste, mouth feel and after taste was beyond my expectations.
After a week I put Pont Si Senor in the hopper. With the Mini this Spanish blend tasted soft, sweet and a bit sandy, muddy even. Taste layers seemed to flow into each other as one thick muted layer. No, not to my liking. With the K10 taste became much more refined. With a temp of 96°C and use of the LM single basket my wife and I proclaimed this the best espresso we ever tasted. This was like a very, very good Italian blend, exquisitely sophisticated, very different layers and at the same time soft and sweet. What an incredible difference! What a great grinder this K10 seems to be.
And then came the coupe de grace. One of my two favorite blends is Miscela Romcaffè (the other one is Caffè Martella Maximum Class). With a Romcaffè filled portafilter in the group I watched the single spout and saw a very slowly, globby substance bubbling out. It looked like pure and very dense crema. And it kept coming; even after 40 seconds there was no sign of blonding to be seen. Totally amazed I inspected the cup and swallowed the content in one sip. Wow, out of this world. Words like soft, sweet, creamy, rich, foamy, airy, complex, refined seem like a cliche and do not describe my feeling. Interestingly, some of the taste layers had speckles of sweet bitterness. Very nice. Normally I despise bitterness or sourness, dialing in the Duetto just in between. But when harsh bitterness turns into sweet bitterness? I love it. After lowering the temp to 95°C the sweet bitterness disappeared and was replaced with even more intense taste layers; taste aspects like chocolate, caramel and nuts were further deepened. Well, until now I find the combination of Romcaffè, K10, LM single basket and Duetto impossible to describe. The ristretto this combination produces is beyond my most fantastic espresso dreams. A complete new sort of beverage.

Conclusion
Upgrading my VBM Super to a Duetto resulted in improving the quality and especially the consistency of my espresso's in a big way. However, the upgrade of my Mazzer Mini to the K10 turned out to be an even bigger step up in quality, much bigger. Every espresso and ristretto I make is soft, sweet, rich, creamy and clear at the same time. Use of the LM single basket further intensified these qualities, while also making the espresso preparing process less finicky than with even the standard Izzo double basket.
At this moment in time I'm fully satisfied. Finally, after a long search, I think that I have reached my goal: preparing the perfect ristretto, each time I want it, in a simple process without magic tweaks or tricks. I just grind some beans in the single basket, followed with a light tamp with my convex tamper, shoving the portafilter in the group, engaging the pump and, after about 30 seconds, I stare in the cup, seeing a globby, bubbly and liquid gold colored creamy substance, knowing on beforehand that it will taste heavenly with an ultra foamy mouth feel and a long, very pleasant aftertaste. I'm so happy.
It has been written on the internet, time and time again, that the influence of the grinder on the end result is even more important than the espresso machine. Experiencing that for yourself is something different. Now I know this is true. Summarizing my experience in a mathematical formula leads to this equation "Fresh roast + Duetto + K10 + LM sb = Heaven". Espresso heaven, that is.

Regards. Wilco

Would you share a picture of your short hopper K10?

Shure. But do not expect anything fancy. I am a minimalist at heart in not even having a mobile phone. My wife made this photo with her old and cheap digital camera.



Regards. Wilco

The picture is more than sufficient to show you have found an aesthetically pleasing hopper for this grinder for use in a domestic kitchen.

Could you tell us a little more about this hopper? I doubt it was made for the Compak specifically. Is it the "mini" hopper made for a Mazzer model or some other brand, that might be available to us for purchase in another location than the Netherlands?

Thanks in advance,

ken

This hopper is made by Compak for all their grinders.
All the grinders have the same entry size for the hopper.
There are 3 sizes, 275 gr. / 800 gr. / 1700 gr.

You can order them by Compak if you are a dealer.

Ken,

I have you and Jim Schulman to thank for your work in the "Titan Grinder Project" and "Can it beat the Robur" threads. You two are responsible for putting me on the right track in choosing this fantastic big conical.
And the K10 with the short hopper is indeed a beauty. In the hopper there is a hollow plastic lid mounted to prevent the springing of beans. It seems to work.

Regards. Wilco

Thanks for the write-up, Wilco. It's really nice to read more about this grinder. It looks really, really sharp next to Alex on your bar.

NoMilkToday wrote:<snip>

To EdWa: 1 inch = 2.54 cm. When I calculate this accurately, my outcome of the total height of the K10, including the 275 grams hopper, is 19 inch, not 21. And if this does not fit, then you seem to have extremely low hanging cabinets. Perhaps you could place the grinder on a side table?
Further you ask "Do the ones in the US have the more reliable on/off switch?" I presume the answer is "yes" but I am not shure. You could check with Chris Nachtrieb. And should you do this, then you can also check the real price to pay for a K10 and report this back to us. If Jim is correct, this could be (depending on your negotiating power) under $1k. And if that is true, man, than the K10 really is the deal of the century, so to speak. I hardly can believe that.

All this talking about prices can distract attention away from the real topic, the very significant increase in quality of your espresso by using a big conical like the K10. And perhaps a bit buried in my report: the La Marzocco single basket is truly wonderful! In comparison with other single and double baskets this thing results in a much better look, mouth feel AND taste. And to top it off, it is far less sensitive to little errors in dosing, distributing and tamping. Disclaimer: a convex tamper gave me better results than a flat one. For 15 bucks this a no-brainer. Buy it or ask Santa.

Subsequent follow-on discussion split to MAP and MSRP practices of online resellers...

Thanks for splitting the subject Dan!
Got a little carried away from the base line, the Compak K10 WBC and it's results with Wilco.

It's really amazing how you can have such big differences in such small things (LM baskets) and how amazingly different the coffee tastes with the K10.
I never believed in such a difference to be honest, i have Wilco to thank for getting to know the K10!

NoMilkToday wrote:Happily, on the internet there are instructions to be found on improving this. For example on http://www.espresso-passione.com ; see the page "Sweep mod for the K10". By the way, the proprietor of this informative and fine looking website seems to be a nice fellow, sharing his espresso experiences with us in an open and honest way.
[snip]
... Poor guy.

FWIW, Wilco, Teme has been (was?) a regular on Home-Barista and CoffeeGeek for a long time. I and many others of us have enjoyed his informative posts, thoughtful discussion, and awesome high-end equipment reviews/mod guides. However, I don't think, under any circumstances, I could brook calling him a "poor guy." He's got the fanciest toys in the land!

As for the K30, I am curious what you tried from it. I've had a pro barista pull me a number of shots with a K30 ES + Paddle Group LM Linea prototype, and they were quite delectable. Of course, the K30 was his favorite grinder, and he helped develop (and roasted) the coffee that made the shot.

For me, the most interesting thing to read of your review is the excellent customer service Compak is giving now. The choice of hoppers they gave you is particularly impressive. I wish something more reasonable were available (stock) for my Robur, although I'm not one to shy away from a little modding. I think you see a similar situation in the US from vendors like Espressoparts. Micheal from Espressoparts talked to me for nearly an hour about Robur mods, keeping the thing clean, and whether the E model was worth it. I am sure from stories I have read about Mazzer, that your experience is 'as it is:' they aren't interested in making happy customers out of 'crazy' high-end home baristas. It's great to hear that Compak is willing to go that extra mile.

Looking at the beautiful pictures and reading the stories in his blog, Nicholas, I indeed did not get the impression Teme is deprived of monetary means. And he was certainly not shy about the many espresso devices he bought and sold in order to arrive at his personal espresso nirvana. His modification descriptions are of particularly great value in my opinion. Thank you Teme (if you read this).

During my own grinder quest I learned that, indeed, some of the pro baristas can produce espressos of exceptional quality and that with only 'regular' equipment. These people, unfortunately, are rare in Holland.
During this quest the only non-conical grinder that made an impression was the Super Jolly. The other flat burr grinders produced a less sweet espresso, with the K30 being the most bright. At that time I also learned that some of the retailers and users can have very different tastes. Some of them prefer clear and bright and are not fond of 'sweet'.

Nowadays, when walking around in the streets of Amsterdam, I sometimes suddenly 'need' a shot of caffeine. And then I enter one of the many espresso bars in the centre of the city. In order to protect my palate, I always order an espresso with a chocolate bar, of which I first take a bite to compensate for the harsh and bright taste. Most of these espresso bars use K60's. And although the regarding baristas get paid for their work, I don't see them as 'pro'. Some of the bars with Super Jollies or old Macap K7's produce a less confronting espresso.

Mahlkönig owners are not to be offended by my post above. Therefore I would like to add some nuancing remarks.

One. During my grinderquest I noticed that different people have different tastes. In most cases, I think, not because they have a real divergent taste in espresso than I have, but because they like to dilute their espresso with milk and sugar. It is a fact that the lovers of cappucinos and lattes constitute a vast majority of all espresso drinkers. By this dilution with milk (or soya) some of the expressiveness in the taste layers of espresso gets lost. It could very well be that with a well balanced roast a milk diluted espresso beverage has a too laidback taste for most people. For compensation an extra 'kick' is needed. This could be implemented by using a 'brighter' grinder or a, for this purpose, roasted blend. Other compensation measures, be it with less impact, are raising the pump pressure and/or upping the temp in order to get the resultant taste to have more bittertones in order to come through.

Two. Within the community of pure espresso and ristretto drinkers (the last one an even smaller minority) I discern - and I simplify here - two different groups of home-baristas: the Users and the Travellers.
The User is the one who simply likes espresso and therefore acquires the required equipment and - after some searching - selects an appropiate blend he or she is comfortable with and stays with that blend for years.
The Traveller is the one who is 'crazy' about espresso, spends more time and money on the subject and frequently change blends or beans to satisfy his or her need to discover new and interesting tastes. These are the potential buyers of high-end grinders. They are the ones who want a grinder that discerns all possible shades in taste layers. And for them obtaining a Mahlkönig is one of the possibilities of a 'clear tasting' grinder, in particular - I assume - when they also produce lattes.

For Travellers who want to buy a high-end grinder and did not make up their mind about a definitive choice, I recommend (re)reading the very clear written taste profiles in Jim Schulman's thread titan-grinder-project-can-it-beat-mazzer-robur-t4499-20.html. There he writes about the K10:

"I did not get a taste profile distinction between the Robur and the two Italian 68s. The 63mm Macap MXK is definitely brighter, while the Compak is definitely more laid back. The Compak's profile is similar to the Mini's, except its flavors are more defined, so it can stand up to the Robur in this regard, while the Mini could not.
Now it gets interesting. The big conicals are certainly showing better than the smaller grinders, and if you spring for one, you can pick middle of the road with the Italian 68s or the Robur, go for brighter with the MXK or Kony, or more laid back, with the Compak."

And I conquer: there are some grinders, like the K10, that have it all: laidback sweetness coupled to discernable clarity. And if you want to know how a K10-produced latte tastes ... ask somebody else; I only use milk in my pudding .

Jason,

People have different tastes. We are in total agreement about this fact. We also agree that reasoning from the result in the cup backwards everything is important, including - and especially - the beans.
The essence of my first point is, that people who mainly produce lattes should possibly buy a grinder with a different taste profile than people who mainly produce pure espressos.
And the essence of my second point is, that it is nice when the grinder has a basic taste profile in which 'sweet' and 'clear' is combined; this combination is rare, I found. I will add to this, that this specific taste profile is compatible with many more roasts, which is good news for adventurous espresso taste layer discoverers (or travellers).

Regards. Wilco

If you're looking for a grinder to denigrate vs. the K10, I've got one: The Anfim Super Caimano. They had one at Cuvée the other day, and it was a friggin' pain in the butt! The one they had was from 49th Parallel, and it had the 75mm Titanium flat burrs and the timer modification. Compared side by side with the K30 (the 'official' Cuvée grinder that Clancy Rose used to win the SCRBC), I was really left to wonder why in the world you would ever buy one.

The doser swept clean, but accumulated more than a little bit of coffee on the sides and the doser star. The chute was aggravatingly difficult to sweep out. And with the Brazil SO we were using, it still clumped worse than my Robur has (on both lighter and darker coffees). It should be mentioned that, in spite of it being more clumpy than my Robur, it was a darn sight less clumpy than the K30 boulders (from a superb, albeit too fresh Ethiopian SO).

Still, the overall impression is horrible. The doser sweeps clean, but still needs as much brushing out to be fully clean as a Mazzer does. The timer is incredibly sensitive to adjustment, and the dose changes by several grams when you adjust the grind size by a single notch. It was an unparalleled pain to dial in. The only good thing that I have to say about it is that, if you aren't overdosing, there is zero spillage of coffee onto the doser tray or the area around. This will earn you lots of 'clean' points at the USBC, but frankly, I don't see that it helps much. Clancy posited this as the one of the main reasons why competitors seem to like it so much. After several hours with this grinder, I'll agree with Luca Costanzo on this one: I don't see what the hype is...

Now I wait for someone to stick up for the Anfim.

shadowfax wrote:Now I wait for someone to stick up for the Anfim.

I have the same complaints about my M-1 Abrams... chews the driveway to shreds

Interesting, Nicholas. Because of all the positive things I had read about the Anfim SC, I placed it in on my shortlist. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to assess its taste profile. This manufacturer is not represented in Holland. And because Anfim never answered my emails, I gave up on this one. Were you able to discern taste differences between the Anfim and the K30? If yes, could you describe them for us?

And Jim, I wondered about the same thing. Weird 'design', indeed. Of all the questions I asked Compak, this one slipped through. Maybe because I never look at the numbers. But then I only use one blend at a time. For you, changing blends continually, I imagine, this really is an annoyance.