Guys, my examination of the Elektra Nino has continued over the past couple of days, and overall my impression remains: this is probably the most user-friendly grinder out there, and it performs like a Robur so far, with one little caveat: I see some evidence that the burrs may not be fully seasoned on my unit, as the pours aren't quite as picture-perfect as Robur's are. This kind of echoes my experience with the Robur in the first few weeks: it was finicky and wanted frequent adjustment. I trust based on other user reports and the simple fact that it's the same basic burrset as the other 68mm conicals (I assume)--Macap M7, Compak K10, Fiorenzato Doge, etc., that this should subside pretty soon.

My "review" (note: it's not going to be an official HB Review, this is 100% me-funded, unless a sponsor wants to donate coffee and get gratitude and recognition ) hit an early hiccup, in that the grinder that was sent to me is actually some type of pre-production unit or something, and doesn't feature stepless adjustment. I am working with Jim P of 1st-line on this oversight... the more I have played with the grinder, the less optimistic I am that the steps are acceptable for easy espresso-making. At this point, I am likely to either get a stepless conversion kit, or upgrade to a brand new one. Now, the details of my agreement with Jim are naturally private, but I am curious what kind of negotiation could be made with him on a large purchase of new Ninos--Jim confirmed that his new units are stepless. PM me if you're potentially interested; expect to pay about $100 for a 110->220V Step-up transformer rated for a 1HP/~900-1000W motor if you don't have a 220V line where you're going to use the grinder regardless of that, you will need a European style plug adapter to plug it into a US 220V line. If you're happy with that, I'd be curious to get a head-count of interested people to see what kind of deal he could offer on a "group buy." That said, I am really not sure what I want to do; I am considering returning this unit to Jim and buying from CoffeeItalia/some other vendor with attractive pricing, so I may also throw in with you guys if you want to figure out something along those lines. Again, PM me and we can get a discussion going privately on those issues.

[NOTE: I was pretty shocked when I came across the Coffee Italia price. I assumed that £1400 was VAT inclusive. In fact, a rep from the company informed me that it's VAT exclusive, and that shipping to Houston, TX is £323. Throw that in a currency converter, and you're at about $2560. If your bank/credit card company charges you anything to pay in £ or Euros, you're looking at... not that fabulous of a price. Still, looks like a good deal for Europeans.]

I don't have a lot more to offer on the grinder itself at this point. Despite the flaw of being stepped on my grinder, I remain convinced that this is the nicest grinder out there, as Malte and Theodore are saying. The low waste blows anything else out of the water, and the low static puts everything else I've seen to shame, except perhaps the Vario. Whether or not I keep the one I have on my counter right now, I am definitely going to end up with a stepless Nino. No doubt about that, guinea pig or not.

For now, I am continuing to play with the grinder, and I will keep gathering my impressions. I will find out in the middle of next week whether I can upgrade this one for free and how much trouble it will be, and I'd like to figure out what kind of deals I/we can get on new ones in that timeframe as well. In the meantime, of course, I have lots more pictures of the inner workings of the burr chamber and the chute of the grinder in my Flickr set, including a pair of videos on programming/purging/dosing and pulling the shot that I dosed in the first video... a surprise ristretto, but overall a nice shot. I've certainly had several better on it in the last 2 days, but it's a good representation. Most shots that pull fast (15-20s) are very unstable, though, with jet channeling and the works. I am not sure why they do that but I am wondering if it's seasoning again... the Robur doesn't have that type of issue with the fast pours. It could also just be that the Elektra doesn't like the higher doses that I've been using on the coffee I have when ground for that setting. I'll go down on dose this weekend and report on that, of course.


Nino doesn't quite have the presence of the Robur, but it's quite elegant.

Most doserless grinders are electric stoves (i.e., they add more trouble than they take away and/or yield inferior results). There are a few that I think are exceptions, and they are sadly under-investigated for home baristas either because they're new (Baratza Vario) or extremely expensive (K30, Nino). The Mazzer E's are also sweet in a café or competition setting, but they seem to have their own issues for home baristas, even beyond their imposing size; we're still investigating that...

1: Burr size/specs.

It's listed as a 68mm conical, as I said, and I have no clue if it's identical to the grinders above or it's specially designed. It looks very, very similar to all the motor-driven conical burrs I have seen (Kony, Robur, M7K, etc.), so based on that and its size I assume it's more of the same. Next time I open the grinders I'll try to remember to verify their OD with my calipers. Here's the relevant pictures that I've got, AFAIK the only real pics of the Nino burrset on the net...





2. Is there a pulse/continuous grind button?

No continous grind, no pulsing. My firmware has a limit of 1.0s minimum on either side, which is about 5g, give or take. I believe I have read other comments on Kaffee-Netz that the current production models also have this ridiculous limitation. JonR10 and I had a conversation this evening to the effect that modifying the firmware chip is relatively easy for those that know how to do that kind of thing, and he has people. It'd be interesting to see if we could persuade Elektra to drop the limit down to at least 0.5 s. Anyhow, my impression is that the Nino likes to be pulsed out (i.e., 'cold start' with no purging results in a flawed shot). whether 5 g is more pulsing than needed, I have no idea--certainly seems like enough!

3. I'd love to know when you get the chance your best estimate of residual grounds.

As I said in the above answer, I do see the need to pulse at session start. That said, the residual has to be very low; it has no chute in the sense of a traditional grinder; instead the chamber opens directly to the "slide" that you see on the front; the grinds seem to be thrown out against the roof of that slide, and fall down neatly as you can see in my video on dosing.

4. Build quality vs the Mazzer - will it handle a thrashing?

It's not as good as a Mazzer. You simply can't beat them. I am not sure what the case is made out of, but mine sure isn't aluminum. It seems to be some kind of textured, chromed plastic/carbon composite. It certainly looks sturdy, and it's as heavy as or heavier than a Robur. It's most certainly a task to move around. I don't think it's going to survive like a Mazzer if you knock it off the counter, but the chances of doing that... eh. I'm really picky about build quality, and I would have preferred a real polished aluminum shell, but I like it.

5. Taste. I know yours may only be settling in, and a shame re the stepped settings, but I am sure that will be sorted. Hopefully it sounds like it will be right up there with the best.

Most of what I've said here is wholly useless at this point; Malte's comment that he can't distinguish Robur E vs. Nino are encouraging, though.

gyro wrote:For those that are interested, they have offered 1339 pounds, 6 day lead time, free delivery UK [...] I'm going to be in London in a couple of weeks, which for me would mean I hope to hear more from Nicholas in the next 7 days if I am to allow a 6 day lead time!

I don't think you can beat that, if you're visiting the UK. At that price it's one of the cheaper doserless grinders out there, at least from the prices I've seen. Certainly the cheapest DL conical I know of.