A practical blind-test for hand grinder comparison - Page 2

Grinders are one of the keys to exceptional espresso. Discuss them here.
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doubleOsoul
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#11: Post by doubleOsoul »

Yes, this is a very interesting experiment. I have the same Dienes and with every new grinder I acquire, seems I end up back to hand grinding with the big D.

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[creative nickname]
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#12: Post by [creative nickname] »

Jack, my experiments compared my two best vintage grinders (a Kym & Kym, and a PeDe) with my HG-one for espresso. With a bit of practice, I achieved a 100% success rate discriminating the shots blind. (I did about 20 trials before calling it quits.) The primary differences in the cup (with both grinders adjusted to achieve as close to identical flow rates as I could manage) was more body and sweetness with the HG-one. I would still classify the vintage shots as "very good," they were just edged out by the HG-one. I couldn't distinguish shots from the two vintage grinders, for what that's worth.

I used Bodka Coffee's roast of a Guatemala Huehuetenango for those tests, as I had a large quantity on hand at the time. Shots made from that coffee tend to be medium bodied, with some nice lime-like acidity and interesting floral notes. I pulled all shots on an MCAL. This was a very good test for my own use, because the coffee was characteristic of origins & roasts I prefer and the machine is my daily driver, but obviously others should be cautious before generalizing the results to different coffees and machines. And of course, the biggest, and hardest to eliminate, variable in all this is the differences in both design and use history between various vintage grinders. Your Dienes might have less wear than either of the ones I used, or it might be better aligned (although I take great care to align mine as well as I can, as that makes a large difference in grind quality).
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peacecup (original poster)
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#13: Post by peacecup (original poster) »

Did you pull those shots back to back, and taste them at the same time?

The blend I'm using is probably what most HBs would consider bland - commercial N. Italian roast, "best before" dated. But it is my daily blend, and I personally really like this type of blend. Possibly with a fresher roast subtle differences would be more noticeable. The fresh roasts I can easily get here are so light that I can't drink them - that is the current trend here I guess.

PC
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Hand-ground, hand-pulled: "hands down.."

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[creative nickname]
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#14: Post by [creative nickname] »

Sorry for the tardy reply -- life has been hectic lately!

I typically prepped two baskets with a hidden identifying mark, chose one at random (I spun them on a small plate with my eyes' closed and then chose one), and pulled a shot with it. I tasted that shot, wrote down some notes, locked in a cool portafilter to return the grouphead to idling temp, and then pulled the second shot. Elapsed time was probably 2-3 minutes between the first and second shot. The order did not seem to make a significant difference; the scores for each grinder were similar whether it went first or second, and I could always tell which was which upon tasting.
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peacecup (original poster)
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#15: Post by peacecup (original poster) »

Thanks, if I can get a few quiet moments I'll try tasting both grinders back to back.

Right now I'm not very hopeful on ever being able to distinguish between two similar grinders. I just don't seem to have the skills. I'd be surprised if I can even distinguish between a 64-mm burr and the smaller burrs. That will need to wait a while anyway, and I'll work on improving my skills with the current pair.

Given that I've been drinking a lot of espresso the past 10 years, it's surprising I haven't learned more. But I do really prefer the comfort Italian blends, and these may be more difficult to compare grinders with.

PC
LMWDP #049
Hand-ground, hand-pulled: "hands down.."

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zix
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#16: Post by zix »

peacecup wrote:The fresh roasts I can easily get here are so light that I can't drink them - that is the current trend here I guess.
Not where I live ;) Want some fresh roast? I can post :D
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peacecup (original poster)
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#17: Post by peacecup (original poster) »

NOTE: Last night around midnight I was brushing out the hausgrind (it being too late to actually use it, but I wanted to hold it). I noticed that the bottom bearing was not seated properly, probably from the last cleaning.

SO MY BLIND TESTS WERE DONE WITH THE BEARING IMPROPERLY SET. I need to try again.

PC
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Hand-ground, hand-pulled: "hands down.."

bakafish
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#18: Post by bakafish »

I'd like to test them like you did, but there is not any update of hausgrind from March 18. We can still see "batch #3 is now closed - expected despatch date is revised to last week of march." on the websit. Is it a joke? We also can see someone is waiting his batch #2, and someone waited his tamper for weeks on the FB and they did not get any response. It is so terrible. I will go back to purchase a Rosco and give up the hausgrind.

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