I've been using my Brasilian Mimoso for the last few weeks for drip. I've come to the conclusion that it is in every way superior to the Spong. It grinds finer and it also grinds well when set coarse. It works very well for my La Peppina and can easily choke it. The Spong can also choke it, but barely, and with some effort in turning.

If anyone has instructions, please upload them to this thread.

As to fake Spongs, if there was a market for them, they would include the catch cup which increases the value of the grinder substantially and is easy and cheap to reproduce-- much easier than the grinder itself!! I don't think there are any that I've seen.

dan

Dan, maybe you can help me with this. I've been using my mimoso clone for the past week and am getting a proper flow rate but I am experiencing my shots blonding sooner than with my box hand mill (small cast iron conical burr set) with same dose and similar flow rate. Have you experienced this? Maybe does it need more breaking in even though it can already grind to choke?

Also I'm curious if the paint on the burr could be hazardous by slowly rubbing off and trace amounts ending up in your coffee. Possibly lead based? Any thoughts?

That's an interesting point about the over spray. I'm quite sure the paint, especially white, must have had lead in it. I'm not sure how much would rub off. But to be safe, better remove it. I doubt the paint in the funnel is going to get in the coffee.

I'd remove it with sand blasting if you can, so as to avoid chemical removers, though a chemical remover and then putting it in the dishwasher would probably be just fine. Take it out before the dry cycle, though and hand dry it to avoid rust. You might also try using a heat gun and burning it off, though I wonder if that won't cause more potential problems with the lead.

As to the shot difference you are noticing, I'm not sure I can answer it. Have you done A-B shots with each grinder and the same exact coffee at the same time? If not, it is really hard to say. If yes, have you tried altering the grind slightly? Making it a bit coarser? Did you notice flavor differences? I'm very interested in this, so please post your results. For the last couple months I've not been making espresso-- just drip, though I will be going back to espresso in a week or two.

dan

When I recieved the mill, I disassembled it and cleaned it with a steel brush which worked pretty well at removing the overspray but I was too impatient to spend a whole lot of time so I didn't get it all. I think I will go back and fully scrub it off. As for an a-b comparison, the box takes 2-3 minutes to grind 14 grams which is really discouraging me from comparative tasting, although I have used it a couple times since receiving the no.3 and had nicer pours but that could be due to the fact that I'm just used to that particular mill. I'm sure the particle distribution is different on the no.3 and will take some time to get used to dosing, distributing, and tamping. I have noticed a fine line in the grind adjustment between a dripping basket and a gusher. I'm not used to stepless adjustment!

Thought I'd offer my findings in on the topic as well - I've got a number 4 I bought from ebay.

It is a behemoth. Grinds about a gram per rotation for filter brewing. Which, has the potential to be quicker than a commercial burr grinder depending how energetic you are feeling.

There is a fair amount of slop in the mechanism though - I haven't been able to grind fine enough for brewing espresso - I think that the larger grinders are maybe less suited for grinding consistently fine because of distortions in the cast parts potentially increasing with the grinder size, leaving less control over the grind even with the burrs in contact.

I find the slop also contributes to more fines at coarser grinds than conventionally ground coffee. This seems to improve my v60 brews though. The proportion of fines seems to be enough to slow the flow through the filter cone to the degree you can get sensible brewing times (2-3mins plus) with a relatively coarse bulk grind. When I brew with v60s using coffee ground in the mazzer using a grind of similar consistency to the spong the brew times are too short and the coffee underdeveloped - to stretch the brew times to 2-3minutes with the mazzer requires the bulk grind to be a lot finer, and tastes bitter/stewed/overextracted.

So - I enjoy using it for filter coffee, but it so far has been unsuccessful for espresso. I'd be interested to know how others have gotten on using these grinders for filter brewing as well.

I have two Spongs and one Salter yet to come. We love using them. I am going to put them up against a Breville Smart Grinder shortly (yes I realise I've posted about Breville again LOL, my OH wants one, he's an engineer and likes it), anyway I have got to find myself a set of sieves, harder to find than you think for some reason, to test out both.

I grind both Syphon and espresso with mine and can't see any problems with the quality I get I have actually choked my Presso with it.

Oh thought I should add that I use No.1s.

I had to share something I saw on ebay- an amazing modified Spong- this is a great idea and very well executed:

I may be waking the dead with this post, but I couldn't find any other topics regarding this.

After months of searching ebay for a reasonably priced grinder I finally found a Mimoso #3 for under $50. I think this article must've influenced an increase in prices because almost nothing goes for under $100 now. Anyway, I just received it and noticed it was missing the steel ball bearing. I found one that fits and it seems to grind quite well, but I'm having gigantic grind retention. After grinding and doing a few backward turns I'll still have about 10-15% of the grinds stuck in the mechanism. In the picture below I shook the thing out like crazy before opening, yet there are still loads of stuck grinds. I'm suspicious that there is another part missing along with the bearing, possibly a gasket. Can anyone provide some insight? I can't notice any difference based on the pictures in this topic.

I don't think you are missing a part on the Mimoso; nice machine, by the way.

It looks like the casting is warped. That retention isn't the same as retention in the burrs in the sense that it doesn't, after the gap is filled ever go into your coffee. I'd suggest, however making a simple gasket out of some cardboard. That might solve the problem. But again, the coffee trapped between the two halves of the grinder is trapped... It won't enter the coffee, at least I think.

Actually, it looks like the casting wasn't cleaned up. There is flashing along the edges that keep the two halves from truly mating. You might take a hand file to that flashing and remove it. If that doesn't work, you won't hurt anything and then try the gasket.

I know what you mean by there being flashing on the edges, but I don't think there is any. I've attached two more pictures of that edge and the fit between the burr and the base. You can see that it has been filed/ground down previously. I'm afraid if I file more off it will actually be eating into the grinding portion.

I suppose that I'll have to "prime" this, if you will, by grinding with it until the gap is filled with coffee or hopefully a gasket will fill it in for the most part.

Have you experienced this same problem on your grinders or is it some type of defect on mine? It seems like the design is such that any grinds that spill out the sides of the burr should eventually just fall down toward the bottom outlet, but in my case they're just sitting there. Maybe it's a problem of grinding too fine and having the grounds clump in those areas?