Im close to getting an Alexia PID and Compak K3 doserless from Chris Coffee.

theyve been very very helpful and Ive spent a lot of time on this, especially the grinder issues.

I live outside of Boston and could go and pick the set-up up and noticed they have workshops by appointment.

has anyone who reads this done that? worth you time?

Im upgrading from a Silvia/Solis set up and I roast my own beans (various greens from Sweet Maria) on a modified iRoast 2

I drink 99% espresso, and I probably roast mine a little darker than most people

thanks

Didn't know they had workshops. They do ship free, and you should avoid NYS tax if shipped. Try their house roast, I'm not crazy about it but it is dark for NE USA. PM me.

Marvin

Im posting from my phone, otherwise I'd go into more detail. My wife and I took a road trip (from Virginia) to go see the Alex Duetto II. I think we were there for 2 1/2 hours. Since this was our first machine the experience was indispensable. Mary walked us through the usage of the machine and how it compared to other machines. We walked out with some samples of their drip coffee and a bag of their espresso blend. We would have left with our machine but it was not yet in from Italy. All in all a fun and valuable experience.

rotuts wrote:Im close to getting an Alexia PID and Compak K3 doserless from Chris Coffee.

I like the Alexia/PID a lot, but why the Compak K3 over the Vario? Just curious.

I decided on the K3 because it seems that the Vario is a little on the 'new' side and might, I say only might still have some teething problems bases on the reviews here.

thats only a guess.

I saw a pic here (probably) of the ceramic grinder blade and i have a fairly extensive home woodworking shop and am a fairly advanced cook and know that that type of blade will surely be the future of grinders.

ceramics ***properly*** engineered can stay very very sharp under appropriate use. they don't do well in the kitchen as the edge is not as sharp as it could be and not as sharp as a steel knife will be if you know how to keep it sharp

its edge while sharp compromises as they can easily break!

wonder how many people take the vario's blade out and don't realize it.

the end reviews on the K3 seem to satisfy my current and hopefully future needs for a while. the LED may work for a long time or may not.

in a few years Mazzer/MACAP/Compak will all have ceramic blade if they are paying attention.

The K3 is rather new too.

I haven't tried one yet, but you get an idea of the sound, speed and grind quality on this video posted a few days ago on YouTube (move to 1:50 point to see the grinder in use). The grind seems a bit clumpy compared to what I'm used to. But that might just be because it's doserless.

Endo wrote:The K3 is rather new too.

Is it new? Or is it new to North America?

Compak is a fairly new company, less then ten years old. But it is part of the Ascaso group, which has been producing parts for Spanish grinders for a long time. The current Compak line, including the K3, have been around at least five years. I doubt you'll find any amateurish errors in their grinders.

Baratza has been designing and building grinders since the mid 90s (they are the builders of the Solis and SB Barista grinders), and all their grinders have been excellently suited for home use. But none of them have been designed or really stood up to hobbyist requirements (i.e. for usage levels similar to regular home use, but with precision demands exceeding most commercial applications). So the Vario is new territory for them.

As I understand it, Chris' Coffee has showroom you can visit by appointment with tons of equipment available for hands-on use:


Click image above to see the 'virtual showroom'

If you're in the neighborhood of an HB sponsor, it's worth asking if they welcome visitors. In addition to Chris' Coffee Service, I know that 1st-line and Great Infusions accept appointments.