I really struggle philosophically using devices such as this. My local speciality cafe doesn't use these. It's just grind, tamp, pull shot. Why, with equally good gear at home is this not achievable without extra gadgets?

But it's hard to argue with the results...

It comes down to your definition of "equally good gear" if you use the same grinder as that shop then you can also grind, tamp, pull. But those grinders are meant for high volume, they retain a lot of grounds - which doesn't matter when you're constantly grinding, but that's not a good fit for the home environment. The blind shaker and other devices like it solve the problem of non homogenously sized coffee particles coming out of single dosing grinders with "straight-through" grinding paths (HG-1, EG-1, Pharos, Monolith, Titus, Versalab, Sette?). I might have it backwards but I believe the larger particles get flung to outside of the basket/tumbler and the smaller particles are generally more towards the center. Mixing/shaking them up homogenizes them and prevents channeling. None of this is necessary if you prefer to use a commercial grinder and are willing to purge the stale grounds each session, and don't switch coffees too often. Hope that helps.

Same issue with single dosing a chute - you can see the stratification of grounds... I didn't find that a doser mitigated the need for WDT but I'm a bit of a perfectionist...

Fausto wrote:It comes down to your definition of "equally good gear" if you use the same grinder as that shop then you can also grind, tamp, pull. But those grinders are meant for high volume, they retain a lot of grounds - which doesn't matter when you're constantly grinding, but that's not a good fit for the home environment. The blind shaker and other devices like it solve the problem of non homogenously sized coffee particles coming out of single dosing grinders with "straight-through" grinding paths (HG-1, EG-1, Pharos, Monolith, Titus, Versalab, Sette?). I might have it backwards but I believe the larger particles get flung to outside of the basket/tumbler and the smaller particles are generally more towards the center. Mixing/shaking them up homogenizes them and prevents channeling. None of this is necessary if you prefer to use a commercial grinder and are willing to purge the stale grounds each session, and don't switch coffees too often. Hope that helps.

Sounds like the real issue is that the single dosing produces grinds that are too fresh then. Ironically, OrphanEspresso tried to get everybody to start shaking early on, but then everyone cut their blind shaker off and put in a drawer, only to pour it into a cup to shake instead Now everybody is getting on board

I think that if you try WDT and it helps create a better extraction a blind shaker (or plastic cup) will help.

Note: I wouldn't go as far as saying all single Dose grinders need WDT. It does zilch for my VL (as an example). One does have to be careful of donut pours but it has nothing to do with WDT - but to grooming.

People have been making awesome great shots long before LWW came up with the blind shaker. 10 years ago I would have probably even purchased one. Instead, I bought a better grinder and honed my grooming technique.

Btw - even bad grinders can be easily modified to fluff grinds. I did that with a doserless Mazzer Mini E.

The blind shaker seems to be a really great (and inexpensive) way to compensate for the inadequecies of a badly designed grinder.

day wrote:Sounds like the real issue is that the single dosing produces grinds that are too fresh then.

That the plug is stale doesn't mean that freshness causes inhomogeneous grind distribution - it's more the physics of the situation. Staling inhomogeneous grinds would not change distribution...

unless they are pulling shots back to back with a full hopper, retaining almost a full shots worth of ground coffee, so by the time it comes out all the static has discharged allowing them to mix homogenously in the final stages and falling into the basket....just a thought. Staling was irrelevant here, in the context of the shop use.

Single dosing counts at the initial stages as there is no plug in the throat or backed up wiper chamber... "Final stages and back to back shots" is the irrelevant part - grounds stratify in the absence of a plug - in my understanding that's the spraying issue some saw in the E37S...

How tall is the Blind Shaker vertically? I'm wondering if it will be feasible for direct grinding on my E37S without fouling on its forks.

Thanks!

day wrote:unless they are pulling shots back to back with a full hopper, retaining almost a full shots worth of ground coffee, so by the time it comes out all the static has discharged allowing them to mix homogenously in the final stages and falling into the basket....just a thought. Staling was irrelevant here, in the context of the shop use.

Having done some reading about powders and static it seems very difficult if not impossible to rid insulators of static charge. Also sort of explains why the powdered coffee sticks to everything in the grind path.... kind of like Styrofoam peanuts - even if you were to dissipate static on one side - the other may and will remain charged...

Dampening the grinds with some ion full water may help - but I am not sure air borne humidity will create enough ions to dissipate the charge....