Anybody been to one yet? These have come on the heels of Matt Perger's WBC performance, and have been held all over fairly rapidly. It seems highly interesting, but I can find nearly no info on what information folks are leaving with. From what I can tell, it's a primer to the "Coffee Shot" using the EK-43 grinder.

Curiously, the "coffee shot" seems to have been on his mind for a long while now: http://blog.barismo.com/2006/05/coffee-shots.html

For the interest of 270 views and 0 replies:

http://www.prufrockcoffee.com/2013/08/t ... ky-report/

I'll throw you a reply.

Seriously, though, I'd like to know more, too. Very interesting report--thanks for posting. Color me skeptical that there's really *one grinder* that lords over the others with respect to uniform particle size.

Evidence is pointing to the EK43 as having the most modal grind distribution of all grinders.

What evidence? It is certainly a popular cupping/brewing grinder at cafes just recently. I can't recall whether it was included in the particle size distribution studies for the Uber grinder on David Walsh's now-defunct blog. Why did Uber choose the Tanzania over the EK43?

I see merits to the EK's architecture with regard to very low retention. I believe this is shared with the Bunn G1., but few others.

The quality of a great coffee freshly brewed on a well programmed Fetco can't been beat in my experience. I'm very interested in seeing how these coffee shots compare, though.

Sure, but there's nothing unique about the vertical grind path of the EK43. Bunn, Mahlkonig, and others all use vertically-mounted burrs with augers for many of their grinders. Most large flat burr grinders with simple grind paths have very low retention in the normal brewed coffee range (Tanzania included).

The contention is that there is "evidence" the EK43 produces an especially unimodal grind particle size distribution compared to other bulk grinders, and that's what I'm asking about. Has Ben Kaminsky observed this through carefully controlled sieving or some other sort of analysis? The Uber grinder people compared quite a number of grinders and burr sets when they were developing the burrs for their modified Tanzania, and I don't recall whether the EK43 was included (and David Walsh has since removed all the data). Based on following a bunch of coffee industry people on Twitter, there has been a general trend towards using the EK43 in high-end cafes, and I'm just wondering how much merit there is to the claim that is truly the most unimodal grinder available.

"No coffee professionals of note really dispute the merits of the Gold Cup standard, 18-22% extraction yield. That is until Kaminsky came along,... " (from the Prufrock blog)

Surely by eliminating fines, you are moving the goalposts, say from 19-20% to 23-24%, rather than re-wiriting the rule book? The ideal extraction yield is already seen to shift with differing brew methods. Didn't Scott Rao previously note that extractions in the early 20's could be great with sharp, commercial burr grinders?

It does sound fascinating, as was Perger's 2013 WBC routine. I guess my questions, as a home barista, are: How does knowing the EK43 is "the" grinder to have (*if* indeed it is) help me & how does a 23-24% coffee shot compare to "ideal" brews of similar TDS at 19% & 21%?

I can see the advantages in consistency and the continuing attraction of "fast brewed", by the cup, filter strength coffee for cafes...especially if you have a Strada & EK43...

No doubt this will become "the norm" and we will laugh at how primitive we once were, but until then, it seems hard to separate "progress" from the hyperbole & voxpops.

Today, playing around with a Baratza Vario with brewing burrs and a GB/5, and some really good brewing roast (mid 1st crack) coffee, I got an absolutely better cup from the filtered coffee shot than from the well adjusted Fetco and same coffee. Hands down.

This really make me question the notion of high grind peak=better coffee. From the grind distribution profiles provided by Baratza and Marco, the common observation is that as grind size becomes coarser, the distribution becomes more unimodal and vice versa. While an EK43 may produce an espresso grind that is observably more unimodal than its other grinder brothers, the size distribution surely does not present a higher peak than an Uber grinder at 800µm, right? This leads me to believe that there is way more to brewing than extraction, strength and grind profiles. This calls for a grind analysis of the EK43 at espresso range!

Tonight I bought a cheap ($4 shipped) reflex hammer on Amazon to use with my 425 micron (#40) sieve set. I shake, tap and rattle the heck out of it, and nearly all of my test batches, which are 22g end up producing 0.4-0.5g of fines on my Ditting 1203. I'm willing to take a shot on a $4 reflex hammer might do the job either faster, quicker, or maybe a bit quieter, since I sometimes gently tap the whole sieve set against a wood cutting board to knock loose more fines.

It's fun to play with, and I've switched to sieving all my brews made at home, even though the big Ditting is extremely consistent, there's always room for improvement and it only takes about 30-40 seconds, so I do it while my kettle is boiling, it doesn't really add time to my production and it makes a phenomenal difference in the cup.

I've only played with it a little bit on the espresso front but it's creating some sparkling clear brews on the filter brew. I've played around with simply doing long timed french press extractions that then get filtered thru a a rinsed filter. The paper filter will clog with micro fines since they aren't getting trapped in the bed of grounds like normally when done on a standard filter brew, so it leads me to think that there's plenty of micro fine charged particles that cling to the individual grains even during sifting. I don't intend on turning this into an Olympic event, so I'm not inclined to buying the expensive vibe plate in order to get more of it out. But it's amazing how I can increase the brew strength and still avoid bitterness and muddling of flavors.

I did this a week ago on a nice Don Pachi Gesha I roasted and was able to capture the intense wild blackberry flavor, instead of just the jasmine, lemon, tea. I had done the same dose, brew method of the same coffee without sieving and it was quite different. Any berry note was disguised in vague sweetness.