Hello, everyone. First post here!

So, while I have a pretty decent setup, I have been feeling the urge to get a top-notch grinder and would love to hear your input.

First, a little context. I have a Niche Zero, an HG-1, a Baratza Virtuoso, and some manual grinders. So far, I only brew filter coffee - in particular, I brew using my Chemex, V60, Kalita, Yasukiyo, and Origami dripper cones, while occasionally using an Aeropress, French press, and some other devices. I just bought a Cafelat Robot that hasn't arrived, but I am not planning to expand further into espresso in a long time.

I want to buy my "end-game" grinder for filter coffee and that it meets the following criteria:

1. Preferably single dose and not gigantic.
2. Price is not really an issue.
3. To be used for filter coffee.
4. It would be great if it had at least a 30g capacity.

First, let me start by saying that I have read several threads regarding this topic, and I am still not convinced I know the "right" answer. First, I crossed out several bulk grinders, including, arguably, one of the best if not the best grinder for filter coffee, i.e., the Titus EK43. The reasons are that it is just huge and I cannot fathom to spend that kind of money on a grinder that I would need to send over to some dudes to get new burrs and align them.

I have been looking into the Monoliths, both the conical, flat and flat max versions, and the Lyn Weber EG-1. I have been a little off-put by the fact that the Monoliths seem to require for you to win a Kafatek lottery in order to get them, but, damn, they are beautiful, the reviews I have read are incredible (even for filter coffee), and they are cheaper than the EG-1, even if they are primarily for espresso. On the other hand, the EG-1 also seems incredible and it is available now (though I wouldn't mind waiting some months to buy the grinder).

What do you think? Would you prefer one over the other? Which Monolith would be better for my needs? Any other grinders I am not considering?

Also, I would really, really appreciate if someone could let me know the approximate capacity of the EG1 (its "bean dish" looks quite small) and the Monoliths.

Thanks in advance to everyone. Happy to be here in this forum,
Antonio

Erik, are you using the SSP burrs for espresso?

Titus Nautilus.
It doesn't seem to be out yet so i would contact him.
It's designed to be alligned even when you change burrs (supposed to take 5 minutes). You can buy multiple SSP burr sets and experiment different burr types.

Can't say too much about EG-1 as I have never tried one but I can say that for filter, I prefer the Flat with SSP burrs over the Flat MAX. For espresso, it's the other way around.

Interesting, can you tell us why flat with SSP burrs for pour over and Flat Max for espresso?

Based purely on taste, I'm able to get a much cleaner sweeter cup from the SSP Flat as compared to the MAX with the same beans and identical pour. It's also repeatable across different beans and multiple side by side blind taste tests. The difference in sweetness is not small and is quite apparent.

As to why that is? My only guess is that the burrs on the MAX are highly optimized for espresso, to the point where there is some trade offs for filter. I noticed that the MAX can produce more fines as compared to the SSP Flat even with identical settings for espresso. Weirdly though, the espresso shots from the MAX tastes noticeably cleaner than the SSP Flat.

Thanks for such a detailed answer. It sounds like I am going to have to get the Monolith Flat with SSP burrs just for pour over!!!! And then my husband is going to have me committed!

This is a question that is very, very hard to get to the bottom of with any confidence, since you can read and read, but you're basically just left with a whole bunch of subjective impressions from different people comparing different things, and you're going to have to form a view on what each writer's frame of reference is, what their definition of "best" is and how rigorous their testing has been. At this level of expenditure, you've sort of also got to question whether people need to believe that their colossally expensive new purchase was a great idea.

I can offer a few observations about the Max and the EK. I've had the EK for a year or two and the Max for a few months, so this is pretty preliminary. The Max takes an absolute eternity to season with the silver knight coating on its SSP burrs. I'm at about 15kg in and the grind setting has still been marching finer. So if you're thinking about the Max, definitely factor in the cost of at least that much seasoning coffee and the incredible amount of time it will take to grind through it, given that the Max only goes up to 400 RPM. It would be good to know if there is any meaningful benefit in the coatings for domestic use, since the longevity benefits don't seem very meaningful for home use and one wonders if the blunter edges that the coatings must result in are bad things. No doubt seasoning is a consideration for any other coated burrs.

I am planning on doing a methodical, blind triangle, head-to-head of Max vs EK for espresso, followed by flipping the burr sets between each and doing it again. What I can offer so far is that my impression is that the extraction yield from the Max is 1-2% lower than I got from the EK for espresso. However, EY is very dependent on the coffees used, which is why I am careful to characterise this as an impression and not a fact; I'll need to do an apples-and-apples head to head to get something more reliable. I also used the Max for one side of a cupping table and the EK for the other; that's probably not a great test, since the long extraction time probably renders the differences hard to pick and I didn't do much work to dial them in to equivalent settings. Nonetheless, the Max cups seemed sweeter and heavier in body than the EK cups, but lower in acidity and with less clarity and intensity of flavour. If I had to guess, I'd say that so far that's probably consistent with what I've tasted over a few months of espresso use. Again, subjectively, like Beewee says, it also strikes me that the Max burrs are probably more suited to espresso than filter - at least compared with an EK. However, this is a bit bizarre, since Kafatek seem to say that the Max is their grinder that they recommend for lighter roasts. Hopefully I'll get a chance to do the blind triangle head to heads and be able to have a firmer view.