Heya Folks,

I am thinking of upgrading my grinder in the near future. Right now I have a Fiorenzato F4 Nano that I am more or less happy with, but I have an unreasonable urge to upgrade. This would be for use in my home. I am looking at two relatively different beasts, those being the K30 and the Monolith flat. With the K30 I would likely dump a bunch of beans in the hopper and with the Monolith I would obviously single dose. I usually pull double shots with an 18g VST basket. I am the only coffee drinker in the house, but we do entertain from time to time and when we do, everyone wants espresso.

I was wondering if anyone who has experience with one or the other could make a recommendation or share their experience?

Thanks in advance!

With those two, it really comes to preference of hopper dose vs.single dose, not much else.

Maybe price and size a little.

Retention too.

I'm not sure about the K30 but my Monolith Flat retains less than my scale can measure.

I also find the single dosing workflow to be extremely easy. And you also get a super consistent/accurate dose every time.

JB

Having a Monolith Flat, the only other 2 grinders I'd consider would be a EG-1 or a Niche Zero and the Nicho Zero only sounds good at this point, we'll have to wait to see if it's really as good as promised.

Ira

In addition to the differences in workflow, you also need to determine how soon you need it. Monolith will be a wait. You can get a k30 right now. Both are excellent grinders, just depends on how you want to use it and what's most important to you.

Thanks for the input folks. Much appreciated.

ira wrote:Having a Monolith Flat, the only other 2 grinders I'd consider would be a EG-1 or a Niche Zero and the Nicho Zero only sounds good at this point, we'll have to wait to see if it's really as good as promised.

Ira

As the opposite of you here I have an EG-1 and the only other thing I'd seriously consider is a Monolith Flat! Or whatever new thing Titus is working on with EK size burrs.

Neither the Monoliths nor the EG1 existed when we bought our K30.
Today I might buy, budget permitting, either a Monolith Conical or an EG1 to more easily switch between different beans. However we're not unhappy with the K30.


If using only one type of bean at a time, it comes down to whether we want to weigh before or after grinding. Weighing is always advisable, the grind and the extraction, as well as timing of both the preinfusion and total shot time.

We have not found grind retention a problem at all with the K30. Some of our best shots have been the first shots of the day - without purging! I know that is heresy but for us it's nonetheless very true.

YMMV

So I ended up making a choice and bought the k30 Vario. I went to my store of choice and talked about different options. I also looked at the single dosing option that they had and the k30 and it seems to me that I am more of a dump a few days worth of beans in the hopper type of guy that a weigh every dose type of guy. Though the consistency would for sure be better with the kafatek grinder, the Mahlkonig seems to be very consistent.

Having had the grinder for about 24 hours now, I've noticed a couple of things.

1. It is big, and heavy.
2. It is much quieter than my old grinder.
3. The grind quality is better than my old grinder (Fiorenzato F4 Nano - which was a good grinder but this one is just better)
4. It grinds faaaast. Less than 4 seconds for 18 grams of coffee.

I am still working at getting the ideal grind time for 18 grams-ish but I am getting closer with every cup.

Thanks again for the recommendations.

Nice! If I was a hopperdoser the k30 would be my choice...