I love the Weber Works Co and the previous partnership LWW. I own three of their grinders and have never had an issue with customer service. I did some major self inflicted damage to my Key when I first received it. Dougless, and their customer service were fantastic with their help. When it was obvious the grinder needed some new parts, WW referred me to a tech here in the Bay Area (OZ Espresso Repair) the needed parts were quickly shipped and I have my grinder back. The Key grinds wonderfully and I have zero complaints. Even the often criticized magic tumbler wire scraper does the job intended.

Hi to everyone.

I took the time to count the holes on the UNI. There are 1100 holes. I also summed the holes of my VST baskets and on average they have 730 holes each. So, we have 50% more holes.
On average a VST hole measures 0.089mm2 so an 18-21g VST basket has approx 65mm2 of hole surface. I don't know the hole size of the UNI. If someone takes a picture of a ruler (metric please) over the filter in macro mode we can get a good approximation (they say the holes are made using laser ablation so they should be very similar)

This data helps us understand the difficulty of comparing these two "baskets" because the grinding (using the same coffee and dose) has to be very different to achieve similar times. I imagine that the UNI requires a very fine grind for the same dose so it's necessary to have a great quality grinder with proper burrs to take advantage of the extra "hole surface". Also, combining the extra fine grinding with the extra hole surface probably will cause an increase in solids in the cup, maybe this is the reason why they recommend using this filter with paper.

I thought it was ridiculous at first, their marketing is, and their pricing may be, but there COULD be some benefit (or detrimental effects!) of having SO MANY fine holes all over. I don't see why VST, IMS, or other brands couldn't also do a similar style basket with so many holes, perhaps they have already tried.
In theory if it allows you to grind finer (or requires it) you should get a better extraction as long as you don't run into channeling issues.
I find with VST and other precision baskets that require a finer grind size I'm more likely to get channeling. With so much more holes / surface area I'd think that problem would be further exacerbated but I'm curious to see how it works for people.

imanzoni wrote:Hi to everyone.

I took the time to count the holes on the UNI. There are 1100 holes. I also summed the holes of my VST baskets and on average they have 730 holes each. So, we have 50% more holes.
On average a VST hole measures 0.089mm2 so an 18-21g VST basket has approx 65mm2 of hole surface. I don't know the hole size of the UNI. If someone takes a picture of a ruler (metric please) over the filter in macro mode we can get a good approximation (they say the holes are made using laser ablation so they should be very similar)

This data helps us understand the difficulty of comparing these two "baskets" because the grinding (using the same coffee and dose) has to be very different to achieve similar times. I imagine that the UNI requires a very fine grind for the same dose so it's necessary to have a great quality grinder with proper burrs to take advantage of the extra "hole surface". Also, combining the extra fine grinding with the extra hole surface probably will cause an increase in solids in the cup, maybe this is the reason why they recommend using this filter with paper.

Did anyone that has a Unifilter get back to you on your request? I'm extremely interested in the hole surface area values between a VST basket and the Unifilter.

I see they are accepting pre-orders now. I was hoping the teak version would have been available...

I just got a custom longer handle made by Dave back. I started modifying the group cover on my DE1Pro, but realized the neck of the handle would need to be turned down more. It's just a loaner for review, but the amount of material removed from the group cover isn't much, it doesn't jump out like an eyesore.

When I get it all back together I'll take some pics.

I'd recommend subscribing to updates from the store, as you'll get emails when it is available. The teak version was a few days back when the email was sent out, but I personally am going to hold off until they come with a version compatible with the Decent.

Received mine a couple of days ago. Wonderful piece of engineering.

Using a Cafelat paper under the puck. Set the Key 2 clicks finer. Level and tamp. Mesh screen on top.

Pulled a beautiful first shot, and has continued to do so.

Like all my Weber stuff, I love the attention to design.

Great, thanks for the feed back, but in term of taste/palate feelings did you got dramatic improvement than before?

Seems a bit richer, and the crema is a touch deeper and more uniform. Let me see how it goes; I don't want to let buyer's bias get in the way. First impressions are good.