cmin wrote:Did you feed him a darker roast lol? Kinda surprised he didn't care for thr MC4 either and that wasn't good enough. Any good conical is as good as he's going to get for that traditional body and flavor. Not surprised at his Max reaction as it taste like flavored water, notes are there but holy hell it's thin.

Yes, I fed him the Blue Bottle Hayes Valley Espresso and I totally agreed with him that the Max is not cut out for those beans, and that I use Max for my light and medium light roasts. But I thought that the MC4 made a fabulous and rich and syrupy shot with Hays Valley.. I guess the taste is so subjective....

My recommendation would be the Mahlkonig E65S, skip the GBW and buy a cheap scale.

cmin wrote: DF64 would be opposite, or really any flat burr of what he wants of he wants that traditional body etc like mentioned. One of my grinders is an aligned DF64 with steel burr and its still pretty damn thin even on a really good dark roast (Chromatic Opus). SSPs will be even worse there. Conical will wallop it there.

Buddy had Atom 75, but there's still a noticeable difference, flats will always be thinner for people that want that "traditional" shot.

I guess it might depend on which flat burr you are comparing to which conical but I haven't noticed much of a difference in body/mouthfeel. I use a K30, Anfim Super Caimino & a Compak K10-WBC everyday. I pull shots using traditional medium roast blends & my own single origin roasts. No matter which grinder I chose I get shots with a nice creamy mouthfeel. The K10 shots might be a little more creamy but it's not a big difference. Personally I will usually prefer the flat burr shots as I find the big conical tends to sharpen some flavors I don't necessarily want heightened. Pulling shots of the Saka Top Selection at 190° yesterday & today the conical shots definitely have more bitterness then the flat burr shots while the mouthfeel wasn't much different. These days I primarily use the K10 for the breakfast Americanos.

Thanks for all the good advice. I forwarded all the recommendations to my cousin and hopefully it will help him make an informed decision.

I still can't believe he didn't like the MC4 shots....

baristainzmking wrote:I still can't believe he didn't like the MC4 shots....

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. You can't teach taste.
MacDonald's is unlikely to go out of business anytime soon.

spopinski wrote:Probably Niche, but if you want flat burrs then I suggest MK 65GBW

It's a go-to recommendation, but I wouldn't recommend it if you often entertain.

If you entirely focus on output it's a good choice, but personally I dislike the single dosing workflow and that's just me drinking coffee alone. It's tedious, time consuming and messy for very little benefit (in comparison to another low retention grinder). Retention and switching beans frequently are the only SD benefits I can think of.

The E65S is better suited but has 5-6 grams of retention. A Mignon XL or Atom 75 would probably be the better (and cheaper) choice.

JohnB. wrote: Pulling shots of the Saka Top Selection at 190° yesterday & today the conical shots definitely have more bitterness then the flat burr shots while the mouthfeel wasn't much different. These days I primarily use the K10 for the breakfast Americanos.

I actually had a very similar experience. I'm using Saka Gran Bar and the shots on the 73mm conical Helor 106 are decidedly sharper whereas my 64mm flat delivers a more balanced shot. For other roasts the conical is excellent but my tastes are definitely trending to flat burrs.