I'm thinking about getting a Mignon Silenzio grinder.

I was going to go with a Sette 270, but then realized the almost-16-inches height won't fit under my kitchen cabinets! Ugh.

Really want a zero-retention experience - or very close. Upgrading from an Encore and the need to constantly tap and bang on the grinder to get the grounds out drives me nuts and is not acceptable.

I'm reading so much variance in what people are experiencing with that with the Silenzio?

Another question for me is how messy is the Silenzio? I'm watching videos that seem to be showing a mild amount of overspill onto the counter.

Related to that, is there enough clearance to fit a dosing funnel on my portafilter? (I'll prolly be going with a Lelit Elizabeth, BTW)

Last, how "secure" is the portafilter in the holder. Looks flimsy. I read at least one person who reported he didn't feel it was secure enough to support itself while steaming milk.

Thanks in advance!

Hi Tesgin,

I went from a Sette 270 to Mignon Silenzio. I was perfectly happy with the Sette but had an opportunity to buy the Selenzio at too good a price to pass. I like a lot of things about the Silenzio. Here's my experience on your questions.

I do not think it is a consistently zero-retention grinder. I consider zero-retention to an output unlikely to affect my shot time, ideally 0.1g to 0.3g. The retention will likely be less than in the Encore. Note that I have not owned an Encore, but I used one for a few weeks, when staying with a relative.

With some coffees, depending on room humidity and temp levels, it has very low retention ~0.5g. On other coffees and days, I do have to grind a little extra from the hopper or, if I'm single dosing, tap the grinder to get the retained ~1-1.5g. I recently bought the single-dose hopper and bellow from Eureka. Of course, it helped get those extra grinds and keep the chamber cleaner, but it also made for a messier experience because fines tend to fly all over when taping down on the bellows.

The portafilter holder is solid and secure but only with my spouted PF. My bottomless PF is not tall enough to sit securely. There's also no clearance for the funnel I use, which is the Flair magnetic funnel. Having said this, since I use the funnel, I have just put the PF fork away and simply hold the PF under the grinder chute. It's fast enough that I do not find it inconvenient.

Happy to answer other questions.

Wow, Marc. Thanks for this. Really helpful.

So, as one with experience with both, which do you prefer?

The single-dose hopper ... disappointing that it's so messy. So how much do you still use it? Do you recommend it?

I'm curious what you're experience is in not using it as a single dose hopper: reason being I could dial in the right setting for, say, 18g of coffee, but if I switch to different beans it'll be all different. The Sette has a few presets, which would help. It would seem more difficult with the Silencio, no? So how does that work?

Oops. I meant to reply to your post, not a separate post.

Not the Silenzio specifically, but I recently purchased a Mignon Turbo, which is quite similar.

At first, there was a lot of chaff and dust which, and I also noticed a small amount of retention that made the grinder a bit noisy which was pretty concerning, to be honest. It seemed like some grinds were getting stuck in the burrs - the chute was always clear.

So I bought a single dose bellow hopper from Amazon, and added RDT to my routine it is remarkably good. Totally fixed both issues.
When doing a filter brew I'll just put the filter on the counter in front of the grinder and everything goes in, no dust, no retention.

Of the two, I prefer the Silenzio. I can't really tell much of a difference in the cup but the Silenzio is quieter and, for me, better looking. However, the Silenzio is slower. I think it was something like 15 seconds to the Sette's 8 seconds for an 18g dose (of course, it's all very fast anyway). I also did initially miss the grind time programmability of the Sette. The Silenzio uses a little side dial that took me some time to get used to. Of course, if you're single dosing, that does not matter at all.

If you are convinced about single dosing with this grinder, I think the single-dose hopper and bellows are a necessary addition. Given the stepless small dial for adjusting the grind setting, it would be challenging to change beans AND brew methods regularly. Single dosing different beans for espresso is manageable because, in my experience, the espresso range is only about half of the diameter of the dial once you're in the general area, so it's relatively easy to move back to another point if you keep good records. However, I have done this seldom. I tend to run through a bag of beans before I move to another coffee.

Okay. I'm gonna do it! Thanks for this.

You said you bought the single-dose hopper and bellow from Eureka? Is this the hopper you mean?

https://clivecoffee.com/products/eureka ... 6646059096

I ask 'cuz Clive Coffee thows that hopper in for free with purchase of a new grinder. If so, I can't find a Eureka-made bellows. Thoughts?

For the hopper, I just bought a random, no-name one from Amazon like this. It seems to work pretty well. I couldn't find a Eureka branded one either. I wish they sold the ones from their single-dose model, that would be great!

Yes, that's the single-dose hopper made by Eureka. I bought mine with the bellows from Chris Coffee, but it looks like they are sold out. I also looked at the one from Amazon that Ash recommends, but I really wanted the ability to close the hopper from below. In the single-dose hopper, that tab helps control popcorning.

Cool.

I ordered it tonight. Clive Coffee. Silenzio and Lelit Elizabeth. Wish me luck!

Oh, and thnx for confirming the single-dose hopper and comments on that. I'm eager to try it.

The bellows. Check this out ... rx'd by Lance Hedrick: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D0I21CI/?c ... _lig_dp_it

Too funny. He takes the bellows off of that, and uses it with a niche. Wonder if it'll fit the Silenzio. We'll find out and I'll post back!