2020 Coffee Grinder Showdown - Page 6

November 9th, 2020, 2:59 pm

coffeemmichael wrote: the HU burrs in ultra are screw-less-- can't mount into Max

Oh yes.. that's very unfortunate.. (That's a very good thing for the Ultra, this is unfortunate for the comparison)

coffeemmichael wrote: This assumes there's a massive difference in alignment and that the behavior will change above 400rpm

Now I see better what you mean and well.. I'll play with your words.. if we assume there isn't a massive difference in alignment then the Ultra is a $1000 cheaper grinder so..

November 12th, 2020, 2:29 pm

one_good_coffee wrote:Now I see better what you mean and well.. I'll play with your words.. if we assume there isn't a massive difference in alignment then the Ultra is a $1000 cheaper grinder so..

$1000 cheaper than what? A Monolith that is made in the USA vs. a grinder made in China by Zhang and 'aligned' by Eric et al.?

#53: Post by **Jeff** » November 12th, 2020, 2:46 pm

Each has to make their own decisions about which grinder is appropriate for them, which may include their perceptions of build quality and longevity weighed against cost and availability. That this thread has generally been focused on presenting some opinions around the in-cup quality of some of the options that people might consider is a valuable resource. As far as I know, "country of origin", by itself, only makes a difference in the cup when considering coffees themselves. "Yes, please, I'll take the Kenyan."

November 12th, 2020, 3:15 pm

eltakeiteasy wrote:$1000 cheaper than what? A Monolith that is made in the USA vs. a grinder made in China by Zhang and 'aligned' by Eric et al.?

First of all, do you need to be so aggressive?

Then really? Are we still here in 2020 discussing USA vs China? Is it patriotism or something else?
The device that you use to write this message is 100% made in China. So much good stuff is made in China (so much bad stuff too, but they're not mutually exclusive). Do you realize how many parts of your espresso machine are made in China?

There are very smart minds everywhere in the world, I don't think we should segregate nor we should exclude some of them based on where they're from, and even more in our field where we don't have much people to begin with.

And by the way, your coffee is not made in the US either.

#55: Post by **RobindG** » November 12th, 2020, 3:41 pm

FYI The Kafatek motor is manufactured by Oriental Motor in Japan.

#56: Post by **RobindG** » November 12th, 2020, 4:00 pm

And SSP burrs are from South Korea

November 12th, 2020, 4:25 pm

one_good_coffee wrote:First of all, do you need to be so aggressive?

Then really? Are we still here in 2020 discussing USA vs China? Is it patriotism or something else?
The device that you use to write this message is 100% made in China. So much good stuff is made in China (so much bad stuff too, but they're not mutually exclusive). Do you realize how many parts of your espresso machine are made in China?

There are very smart minds everywhere in the world, I don't think we should segregate nor we should exclude some of them based on where they're from, and even more in our field where we don't have much people to begin with.

And by the way, your coffee is not made in the US either.

LOL if my response is aggressive then you must have self-quarantine too long... not sure how stating how something made stateside cost more than something made in another country cost less (labor arbitrage). No doubt there are smart people everywhere - it's just a fact it cost more to make things stateside especially the way Denis makes things.

Has nothing to do with patriotism but rather response rate and accountability.

one_good_coffee wrote:Do you realize how many parts of your espresso machine are made in China?

I am sure there are components on the 24V board from China ... but if I had to guess... probably the bits that have 'made in Italy' on them

There is a lot of that happening now...Chinese buying Italian firms, doing the production in China, and then shipping to Italy for assembly...

I have done a lot of business in China and here's the thing that most don't realize or take into account when outsourcing production to Chinese suppliers... it's only cheaper at volume (as in 10s of thousands or 100s of thousands)...

Again, this is not a comment about China vs. USA manufacturing so please don't try to turn it into that to divert people from your original questions which was:

one_good_coffee wrote:Now I see better what you mean and well.. I'll play with your words.. if we assume there isn't a massive difference in alignment then the Ultra is a $1000 cheaper grinder so../quote]

This is the answer to the "so..."

#58: Post by **LuckyMark** » November 12th, 2020, 4:27 pm

Totally unreasonable these days to judge quality on country of origin. It is the dedication of the worker and company to adhere to a quality, not where they reside. I remember well pulling into Shanghai's main rail station after travelling for hours on a train where the speed was flicking between 300 to 320kmh, then seeing 30 similar trains already in the station. In the US most trains seem rarely to do much over 100kmh. I wouldn't judge either country on that, but clearly the Chinese can make good high speed trains.

#59: Post by MB » November 12th, 2020, 4:37 pm

I'm really interested in the grinder comparison. Can we get back on track please? I don't want to have this thread derailed, lol.

November 12th, 2020, 4:51 pm

Indeed! Contributors to this thread, please review the Guidelines for productive online discussion. If you have concerns about another member's posts not adhering to the guidelines, please use the "!" button to report it and a moderator will handle it.