What's illuminating is that this hasn't become a flame war!

Your experience isn't surprising. Most people would simply try the two cups and say, "it tastes like coffee." I have a K10 and a Sette and I enjoy blends that sing on both machines. Therefore, I use the Sette daily and the K10 collects dust. I was hard pressed to find any more enjoyment out of my K10 shots than I did of my Sette shots. I don't know that the Monolith's are discernibly better than the K10 in the cup for me so I'm not surprised by your finding. I'm more surprised that you posted! haha

cheesy wrote:The Caffe Lusso ["Gran Miscela Carmo" Brazilian espresso blend] Denis put in the box definitely tasted different! It's a much darker roast than my taste and I wasn't a huge fan.

I'm surprised there haven't been more comments on the peculiarity of using such an unchallenging comfort roast to test an expensive grinder. I do enjoy this coffee, but you can get good results from it with much more modest equipment (such as mine).

I suspect as others have stated, improvement in the cup you might better observe on a lighter roasted single origin, as opposed to a comfort blend.

Before i purchased my Peak, i called mahlkonig and asked them about the k30 vs peak. They mentioned various improvements, but nothing related to the taste in the cup improvement. Then their response specifically to "in the cup", was that if I drank medium or darker roasts, their likely would be no noticeable difference. However where the Peak would would be with some of the lighter roasted beans (which tend to be harder to extract).
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If anyone is still following along at home, I spent a bit more time experimenting today. I found the adjustment on the Flat to be pretty fussy @ 250 RPM, so I'm back up to the factory default 450. It was producing much more even pours @ 250 though, so I'm definitely going to re-visit that at some point in the future.

It does seem to be the case that the MF can make tastier shots with higher extractions. I pulled two shots on the higher end of extraction time; 17g -> 30g in about 36 seconds. Using the crappy analog refractometer I got from Amazon (not recommended), both had the same reading of ~12.2 Brix, apparently 10.4% TDS. The shot ground by the MF was slightly bitter but also had some brightness. The shot from the Sette grinds was noticeably more bitter and had lost the pleasant brightness. Overall, the MF shot was still quite tasty whereas the Sette was wandering more into "meh" territory.

So, I'm happy that I at least was able to taste a difference between the two grinders, even if it was in a shot range that I'm personally not so interested in.

I pulled two shots on the higher end of extraction time; 17g -> 30g in about 36 seconds.

I'm curious how the bitterness would tone down if you upped it to about a 2.5 ratio (17g in... 42.5g out) in 35-40 seconds? When I went to this ratio on the coffee I've been using for the last year (a natural Ethiopian), it really started to sweeten up when ground on both a conical and flat.

Capitol wrote:I'm curious how the bitterness would tone down if you upped it to about a 2.5 ratio (17g in... 42.5g out) in 35-40 seconds?

I've had a few longer shots while messing around and it does tone down the bitterness. However, I generally prefer the intensity of the 1:2 ratio better. I'm also using a local blend I enjoy right now (until the MF is properly broken in), and I think it would be much harder to get that particular recipe to sing with a blend.

You can also try a shorter ratio 17g in/25g out. Aim for a shot time of about 28sec-30sec or so. This will give you a higher TDS shot and likely some extra creamy body. A good grinder should be able to do this without sacrificing the balance.

Spitz.me wrote:What's illuminating is that this hasn't become a flame war!

This blows my mind, too! This has been a fascinating read.

People with Monoliths are busy happily making espresso! Why would they want to stop and talk poorly about someone doing the same with different grinder?

Actually, I think the OP should send me his flat, I would be happy to help him get rid of it!