I caved and purchased the Specialita. I just couldn't resist the pretty shiny chrome, the small foot print, the promise of low retention and the quieter grinder, Now I am totally over cafinated trying to compare and contrast the Specialita and the Sette. I keep (or try to) the dose, the grind and the amount in the cup the same. I still can't decide. I got the whole family maxed out on caffeine as well. :lol. Sometimes I like the taste in the cup better from the Seete, other times from Specialita. I just don't think that my tastes buds are all that refined.

What I do know is that Sette still has less retention, although the retention is minimal on the Specialita, it is still more than on Sette. While the grinds are fluffier on Specialita, the Sette has no clumping, while Specialita has has a tiny bit. Specialita wins in the quiet department and the looks department. I love the ability on Specialita to pause in the middle of the shot and settle grounds and then continue. The only way you can pause the Setteis if you are grinding into the cup. If you are grinding into the portafilter and then take it out to settle the grinds the scale will reset. TO work around that I programmed a 9.3 gram setting and 10.5 gram settings and just grind twice for a single and double shot.

At some point, I will decide which one I prefer and sell the runner up. But for now I have two grinders sitting in my coffee bar counter and the hubby is not too thrilled. I just tell him it's an ongoing science experiment. I think I need to invite friends over and cafinate them ASAP.

Do you think I am a bit obsessive?...

I'm now outside the "buyer's remorse" window and I still have my Specialita. My verdict: It's pretty good.

I did my best to weigh every shot in & out. I often forgot to tare my PF so plenty of shots went unrecorded, but from late July to late August, I recorded 74 shots. Vast majority were for espresso, dosing in the neighborhood of 19g-22g, depending on roast, bean, and ratio (switched from normale to ristretto at a certain point). I also ground a few pourovers, and a few Aeropresses, and a few very stale decafs. Here's the breakdown, retention-wise, for strictly single dosing:

22 shots were exactly dead on
26 off by +/- 0.1g
11 off by +/- 0.2g
15 off by 0.3g or more, although out of these, 6 were either when making major adjustments or just after a cleaning

So, by my count, that means almost 30% of the time, there was perfect dose accuracy -- perfect in & out. I can't say it was necessarily "zero retention," because who knows, maybe a fresh .1g got stuck and an old .1g got knocked loose. But for all intents and purposes, these were perfect enough for me.

If you lump the perfect in with the misses by .1 and .2 (which, assuming a .1g margin of error for the scale and/or a bit that rolls out of the basket due to high pile, etc) that adds up to 80% rate of general acceptability.

20% of the time, it has technically been "not great" for single-dosing, but I'm a bit forgiving here because the Specialita is not specifically designed for single-dosing. I therefore fully expect that when making a big move up to pourover or back, or right after a cleaning, there's going to be an off shot or two. So when considering that of the 15 that were substantially off, 6 came after big adjustment or cleaning, that -- in my mind -- makes it more like a 12% inexcusable fail rate.

So, about 12% of the time I guess I needed to either to wipe a tiny bit off the top of the heap or else grind an extra bean or two. Not the end of the world. After 8/13 I stopped writing the date and recorded only the differences, so I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think it's safe to say the dependability improved as time went on, with more perfect doses towards the more recent end. I stopped taking notes about a week ago, most since then have been within .1 or are dead on, with .2 differences being in the minority and nothing that I can remember being off by greater than that. So, maybe the coming month will be even better, I guess we'll see.

So the bottom line as far as retention goes is that from here on in I will always make an effort to tare the PF and weigh the output because obviously I'm a bit fastidious, I like to know what's happening, and this grinder hasn't earned blind trust. But I do fully expect at least an acceptable if not pleasing outcome. Otherwise I'd have returned it.

Regarding popcorning -- not an issue, as far as I'm concerned. Maybe adds 1 or 2 seconds, if any, to the grind time. I don't use the stock hopper, though. I found a clear plastic pill bottle, maybe it was ibuprofen, I dunno, the label was already gone. Point is its mouth fit perfectly in the Specialita neck, and with a rubber band around the bottle threads it's nice and snug. I cut the bottom off the pill bottle, and after weighing the beans in a little steel ramekin kind of thing, I pour them in and lay the ramekin thing on top as a lid of sorts. Works perfectly, feeds instantly, I'm happy with it.

Regarding speed -- I would say that to wait for very bit of grinds to issue from the chute, I hit the button to stop it typically at just shy of 20sec for a dose in the 20g neighborhood, and I'm fine with that.

Regarding looks -- I have the black one, I think it looks nice, it's inconspicuous and doesn't take up much room, which is great. I'm a little self-conscious about my cluttered coffee corner so I like that it's not a massive presence like so many bigger-burr grinders are.

Regarding noise -- it's quite quiet. Way quieter than the baratza vario, and quieter than the HG1. After using the Specialita for a while it's a bit less quiet when not under load. The first time you turn it on, with virtually not a single speck of dust on the inside, it's eerily completely silent. Now that there's coffee in all its nooks and crannies, it does whisper/hum very quietly when it's on. But while grinding, still as quiet as ever.

Regarding static -- no problem. I don't use any water droplets. Straight beans, neat pile of grinds, very minimal errant grinds. Grinding for a 2-cup pourover did foof up a bit, but not too bad. That was only an experiment anyway; I intend to stick with my Kinu M47 for 1 and 2-cup drip and my Vario for larger batches. Pourover grind quality was acceptable but definitely not as good as the manual conicals. Maybe it would have improved if I'd stuck with it in that range; maybe some retained espresso grind was coming out in the mix. Be that as it may, the Specialita remains an espresso grinder in my book.

Regarding clumps -- I can tell they're generated but are broken up pretty well on their way out. Small mini-clumps reach the basket but I don't think they're effecting my extractions as they settle apart as I settle the mounded dose by tapping the sides. I do also tend to use a "polisher," (distributor?) but I'm starting to think the tool does more harm than good, I might try a different one eventually or just go without.

Regarding the extractions -- They're fine. I've been hyper critical in this opening phase, really looking for faults and hoping for "wow"s. I don't think I'm getting the flavor separation and clarity that I got with the HG1 or the Kinu for that matter. But I'm content, I'm enjoying these shots, and Ethiopian coffees (easy wows) are a little bit harder to come by this time year, so there's that, too. I'm very happy not to grind manually for espresso anymore, and I only drink about half my shots straight, the rest go into milk or something cold. And the more I chill out about it, the more I'll enjoy.

In summation: This is probably not a geek's grinder. It's not an end-game, top-o-the-heap, brag-to-your-local-roaster-friend grinder. But I do think it might be a best-in-class grinder. For the price I'm certainly happy with it. I think I'll continue being happy enough with it for the foreseeable future. I guess I'm not "ga-ga" over-the-moon about it but my standards are a little unreasonable and I do have two kids that might like to board an airplane every once in a while and maybe someday go to college, so, no Monolith for me. The Specialita will do nicely I think.

The taste comparison continues. It's Sette 270 Wi vs. Eureka Mignon Specialita. My whole family is involved in the blind study and day to day the consensus is that they like the cappuccino from the Sette more than the one from Specialita. They get to compare two shots daily and without a fail pick Sette. My hubby finds that the shot is stronger and there is more flavor separation and just all together prefers it. My son's girlfriend upon tasting both (several times) finds that the Sette cappuccino, she tastes coffee more and with Specialita milk and the drink is more blend.

This sure has been fun.

Interesting read on this grinder, i became interested in this as i saw this grinder at a shop with many fancy colours.

I did a quick test to test the grind quality and it seemed pretty decent and fluffy, it was not dialed in so could not compare apples to apples.

I suppose for the owners who have this grinder, have you opened up the grinding/burr chamber to see how much coffee is retained in the chamber? As always the concern is retention to reduce the a dose with stale grinds.

I have the sette currently and i have been doing well with it but this eureka specialita is built and feels much much better quality. I am contemplating jumping ship.

The comment above mine states the preference for sette over specialita which is interesting.

Specialita has flat 55mm burrs and IDC in canada seems to carry the version with 55mm "diamond inside burrs", which they claim is exclusive to them.
Sette has conical 40mm steele burrs and seems to be wanting to grind finer and finer as time progresses to get the right shot variables.

Any other specialita users and their comments?

I upgraded to the Mignon Specialita after learning on my Rocky for a few years. I've had it for several months and I love it. I realize it's not in the category of a conical or anything way pricier, but for me it's made an enormous difference in taste and body. Easy to use and hardly any clumps at all; those that can be seen go poof when you gently knock the PF on the mat. Oh, and it's surprisingly fast; I never grind for more than 12 seconds or so for a double.

As for cleaning it: Any other Mignon operators have any stories/tips? Several days ago I was suddenly faced with *lots* of static and clumping. However, after a day or so of worrying I switched beans a bit the problem seems to have simply gone away. In fact, I pulled maybe my best shot yet this AM. Perhaps there was a big ol' clump in there that finally came free; I sort of suspect the bean (a new malabar I was trying out), to be honest.

BTW, my usual cleaning routine just involves dislodging and sucking up whatever comes out using a Giottos Rocket Air Blaster and a Dyson. I'd love to get deeper in there but I don't know what to unscrew or peel back! I've yet to find a video showing the process.

Best,
Mike

I use grindz pellets with my Bezzera BB005 and they seem to do the trick


Randy

I have a package of those but am afraid to use them based on some things I've read here. Do you find they leave particles behind for a while after?

I make sure that I set the grinder to a medium grind then run some stale beans after until you don't see any grindz

Randy

Thanks, Randy. How many grams?

I use a full bag of grindz as I have individual packets.
You need to single dose the pellets
After run stale coffee until you don't see any in the ground coffee
Then run a few grams of fresh coffee and you are good at go.
The grindz is harmless so don't sweat it too much

Randy