marlodmb wrote:Got the blue ones off of Amazon. I put 18g in each. When Iim about to use them I pop the lid off, and then spray the top of the beans and pour in the MC. Think I have like 12 of them. Think 2 of them are off 1g of the rest but no biggie here.

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I see you have a Sette 270 and a MonoCon? How big a difference between the two? I realize we are talking $400 vs. $2,000. Does it justify the $1,600 price differential?

Curious about that myself, but one thing worth keeping in mind: that Monolith could very well outlive more than 5 Settes...

BaristaBob wrote:I see you have a Sette 270 and a MonoCon? How big a difference between the two? I realize we are talking $400 vs. $2,000. Does it justify the $1,600 price differential?

I have both as well.

Whether something is cost-justified is really a matter of personal opinion. Is a dinner at the French Laundry worth $$$ more than a dinner at Denny's? Is a Mercedes SL that much better than the cheapest possible used car for going from point-A to point-B? Is private jet travel that much better than airline travel to justify the cost?

The Sette 270w is at my second home and I'm using it with a Quickmill Anita (simple HX machine). It is a good grinder and I'm able to produce good shots with the two, perhaps with a bit of futzing around. I've owned the Anita for 10+ years and I know the machine really well.

I have the Monolith conical and Linea Mini at home. I can consistently produce excellent shots with this pair. It is a lot more money, but I'm happy because I can nail a perfect shot time after time after time. I get better results in the cup, I get more of them and I don't have to work so hard to achieve it.

I would find it quite plausible that the Monolith will last as long as I will. Given my past experience Baratza grinders, I don't think it will live nearly as long. However, I think this is hands-down a tremendous value at $500. I also do not regret the money spent on the Monolith. Despite its expense, I also believe it to be a tremendous value for what I paid for it.

I've also compared the LMLM and the Anita and the Monolith and 270w altogether, with the same coffee and kitchen techniques. The grinder has a tremendous influence over the results. I could tell the grinders apart with different espresso machines. The biggest difference in machines amounted to consistency as both were calibrated quite carefully to the same parameters. The LMLM - same every time, while the HX machine's need for human supervision and intuition introduce a lot of variance.

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