Alright, so on to my Stowaway taste test between the Iota and Kinu m68. As a reminder:

1. I pull 2 shots from the Kinu, 1 from the Iota at 1:2 with same shot times. I'll shuffle the cups, have my wife shuffle the cups, then we blindly try to pick which cups are from which grinder, which cup we like best, and why. Then repeat the test for one more round.

2. I make sure temperature is the same by using a thermo-pen.

3. I thought Stowaway was more medium roast, but based on the picture above, it's more medium light. It's a very well balanced blend. It starts bright and floral with orchid, and finishes with cocoa. I never got the browning sugars middle note the bag says. It's absolutely fantastic in milk, particularly cortados and small cappuccini.

To summarize: the tastes were not significantly different, and we couldn't reliably pick out which shot came from which grinder. The first round, my wife picked the cups correctly, and liked the Iota shot better. The second round, she got the cups wrong and picked a shot from the Kinu.

For me, I couldn't pick out which cup was which on either round, and I liked shots from the conical in both rounds best (probably just a coincidence).

Overall taste observations: again, I couldn't pick these out blind and the perceived difference after the reveal in the cup is TINY. As in, almost nonexistent and not worth speculating.

I want to make this clear: one was not better than the other and I couldn't reliably pick the difference blinded. I think the difference between conicals and flats are overblown at this point in testing, using my stock burrs in the Iota. I have SSP High Uniformity burrs on order so that may change.

I don't want to go into, "I think that the flat was cleaner, and the conical had higher body and lower lows along with higher highs," because I couldn't pick them out blinded.

I truly believe it comes down to workflow, and the Iota has some things working against it:

1. Maybe I've been spoiled with the Kinu, but the adjustment ring is TOUCHY. A change in one notch drastically changes shot times. Puck prep is more touchy too.

2. I hate how you lose your grind settings (numbers) when you take the adjustment collar off.

3. Static is an issue as it is in my Kinu, but the Iota is way messier because of the chute design. The straight through design of the Kinu makes it way cleaner.

4. RDT is an issue. Too little water, and it's static central. Too much water, I'm grinding so fine, that the burrs get gummed up and no grinds can pass through. I have to be extra careful to use just the right amount of water. Ymmv tho.

Overall to this point, in the cup, it's keeping pace with my 68mm conical hand grinder, so take that for what is.

My light roast single origin comparison is coming soon.