Current situation: have had a Bunn G2 for the last few years, entirely pourover/brew, no espresso. I have a chance to pick up a barely-used EK43S, stock burrset, not sure if it's ever been aligned, for an extremely good price. I'm definitely happy with the Bunn, but my local roaster has a pair of EK43s, and before I got my grinder I remember beans from those tasting spectacular.

My question is, for those who've lived with both, which direction would you go? I don't know if axially aligning either machine is within my abilities to not screw up, to be honest - so I'm wondering if the G2 with SSPs would be better to stick with.

Thanks in advance!

Stock New designed EK burrs are best described as jack of all trades but master of none. Sure those burrs are better then those cheap burrs that is typically found in lower ranged grinders and espresso grinders, but the reality is that Ditting for example makes better burrs. Even the once found in top of the range Compack bulks I find somewhat better, well you could of course debate that's not a fair comparison since those grinders is also allot more expensive. Fortunately some of the Ditting burrs can be used in cheaper grinders and it would literally be a better solution. So yes you would be better off with your grinder with SSP burrs, than by all certainty a poorly aligned stock EK with stock burrs. To get the best out of an EK you'll need to replace the carrier with a Titus version, replace the burrs with SSP burrs and in some cases sanding the chamber it self! Even with all those things done an EK will still be an EK.. that means you need to constantly clean, lubricate, align and zero it to make it reliable and to deliver its best performance, if you do not do this constantly you'll end up with quality issues and a misbehaving grinder.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for. The reason for EK's success is not because it where the best, but because it's relatively affordable for a bulk, available at many vendors and now a days also hyped and a symbol of speciality coffee. The first two reasons where the main reasons why the EK ended up being a success story, it was never because it where the best of its time.

For me the EK will always stand for an Entry level bulk that makes it somewhat affordable to get excellent results with a bit of work. But times are changing, with the soaring prices of EK's in recent years the gap between it and better build grinders are diminishing quickly making it less appealing, to make matters worse there are now SD grinders within its price range.

The rational is simple only get an EK used and then upgrade it with the above mentioned parts, its not worth the hefty price tag of today. When I bought it the price where less than 5/7 of the current listed price, so back then it where value for money, that's not the case anymore.

Just curious - what bulk grinder would you recommend?

I have a bunn g3 fitted with SSP burrs, and definitely enjoy the output but couldn't help being tempted by an EK. I use this grinder for my personal pourover needs, as well as grinding for my small roasting business, so would need to be able to grind 5lb bags at a time occasionally.

Would would a real step up be? Compak r120? Ditting kfa 140?

malling wrote: The rational is simple only get an EK used and then upgrade it with the above mentioned parts, its not worth the hefty price tag of today. When I bought it the price where less than 5/7 of the current listed price, so back then it where value for money, that's not the case anymore.

Interesting Fraction! 5/7!

I wish I could give feedback on the Bunn but I will say the EK43s performs outstandingly well with the above mentioned upgrades. I purchased mine a couple months ago and upgraded to Low Fines Red Speed SSPs coated by Titus, the Titus Burr Carrier, Titus Dial and Knob, and with the help of a good friend, I sanded the chamber (which wasn't that far off by the way). I guess on the the new EKs they are machining the chambers quite well.

I'm loving it for Filter and espresso. Pulled some shots of a Colombian Buesaco side by side with the Niche yesterday. I couldn't believe how much more Cherry taste I got with the EK. Not to say the shot from the Niche tasted bad, it was just different. For filter, I have never seen a grind be more consistent and all my brews are tasting great from Espresso to Cold brew. I also have the Baratza Forte BG. The EK with these upgrades is in another league to me.

With that said, If anyone has a Ditting Lab Sweet in the DC area, I'd love to do a side by side comparison with the EK!

The EK needs to be aligned really well as the burrs are big, but doesn't that apply to any big burr flat grinder? On the EK at least it's possible to measure.

I've been happy with my EK with Titus carrier and stock burrs (didn't require sanding, was true from factory). But I will test SSP burrs soon. Some don't find them to make a huge difference, and they cost a bit.

Sure the EK isn't the only good grinder out there. There are more compact solutions especially for a home setting, and more coming out by the minute, building on the EK: unimodal flat burr single dosing.

But the EK works, and delivers, so if one likes the design and it's properly aligned it's a good buy to me if the price is right. I'm even tempted to get a second Titus pimped EK with SSP burrs that showed up in my country, and have one optimised for filter and one for espresso. Not sure my wife would love it though.

In all honesty it won't make much sense to get a pimped EK taken into considerations that Titus now make their own big flatburr grinder within the same price range, a grinder that by all records are better build, better designed and has lower tolerance and is allot easier to maintain and has more up it sleeves.

Yes that applies to all all big flats, but some of the other have parts made to a superior tolerances and is tested assembled, so the job you have to do is less when cleaning and installing the burrs, so unless you tare it completely apart it won't be that problematic. The EK however is do it all yourself kinda solution because they done such a lacklustre job at the factory to make profitable at that price range, and it takes an effort to get the same alignment every time you assemble it after the necessary cleaning and lubrications. Yes the EK works if you want to do the necessary alignment and adding better parts, if that's not your thing don't even consider getting it.

I have been fortunate to test the lab sweet and even that lower model is better to the EK both in build, design and in the cup. But it's in all fairness SL/LS are also allot more expensive, so it would be a a bit of a let down if it where not the case.

I wasn't clear in that the Titus pimped one was second hand in my country, barely used at a fair price. I'm not going to buy it. I was just tempted there for a minute lol.

Shawnaks5 wrote:Interesting Fraction! 5/7!

I wish I could give feedback on the Bunn but I will say the EK43s performs outstandingly well with the above mentioned upgrades. I purchased mine a couple months ago and upgraded to Low Fines Red Speed SSPs coated by Titus, the Titus Burr Carrier, Titus Dial and Knob, and with the help of a good friend, I sanded the chamber (which wasn't that far off by the way). I guess on the the new EKs they are machining the chambers quite well.

I'm loving it for Filter and espresso. Pulled some shots of a Colombian Buesaco side by side with the Niche yesterday. I couldn't believe how much more Cherry taste I got with the EK. Not to say the shot from the Niche tasted bad, it was just different. For filter, I have never seen a grind be more consistent and all my brews are tasting great from Espresso to Cold brew. I also have the Baratza Forte BG. The EK with these upgrades is in another league to me.

With that said, If anyone has a Ditting Lab Sweet in the DC area, I'd love to do a side by side comparison with the EK!

Did you try the EK43S before you got the Red Speeds?

Yes I did, but only for a couple weeks. I kind of had my heart set on the SSP Red Speed Low Fines before I got the EK. The differences in the cup were subtle for filter coffee but I would need to do more comparisons in order to make a better assessment. I'm thinking about doing that soon. Gonna compare Stock EK Burrs with Pre-2015s and SSP Low Fines SSPs. I also want to do more espresso comparisons between the stock burrs and the SSPs. I think at the end of the day the Red Speed SSP Low Fines burrs will be the best burrs if you want the ability to do espresso and Filter. The stock burrs aren't too shabby for both either. The SSP Cast and MK Pre-2015s are supposed to be the best for filter according to what I've heard from others. I've also heard that depending on extraction percentages one burr set (Pre 2015s) may give you more sweetness/mouthfeel and the other one (SSP Low Fines) will have more clarity at the same extraction percentage. At higher extraction percentages the SSPs may work better. Of course this is all subjective and what I've heard!