Grind distribution, a mystery to me...
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After using a HG-One almost three years (would guess about 30-40kg) it finally appeared to be sufficiently used as not to need WDT, with most beans (almost no pouring or taste differences when using a naked PF).
With one or another bean there is more burr retention, uneven fall and WDT is required.
A very nice characteristic of this grinder is that it produces zero lumps, not big nor small, just a little lateral shake and a vertical tap and the filter surface is perfectly flat and even, ready for a clean (finger) tamp.
However, with my other machine (that I seldom use) the Graef, after extracting, the puck shows a "punctured" surface. Not exactly channeling, more of a surface thing, as taste is correct, but that, even using all recommended techniques (WDT, grinders, RDTI, dosing, etc) was unable to avoid.
Recently a great opportunity came up and I ended buying a Mythos, which I really like.
The main reason is the more complex and brighter taste profile (nothing that enormously different, I still consider the HG One a very nice grinder) , that I'm enjoying and the better shot consistency (the occasional inconsistencies that I wrongly attributed to HX temperature differences of the Strega) over the HG One.
What really goy my attention is that (at least with the four or five different beans I tried) the distribution is perfect.
It's like in the Lewellyn Davies video: press button with PF, tap against PF holder and (finger) tamp, ready ! Perfect pours every time !
I have five other grinders, and all of them require some kind of WDT for a perfect espresso pour.
It may also depend on the "breaking in" phase, as the Mythos was used in a coffee shop for about one year (26 hours) and is well "broken in", and maybe the HG One will get an even better performance after grinding a couple of hundred kg more.
What dazzles me is that the Mythos (un-tamped) filter surface grinds are more uneven that with the HG One (ground) grinds ... I has small lumps, probably because one of the little "anti-lumping" (celluloid ?) "fingers" is slightly shortened (possibly the tip was broken by use), but the tamped surface looks just the same, and in spite of the appearance, the consistency is significantly better.
I can only attribute the difference to distribution, as when using the Mythos grinds (instead of the HG's) the Graef extraction produced absolutely no puck "punctures" ... while taste was about the same as with the HG One
With one or another bean there is more burr retention, uneven fall and WDT is required.
A very nice characteristic of this grinder is that it produces zero lumps, not big nor small, just a little lateral shake and a vertical tap and the filter surface is perfectly flat and even, ready for a clean (finger) tamp.
However, with my other machine (that I seldom use) the Graef, after extracting, the puck shows a "punctured" surface. Not exactly channeling, more of a surface thing, as taste is correct, but that, even using all recommended techniques (WDT, grinders, RDTI, dosing, etc) was unable to avoid.
Recently a great opportunity came up and I ended buying a Mythos, which I really like.
The main reason is the more complex and brighter taste profile (nothing that enormously different, I still consider the HG One a very nice grinder) , that I'm enjoying and the better shot consistency (the occasional inconsistencies that I wrongly attributed to HX temperature differences of the Strega) over the HG One.
What really goy my attention is that (at least with the four or five different beans I tried) the distribution is perfect.
It's like in the Lewellyn Davies video: press button with PF, tap against PF holder and (finger) tamp, ready ! Perfect pours every time !
I have five other grinders, and all of them require some kind of WDT for a perfect espresso pour.
It may also depend on the "breaking in" phase, as the Mythos was used in a coffee shop for about one year (26 hours) and is well "broken in", and maybe the HG One will get an even better performance after grinding a couple of hundred kg more.
What dazzles me is that the Mythos (un-tamped) filter surface grinds are more uneven that with the HG One (ground) grinds ... I has small lumps, probably because one of the little "anti-lumping" (celluloid ?) "fingers" is slightly shortened (possibly the tip was broken by use), but the tamped surface looks just the same, and in spite of the appearance, the consistency is significantly better.
I can only attribute the difference to distribution, as when using the Mythos grinds (instead of the HG's) the Graef extraction produced absolutely no puck "punctures" ... while taste was about the same as with the HG One
