EK-43 and its silver child.

Thought I'd do a small first impressions review on the Kalita Nice Cut since I picked one up a few days ago on Amazon for around $200US. There isn't very much information regarding this grinder in English and I seem to see this grinder everywhere on foreign coffee videos.

First impressions - this thing is cute, along with being solidly build with some heft to it. It looks like the EK-43 spit out some kids and this is the result. It's rated for 100V but works fine in an American 110-120V socket. The grind adjustment knob is indented in half steps between the numbers, with pictures around the dial that tell you which grind setting is suitable for your needs. Some might disagree with me, but for this machine I actually like the steps on the grind adjustment knob - it's simple, and I know what I'm getting, and there's nothing to be fussy about.

Brewed a Burundi cup on the Kalita Wave using my usual dose (1:16 30g coffee ground on the #4 setting) and the cup was quite tasty and transparent. A definite step up from the Hausgrind. Better than the Lido 2? Not sure yet. Retention for brew is basically 0g. I haven't used this for espresso yet.

That is pretty neat! What size are the burrs??

glad to see you got it! the NC mill is one of my favorites for brew grinds, specifically kalita.

we used ours at grind setting between 3-4 if i remember correctly. delicious and well rounded. the fines taste really good.

can't wait to put that ek to use

Looks extremely similar to the KitchenAid Pro Line Grinder, couldn't see the details of the adjustment mechanism but everything else looks very very similar.

https://thinkingcoffee.wordpress.com/20 ... n-grinder/
Seems to be the same.
Has a lot of different names of which my favorite is 'Little Flying Horse', but usually called *something* 600N
The Fuji R220 is a similar but different grinder using crusher burrs, the Tiamo 700S is also similar, but uses a cut burrset instead of a 'pressed' burrset.
http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/r220,tiamo/Interesting

In any case, can be had for really cheap.
http://nl.aliexpress.com/store/product/ ... 13400.html

A better explanation can be found here:
Fuji Royal R-220

The burr carrier on those is different and seem a bit more stable IMHO compared to the KitchenAid and the Nice Cut Mill, maybe even allow for a bit more precision in the burr play if manufacturer allows for it.

I was always a bit tempted by this as an alternative to the Fuji Royal R220, but could never quite bring myself to buy. As they look quite similar on the outside, here is a decent comparison of the two I found in English:

Double grinders for pourover brewing. Fuji Royal R220 DX, and Kalita Nice Cut Mill.
Why double grinder for the pourover brewing? I asked my Barista in the shop.
"The different blade design in these 2 grinders produce different flavors in your cup" my barista explained.
The burr design of Fuji R220 grinder is a teeth-like design, commonly called as "ghost teeth", it produce less powder residual, and also result in a smooth taste.
The design for Kalita Nice Cut Mill is different, and it's a blade design, and the coffee may result in a more bright and sharp taste, which may be suitable to certain bean having special flavor.
But there's one important step before grind, cleaning the burr, which if there are some other beans used in the grinder before, may have little residual mixed into next cup.

Bluecold wrote: Has a lot of different names of which my favorite is 'Little Flying Horse', but usually called *something* 600N

Feima 600N, but I believe there is a 610N available with ghost-like teeth.

http://www.feima.com.tw/

They apparently make an assortment of that style grinder, both 60mm and 90mm burrs of differing burr shape.

I find that great brew grinders provide a texture or quality to a cup that kind of 'glides' or 'glosses' over your tongue. The Kalita Nice Cut doesn't do this, but it makes a transparent cup that's refreshing to drink.

The Kalita Nice Cut Mill doesn't do espresso (probably made obvious being that the smallest grind size shows a drip pot on the dial) - which is interesting since it looks like its Chinese counterpart can. The burrs certainly look different however.