LUCCA 75 Atom - Impressions after one week - Page 2

Grinders are one of the keys to exceptional espresso. Discuss them here.
buckersss
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Joined: 3 years ago

#11: Post by buckersss »

Jeff wrote:Eureka makes very good hopper-style grinders. The Mythos-style burrs in the Atom 75 are well regarded for their smooth profile. Read Jim's tasting notes in the above-linked review for his opinions.

If you're using a puffer with one of the typical Eureka chassis, you should be aware that there are reports of large amounts of grinds being blown into the chassis. As the motor moves to adjust burr gap, this may be even more of a concern than just lack of cleanliness.
Agree that any atom is not really a single dose grinder. I'm fairly satisfied with my routine, but it has been a pita to land on something with which I'm comfortable. At the end of the day I wanted a grinder from a major manufacturer, despite glowing reviews of the P64, and I did want flexibility of different burr geometries (hence the atom pro). At least in these regards I can say that I'm not remorseful in my choice.

After a few months of using the blow up system, I opened up the bottom of the grinder and found at least 5g sitting on the caps and sprinkled around the base. After that I took off the blow up system. I think tapping with my palm doesn't cause the grounds to get sucked back up. I haven't opened it up again since that though.
dmau9600 wrote:Ya, I certainly didn't choose this grinder for single dosing. Simply too many great options for SD grinders in this price range now. The hassle and trade offs to adapt this grinder to SD workflows sound awful, personally.

If I can get my hands on one, I'd love a P64. Until then, I have my DF64 w/ SSP, though it's gone unused since I got the Lucca, as it's so so damn good and easy to pull fantastic shots.
Have you done any side by side comparisons with the df64 and lucca?

dmau9600 (original poster)
Posts: 19
Joined: 2 years ago

#12: Post by dmau9600 (original poster) »

Not back-to-back, but I've made the same coffee using both grinders.

The DF64 with HU burrs (I got HU because I lean medium-darker roasts, but will pull light roasts occasionally), has less body and mouthfeel, but a little more clarity and detail in the flavors. The Lucca 75, for my tastes, is much more pleasing shot. I feel like I get similar amounts of flavor separation, while get dramatically better body and mouth feel. That said, I haven't done anything too light on the Lucca yet.

I am also not sure how perfectly aligned my DF64 is. It's pretty good, but I didn't spend hours getting it perfect. Which is sort of the problem with the DF64. It's a great grinder for the money. Very flexible and capable. But it requires a lot of fussing with to get it perfect, and then after you fuss with it, you're always left wondering "could that shot have been better, because something it's aligned right with the grinder, or is it something else?"

So I'm done fussing with it, and am happy to pay Eureka or Lagom or whoever a bit extra to ensure tighter tolerances and dramatically better quality out of the box.

Pprior
Posts: 52
Joined: 2 years ago

#13: Post by Pprior »

I have this grinder as well for about a week 'cept mine is white :wink:

Seems very well built so far I only had one electronic glitch where it got stuck in a menu but turning it off and back on again fixed and it hasn't recurred.

I haven't figured out a way to "pulse" smaller amounts - it seems to do 1/2-3/4 gram at a time with the little button on the screen.

I will say the number of coffees available in the smart system did not include any of the coffees I have at home, but I've got cheap grocery store (aldi) coffees so maybe that's intentional :oops: I actually would like to try something that is listed in their app so maybe someone could recommend.

bluesman13
Posts: 11
Joined: 17 years ago

#14: Post by bluesman13 »

Hello,
I've had mine about three weeks - there was a bit of a learning curve for me. I had trouble with adjusting the time of the grind (it's linked to the weight of the beans), and the fineness of the grind. I had a Clive tech on the phone helping me set it up. Once my beans were dialed in, the taste of my espresso improved dramatically. Coming from a grinder with a doser, this grinder was a welcome relief. The true grind feature for me, though, has so far been a bust (I'm not ruling out operator error btw :-)). The recommended grind has never been indicative of the actual grind that produced a well extracted shot. For example, I added a 17gr coffee dose, 30gr shot weight, and it recommended a truegrind setting of 41. However, this produced a shot that took over 45 sec for 30 gr shot weight. In reality to get a good 25-30 sec shot, I had to set the grind setting on 50. I'm ok adjusting the grind setting by hand, but it defeats the purpose of having the machine recommend a grind setting.I have not tried using any of the pre-entered coffees. Also, I wish the pre-entered coffees was more robust as many of my favorites are not available.

If I had to do over again, I would first focus of shot weight, then adjust the grind setting to get an accurate pull weight. Anyway, that has been my experience.

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