New Etzinger etz-I grinder - Page 4

#31: Post by **SoF** » January 5th, 2022, 4:59 am

I finally got my hands on one of these etz-I and my first impressions are mixed

It is a well built and engineered grinder, with a solid body and refined burr design, however there are too many "plastic" parts: these may be some kind of fiber reinforced material, but still not something I appreciate

Grinding for espresso is fast, and that is the best news but I believe that there are many aspects which should be improved

From a usage point of view CCW was not such an issue, although the motion is not as "fluid" as CW

I found that the opening is pretty narrow and without any funneling, which means that I have systematically coffee beans falling off the sides

The collection cup is held with a single magnet, and although this seems a good idea, the part it is attached to fills a large portion of the cup and attract any metal object (spoon, brush) which is not so practical, also the cup tends to detach "on its own" when I grind, spilling coffee everywhere several times already (whereas that does not happen to me with other grinders)

The crank (with a large flat "plastic" knob) does not retract entirely inside the grinder body when not in use, which could probably be improved, and when in use the small magnets meant to hold it in place are not strong enough: since I am not left handed (and still getting used to CCW) this make the rotating motion unsteady

The lid looks really cheap, it probably does its job but I guess that something with an hinge would be better and I lose it all the time

Apart from that the etz-I works well, the adjustment mechanism is precise, the burrs are easy to clean, and if Etzinger corrected some of the issues mentioned above (and replaced the "plastic" by something else) it would be a real contender in the high-end market

#32: Post by **zefkir** » January 5th, 2022, 11:13 am

What's grind retention like for you? Especially at espresso range?

TBH, the plastic is fine, feels solid.

#33: Post by **SoF** » January 6th, 2022, 3:29 am

The retention is quite bad and if you are not careful you can easily leave 1g (or more?) packed into the narrow gaps between the supports of the inner burr (there is virtually no grind remaining with the outer burr)

And with the coffee beans that I use shaking is not enough for dislodge it, I have to use a chopstick or similar, which is a pain

As a result I always grind a bit more than required and weigh with a scale to use exactly what I need

I am not sure that this can be improved much though, given how the grinder was designed

#34: Post by **bas** » January 6th, 2022, 5:06 am

SoF wrote:The retention is quite bad and if you are not careful you can easily leave 1g (or more?) packed into the narrow gaps between the supports of the inner burr (there is virtually no grind remaining with the outer burr

With or without RDT?

January 6th, 2022, 8:08 am

zefkir wrote:What's grind retention like for you? Especially at espresso range?

TBH, the plastic is fine, feels solid.

Plastic is actually fiber reinforced plastic, thus it is widely used in aerospace industry for its advantages. Anyways, some likes some hates the plastic but it looks solid

Regarding retention and static..

Pour over:

Best grinder I have ever used... no static, no retention around the burr or structure around the burr.. minimal retention (mostly dusts) inside the magnetic cup around the corners. This is typical for most of the grinders...

Espresso:

No static but ~1grams of retention inside the grooves around the burr structure... It is not difficult to clean as there is little static but there is retention ~1 gram for espresso

I will post the photos and a detailed review soon.

Note: I have a sample unit and there may (or may not) be design changes. I will confirm with the company.

#36: Post by **truemagellen** » January 6th, 2022, 1:20 pm

Have you contacted them about your concerns? Everyone who has bought so far were buying pre production units is my understanding.

Also burr may need some break in to reduce static but obviously if there are features that collect grinds that is an issue which I believe you are expressing.

#37: Post by **Crimson** » January 7th, 2022, 5:31 am

teyyaredenkahve wrote:Plastic is actually fiber reinforced plastic, thus it is widely used in aerospace industry for its advantages. Anyways, some likes some hates the plastic but it looks solid

Regarding retention and static..

Pour over:

Best grinder I have ever used... no static, no retention around the burr or structure around the burr.. minimal retention (mostly dusts) inside the magnetic cup around the corners. This is typical for most of the grinders...

Espresso:

No static but ~1grams of retention inside the grooves around the burr structure... It is not difficult to clean as there is little static but there is retention ~1 gram for espresso

I will post the photos and a detailed review soon.

Note: I have a sample unit and there may (or may not) be design changes. I will confirm with the company.

how does it compare to the comandante C40 for pour over?

January 7th, 2022, 7:10 am

I will do a few blind taste cupping to understand the difference but etzinger seems to require more seasoning based on my experience. Burr has many vertical, horizontal, spiral cutting faces.

I had a similar situation with my Kinu tests too. Amount of fines were decreased after some seasoning. I expect similar trend with etzinger too.

#39: Post by **zefkir** » January 7th, 2022, 10:23 am

teyyaredenkahve wrote:Plastic is actually fiber reinforced plastic, thus it is widely used in aerospace industry for its advantages. Anyways, some likes some hates the plastic but it looks solid

Regarding retention and static..

Pour over:

Best grinder I have ever used... no static, no retention around the burr or structure around the burr.. minimal retention (mostly dusts) inside the magnetic cup around the corners. This is typical for most of the grinders...

Espresso:

No static but ~1grams of retention inside the grooves around the burr structure... It is not difficult to clean as there is little static but there is retention ~1 gram for espresso

I will post the photos and a detailed review soon.

Note: I have a sample unit and there may (or may not) be design changes. I will confirm with the company.

I have had up to 2g of retention for an espresso grind, and considering where they are (underneath the swipers) most of it ends up as exchange rather than permanent retention. That makes switching between beans and brew methods difficult.

#40: Post by **Pressino** » January 7th, 2022, 11:10 pm

zefkir wrote:Yes, it's not the same, but unless left-handed people have significant issues trying to grind with CW rotation grinders, this is not a big issue.

Yes, it is a big issue. It's a matter of human musculoskeletal anatomy and ergonomics. When you hook up the EMG electrodes and force transducers to measure exactly how much force is being generated by specific muscles during CW and CCW hand cranking, the absolute differences may seem small but they are significant and do represent more efficienct use of muscle power with right handed CW grinding.

Now, I understand or at least have been led to believe that Germans are supposed to be OCD when it comes to technical issues like engineering efficiency. Thus I am baffled by Etzinger's website claim that CCW is just fine and only requires "getting used to it." Maybe they just found that getting mirror image burrs for the etz-1 grinder just wasn't worth it. BTW, I'm pretty sure their engineers know full well that CW grinding is "more natural" and efficient for a right-hander...

Well I for one will never buy one of these CCW grinders. If I were a leftie I would consider it, but I'm not. YMMV.