Uni-modal grinder

#1: Post by **Petrus** » July 28th, 2020, 11:25 pm

i really want to get a uni-modal grinder to experience ekspresso.
is there really such thing? is it just hype?

Can a good multimodal espresso grinder produce a similar shot with light roast? Or is it not achievable?

thanks

July 29th, 2020, 12:12 am

Surely the EK 43?

But apparently the Monolith Max can also produce Ekspresso (haven't tried myself yet).

#3: Post by **Geoffr** » July 29th, 2020, 12:25 am

You can order the Lagom P64 with SSP Unimodal burrs. I'm really enjoying the espresso I'm making with it, and it's very versatile in that it's perfect for brew too.

Cheaper and better suited to home use than an ek

#4: Post by **thoang77** » July 29th, 2020, 12:55 am

Its all in the burrs. Anything that can take unimodal flat burrs (check out what SSP offers) can give you the unimodal grinds you want, provided it's aligned properly

#5: Post by **RapidCoffee** » July 29th, 2020, 12:38 pm

Petrus wrote:i really want to get a uni-modal grinder to experience ekspresso.
is there really such thing? is it just hype?

Yes, hype.

Unimodal is a marketing buzzword for burr grinders. In 2007 I ran laser diffraction particle size analyses (and SEM) on coffee grinds as part of the Titan Grinder Project. The results clearly showed that coffee beans are crushed and broken into fragments by burr grinders (not neatly sliced). When you break a coffee bean, it doesn't split evenly into homogeneous pieces that are all the same size and shape. Small fragments (fines) break off. The finer the grind, the more breakage, and the more fines. Every grinder, every burr type, every time. Furthermore, you never get large particles of exactly the same size and shape. You get a range of grind particle sizes and shapes that is (more or less) normally distributed.

It's true that different grinders and different burr sets produce different particle size distributions. Some grinders/burrs produce narrower large particle peaks than others, and fewer fines. But the "unimodal" burr descriptor is purely marketing hype. All burr grinders produce bimodal (or multimodal) particle size distributions.