Denis said he will have VST data for us, perhaps in the next few weeks. I could care less what it shows. Taste does not correlate with ER, once you exceed an undefinable threshold. At this level, if you are not chasing taste, you are missing the point.

Tungsten burrs will be very heavy, and cost $1200-1500 at least. You could ask, but there is no good reason in a non commercial setting to use tungsten burrs.

Could not possibly disagree more with "taste does not correlate with ER" (or at least think that threshold is at least 28-30% and we're still not close to reaching it), so I'll look forward to Denis's measurements!

In my conversations with Hansung of SSP, they say the tungsten has a little better performance, even though the main advantage is the longevity. Now, I haven't seen that confirmed, and maybe Denis has already tested and came to a different conclusion. But if it is true, I'd gladly pay the extra.

CwD wrote:Oh man, a very serious contender for my next grinder here! Can't wait to hear more!

I'm wondering why the top speed of only 400rpm though...

Possibly because those monster burrs at 400 rpm will already grind a shot in zero time, and to remove the gear reduction and allow the motor to work at 800 rpm would create a disturbance in the space-time continuum such that time would begin moving backwards, and we'd all become Benjamin Buttons.

Denis has not, and does not plan to test the tungsten burrs on MAX. He did not find a difference on the Flat with Tungsten burrs. I asked about them too, of course. What I am interested in seeing the numbers on is the ristretto and short normale shots, as these taste very good with this grinder, better than with Flat, and do not sacrifice mouthfeel like EKsprrsso long shots.

Both the MAX and Flat can easily extract over 25%. The best tasting/mouthfeel shot is rarely one that is maximally extracted. EY needs to be high, I agree, but optimally extracted is not necessarily maximally extracted, though it can sometimes be, as with poorly developed light roasts.

The point is that this grinder will do well with whatever you want to throw at it, and of course it's ability to hit high EYs is an essential part of this calculus.

A huge yes to those ristretto shot numbers!

People can pull 24-25% lungo shots with most of the current high tier flats. It's nice, but I don't even need to see anything to believe that. What started my SSP obsession is seeing people breaking 25% on 1:1 shots without even having any fuss of super long shot times.

When I'm talking about extraction yield I'm talking about the grinder's maximum, not what to dial in for. Absolutely agree blind numbers is an unwise game in that regard. More even grind = more particles extracting to the same degree as the unavoidable fines = higher average (which is what we measure) extraction. Less particles underextracting and dragging down the average. More readily soluable coffee.

And, what has me so excited, the possibility of syrupy tightly pulled ultra light coffees without having to fight to optimally extract them.

Ok. Then we are interested in the same thing. High yields in shortish shots. I agree, the numbers will be interesting, as this grinder really makes good short shots of light roast coffees, much better than others in my experience. Burr design and grinder tolerances will make a much bigger difference than burr material and coating, but we shall see. I'll buy the tungsten burrs if they really make a difference, but I doubt it will be detectable in the cup on a consistent basis.

One thing that may interest you is that you can pull short shots with near-turkish grind with acceptable flow and time parameters. This suggests to me excellent grind unimodality as you discuss above.

Looks great and hoping that this will mean some Monolith Flats will come up for sale used! (In San Francisco if anyone is thinking about unloading one!)

-Daniel

I am curious to see how much fine tuning you can do for espresso? On EK you normally have very narrow range on the dial for espresso basically near zero and it can be quite difficult to fine tune. Regular flat has wider range and easier to fine tune but if you want pourover setting it will be out of scale.
It would be interesting to see also to see the take on what looks like a spring loaded/floating upper burr carrier?

Any idea on price of this bad boy? I know if you have to ask you probably can't afford it, but I want to start saving now!

Less than your North roaster; more than half of a year of instate college tuition.