Weber Key Grinder - Page 16

#151: Post by **Jshot** » June 11th, 2021, 12:22 pm

All agree that it's a slick video. Much went into it. You assume the company approves all aspects of this first video before release.

I watched before any commentary was made and when I heard the grinder start up my immediate response was not positive. Not positive at all.

I'm no expert and cannot speculate on why it sounded the way it did. The only one who can answer is Weber, so I'll ask them.

#152: Post by **TenLayers** » June 11th, 2021, 1:06 pm

And that Decent! Sounded like a machine gun! And the steaming of the milk was a like a screaming eagle in full dive. Come on, people, the sound is turned up to 11.

#153: Post by **ira** » June 11th, 2021, 4:25 pm

I've heard no one complain about the volume of the Weber Key, just about the sound.

Ira

#154: Post by **TenLayers** » June 11th, 2021, 6:26 pm

I was referring to the sound as well, not volume. Not saying it was the right or wrong approach from a marketing approach, just that the sound is unnaturally tweaked.

#155: Post by **Legend_217** » June 11th, 2021, 6:35 pm

From marketing approach they did a terrible job of editing video. Extraction look horrible and the guy barely tamped the puck

#156: Post by **LBIespresso** » June 14th, 2021, 10:04 am

Jshot wrote:Hey, if you or any other HB'rs are on island, stop by for a coffee. More the better.

I'm mostly using medium roasts for lattes so the conical (Niche) has been good for me. Aside from grind quality, retention and workflow are also important. I see the Key as an improvement on those three factors but open to any other grinders in that price range.

I would say that I have no idea how much of an improvement on grind quality or workflow you would get. For me though, if you put both grinders in front of me it would be hard not to have a bias for the Weber Key as it is a looker. As an HG-1 owner I can vouch for near zero retention but I have no experience with the Niche.

Upon reflection I don't think I was fair in saying I expect better than eyeballing alignment (technically re-alignment as per the new post here by Douglas) as my current frame of reference is a different price tier. If I were you I would wait for the grinder to come out and read user reviews but then you will miss out on early pricing so it is a value judgement that ony you can make.

Good luck with your decision. I do hope to make it to Maui one of these days and look forward to enjoy a cup with you.

#157: Post by **Epicurus** » June 14th, 2021, 12:04 pm

Douglas Weber posted this last night over in the Marketplace board. Hello from Weber Workshops (& KEY Grinder details)

A couple more notes: I saw some people conjecturing about the sound of the grinder on the Youtube video we posted a couple of weeks ago (also at end of post). To start with, it's a prototype being filmed with an oversensitive stereo mic, so try not to draw too many conclusions from just that. The noise that was mentioned is just the miter gears up top - has nothing to do with the burr alignment or the Magic Tumbler mechanism. In normal use, it's a very, very quiet grinder. Running at lower RPMs it will be more quiet than a Niche. The video just there to show how it functions as well as some of the new features it has. Another comment I thought I would make is on burr alignment. I often see people make the assumption that because our burrs are easy to align that they should align them out of the box. I'll put it bluntly: don't bother. We align them at the factory to beyond what any real manufacturer achieves, and they are always usable and enjoyable right out of the box. If one day years down the road you decide you want to fully disassemble and maintain the product, the feature is there for you access then. The main difference between our grinders and most (I won't say all) others out there is that because you can easily see the burrs when you remove a magnetic cover (part of making them accessible for cleaning), whereas that would usually be an invisible area of the design.

#158: Post by **TenLayers** » June 14th, 2021, 12:13 pm

^^^^^Exactly.

#159: Post by **Jshot** » June 14th, 2021, 12:29 pm

Happy to see Weber come out and address issues and questions we had regarding the Key.

So, who's in?

#160: Post by **Epicurus** » June 14th, 2021, 4:14 pm

I'll likely contribute to the Indigogo (which goes live on the 22nd). It probably won't be a big leap in grind quality from my Niche but I much prefer the aesthetics of the Key. I'm also interested in the built-in WDT to hopefully eliminate a step in my workflow.