Got notification mine should be here Monday or Tuesday.

Finally after over a year, received my key in San Diego last week. UPS left it at the doorstep without requiring signature - careful for anyone who has issues with porch pirates in their area. I'm upgrading from a eureka specialita with stock burrs that I've had for 4-5 years. In no particular order, thought I'd share some initial thoughts and user experience.

Happy to report no major issues, and overall pleased with the purchase. Alignment seems fine and there is no visual wobble to the shaft, nor shifting gap space between burrs (which is what I was most worried about). The design is as beautiful as in the pictures, the small footprint saves space, and it's become almost a visual center piece to the coffee bar and kitchen area.

Immediately, shots tasted better and generally more balanced, and I've found that it's much harder to get astringency unless I'm way off on my prep and recipe. Before receiving the key, thought I might have had to keep the specialita around for different beans, but within the first day I packed it up without concern to give to a friend who desperately needs an upgrade from his breville grinder. I understand now what people have been saying about shots having a lighter body compared to some other grinders.

There's an annoying rhythmic mechanical noise at higher rpms, but from what I hear from other users it may go away with time, I hope. The little bit of popcorning is bothersome - immediately looked to purchase the bean feeder but of course it's out of stock. Not looking forward to the ridiculous shipping cost for an $18 component, but it may be worth it..

As for workflow I first started with the standard tumbler and funnel combo. Using the magnetized base was just so satisfying, but ultimately switched to the magic tumbler for cleanliness and a more streamlined workflow. I'm still using a WDT.

I've experimented a little with RPM, and reports are consistent with others - flow is faster at higher RPMs, and vice versa. Using light-medium roasted beans, I tried dialing in the same recipe at different RPMs: one at 30 rpm, other at 150 rpm, both getting 20g in, 45g out, in 28 seconds. Grind size had to be adjusted about 2 and a half whole numbers to get the same recipe. Higher rpm had a little more body, but overall taste was similar I guess. I'm thinking of leaving the rpm somewhere in the middle for daily use. Wondering what other people use for their RPMs? Do you switch it around to help dial in a bean, or keep it the same the majority of the time?

UPS beat the life out of my package. Even the inner packing box had a split open side. I had to realign the burrs after they apparently dropped it a few times.

But I am getting it dialed in.

I have a shipping notification for a few days now but no delivery date. Just that the shipping label has been created. I'm really excited to get my grinder.

stelee987 wrote:Finally after over a year, received my key in San Diego last week. UPS left it at the doorstep without requiring signature - careful for anyone who has issues with porch pirates in their area. I'm upgrading from a eureka specialita with stock burrs that I've had for 4-5 years. In no particular order, thought I'd share some initial thoughts and user experience.

Happy to report no major issues, and overall pleased with the purchase. Alignment seems fine and there is no visual wobble to the shaft, nor shifting gap space between burrs (which is what I was most worried about). The design is as beautiful as in the pictures, the small footprint saves space, and it's become almost a visual center piece to the coffee bar and kitchen area.

Immediately, shots tasted better and generally more balanced, and I've found that it's much harder to get astringency unless I'm way off on my prep and recipe. Before receiving the key, thought I might have had to keep the specialita around for different beans, but within the first day I packed it up without concern to give to a friend who desperately needs an upgrade from his breville grinder. I understand now what people have been saying about shots having a lighter body compared to some other grinders.

There's an annoying rhythmic mechanical noise at higher rpms, but from what I hear from other users it may go away with time, I hope. The little bit of popcorning is bothersome - immediately looked to purchase the bean feeder but of course it's out of stock. Not looking forward to the ridiculous shipping cost for an $18 component, but it may be worth it..

As for workflow I first started with the standard tumbler and funnel combo. Using the magnetized base was just so satisfying, but ultimately switched to the magic tumbler for cleanliness and a more streamlined workflow. I'm still using a WDT.

I've experimented a little with RPM, and reports are consistent with others - flow is faster at higher RPMs, and vice versa. Using light-medium roasted beans, I tried dialing in the same recipe at different RPMs: one at 30 rpm, other at 150 rpm, both getting 20g in, 45g out, in 28 seconds. Grind size had to be adjusted about 2 and a half whole numbers to get the same recipe. Higher rpm had a little more body, but overall taste was similar I guess. I'm thinking of leaving the rpm somewhere in the middle for daily use. Wondering what other people use for their RPMs? Do you switch it around to help dial in a bean, or keep it the same the majority of the time?

@stelee987 ... I've used mine since January and have been up and down the whole RPM range in that time. I use 90 RPM now, it gives me consistent espresso across a range of medium roast beans, plus the odd dark roast for guests. You can make tiny changes to mouthfeel and body with RPM, but it's so tiny that even an obsessive type like me gave up in the end.

LindoPhotography wrote:Really? most people say the Niche is pretty poor at coarser brew methods, I've done a couple comparisons with side by side Aeropresses my Weber key, Monolith Flat with Shuriken LM burrs, and Lagom P64 with SSP unimodal multipurpose burrs, and found the Key did really well.

@LindoPhotography You've had a few months with yours but I just received mine. I found a much bigger flavor improvement vs my Macap M7D that I expected. It took long enough to get here I considered the Monolith Flat or Lagom P100 as alternates so curious after your time with all those, which you'd purchase if you had to start over. I'm drinking primarily americano's and caps. So far, only a few days in, I'm pleasantly surprised. No shaft wobble. No popcorning. I'll need some adjustment to the workflow. My coffee area is a mess now but I like the result. That said, if a P100 or Max had non-subtle flavor benefits for espresso, I'd at least consider them.

I'd been in what I thought was a good place with a Lucca a58, now also curious if I should try a Decent to join the party.

Had the KEY since March of 2022 and initially I felt growing pains but perhaps I was getting swayed by the reviews that were coming out at the time.

After months of ownership I came to really enjoy it but it was missing that one thing to make it perfect.

Received the bean feeder/aperture last week and started using it immediately. TBH something so simple took this grinder from a 9/10 to a 10/10. I highly recommended it for those that are considering it.

OK, let me share my experience.

First of all, I was really considering of selling this grinder without opening the box, just to not deal with any potential problem, recoup the money and buy something else, like Lagom or whatever.
But when the package arrived, my curiosity took over and I decided to open it at least. And it looked very nice and neat. I turned it on and checked for any the burr wobbling, just by eyeballing on the light gap and didn't find anything concerning. Then I decided to give a try. After quick dialing (took me about 3 attempts) I tasted a cup and that's when I decided to keep it on the countertop. I was very skeptical about how a grinder can affect the taste before and thought it's all BS that people spinning in internet to justify expensive purchases. I am not anymore. I experienced it. Compare to my Niche or DF64, same coffee from Key is noticeable smoother and less astringent. Wow. Didn't expect it at all.

Now, regarding the workflow. It is a little bit messy compare to Niche, but just a little, I found that a light RDS (don't spritz too much) helps a lot to deal with last 0.1-0.2 grams stuck to a bottom of the burr. From other hand, due to open burr design there are way-way less places for coffee to stick to (try to put you finger in the chute of the Niche and you will see what I mean) and it is much easier to clean. In fact it stays almost clean all of the time.
The magic tumbler initially felt harder to use than a dosing cup of the Niche, but after couple of times it became a tie. The bonus I found is a no need of WDT anymore, I tried with WDT and without - no difference in brew time or consistency, so less extra step with Key. Also, the magic tumbler is coated inside with something that helps with static and protecting the walls from dents and scratches, nice touch.

Another big plus is how silent the grinder on lowest RPM, after hearing it my wife wold me "Sell everything else, keep this one"

Few complains.

Although on higher RPM there is an unpleasant and loud grinding sound coming from the gearbox. Not sure what it is, hopefully it will go away after some break-in period.

Dialing ring is stiff. I rotated all way down and all way up few time and seems like it became a bit smother.

The brush is very firm, weirdly sized, didn't find it useful. It is what is.

The ring that sits on top of the chamber is most controversial part of design. I agree with Hoffman, it would be better if it would be splittable, but it doesn't bother me so far.

All of that is not a deal breaker for me, the main thing is that I didn't not find any problems with consistency of shots, so far there all were within 1-3 seconds if at all.

So, my conclusion is give it a try guys, if you didn't get a lemon, there are high chances that you may like it.

Re: Stiff adjusting ring. This will disappear after a while.

Re: the gearbox noise.
The Key uses a bevel gear, and bevel gears can be noisy. I'll skip most of the methods to reduce the noise as most of us don't have machine shops .

So, on my particular Key - I'm not saying this will work for you - I did the following:
1. checked that the bevel gear had some grease from the factory. Mine didn't have much, but I left things as-is;
2. did my usual seasoning and let the grinder run for a few weeks to lap the gears in a bit;
3. cleaned up the gears - an old tooth brush is good for this - I did not go all out and use solvent;
4. applied new grease; sound vastly improved;
5. repeated steps 3 and 4 after a couple months.
I realize that this isn't a proper lapping procedure for new gears, but I'm not sure what the gears are made of.

As for what grease to use, I used SuperLube with PTFE as that's what I had handy. In general:
- synthetic - just because some petroleum-based greases have an odour. Lithium-based would probably be just fine. Based on colour, I think stock is Lithium.
- NLGI Grade 2 - not the thickest, but not the thinest either.
- NSF H-1 - not required, but rated for incidental food contact. (If grease is getting from the gears to your grounds, then there's a problem!)

Re: the ring
Right now I don't use it. I use the elastic band that the grinder came with to keep the ring up around the top of the grinder. For the moment I cut up a deli tub to make a lid and cold feed (load the beans before turning the grinder on). This is ugly, but I was getting tired of bean fragments flying out and having to push beans sticky from RDT into the grinder mouth. I guess I'll get the bean feeder when it comes back in stock.

Thanks for advise regarding the noise reduction. Honestly, I won't do anything about it, I found RPM where noise is minimal overall and just leave it there.