https://dailycoffeenews.com/2019/08/30/ ... d-schomer/

I saw this article this morning while browsing around and found it interesting.

Personally, I like David Schomer and his quest for those super thick sweet shots that pushed coffee forward from like 1990 through 2010ish. Saying that his requests in finding his perfect grinder I think may be out of step with what is happening in coffee now.

His basic request read like a plead for Baratza to make a commercial version of the Sette, which I thought was weird because there is one coming out and he has reviewed it on his blog the ETZ.

http://espressovivace.com/education/news/

In any case I appreciate his push forward for what he wants and believes would produce the best espresso.

It seems more like the standard wish list for a well handling direct into the PF grinder. This is very reasonable request for a shop, where you don't want to do shakeratoos, WDTs, or Stockfleths, but just dose, tamp, and pull.

Sadly, the only grinder that comes close is the Versalab, with its windshield wiper dispensing funnel. Pity it's so dainty.

Just read the article and thought it was a great intro for anyone looking to understand grinders and why they are as or more important than the espresso machine itself.

I'm not sure what grinders he is struggling with at Vivace, but the Mythos II Gravimetric comes very close to meeting his criteria. Speed and temperature adjustable, absolutely clumpless with a beautifully centered and conical grounds pile and almost no retention with almost vertically oriented 85mm flat burrs.

I just removed the outer burr for the first time the other day, after several months of daily use as my main espresso grinder, and found very little schmutz in the burr housing. There was a ring of grinds outside the inner burr, but, like the Sette, once that area fills with coffee, it is out of the grind path and fresh grinds just glide over them. I purge 7g of coffee every morning out of habit, but I don't think it is necessary.

As far as workflow, I place the PF in the holder, fill a pitcher while it's taring and filling it, remove the PF, tap on the bench once to settle the grounds and tamp. I only have to make a tiny tweak to the coarser side during extreme rushes. You can see the increments on the dial here: I only have to move it one notch (1mm).

But...this is not an inexpensive grinder.



(this is not my grinder)

The post sounds like a tease for a grinder that fulfills all his conditions. Maybe this one?

If you could stuff a conical burr set in there and rotate the outer burr, it would be a winner by Schomer's standards. He likes conicals because they "produce fines" and he prefers rotating the "female" burr because it inexplicably has better mouthfeel and tastes better.

Seems we need the mythos 2 to procreate with the etzMAX...

I think he's also holding out for nitrogen purged hoppers, but that's for another conversation.

Cheers!

- Jake

I am proud to say David Schomer is one of my all time favorite people.
I am proud to know him since my first trip to Seattle in 2001.
I live here in the Seattle area now and I am always so happy to see him in his store every once in a while.

David is a fine human being and an espresso rock star.
He has contributed more to espresso than anyone.
I am honored to know him and I respect and admire him greatly.
I am agree with him in almost every way when it comes to espresso.
I like those slow pour long time thick short shots.
They are amazing and to my taste what espresso should be.

The man is simply and espresso legend and a great person to know.
He has a kind heart.

Funny guy, more fines!!!!!

If he would freeze his beans and grind them out of the freezer, then he would discover nirvana.

David is really cool.
I also had a chat with him here and there.
Some years ago I read his book, I don't need to agree on everything but I never forget his words when he mentioned in his book that a good barista is like a violinist, depending on temperature and humidity he has to adjust the grinder like the musician the violin without changing the other parameters, like same tamping pressure although more humidity compresses the puck more at the same given pressure... and so on.
He is really into grinders.

The Schomer article reminds me of what I deal with every day when I make my one espresso at a time. My Anfim Haus grinder does a very nice job of grinding but a lot of the coffee fails to exit into the doser. I first take a brush to the top of machine and brush some coarse bits of coffee back down to the burrs. Then I deal with the exit chute, where a lot of coffee doesn't exit and just sits there. A second brush cleans that out. Then I turn the grinder back on and let the coarse coffee I brushed back get ground up, followed by another brushing to clear the exit chute. This whole process at least gives me the coffee weight (e.g. 18 grams) that I put into the machine to start with. By the way, I never store coffee in the grinder. If I'm making one or two espressos, I only throw in the beans for the one or two doses, then empty the machine out the best I can.

When I want to do a cleaning and I unscrew the upper burr, I can see several grams of ground coffee lining the circumference of the machine, which I brush out. After doing that and getting everything spotless, my next grind quickly fills up that empty space with a new dose of maybe 8 grams or so, which is kind of like a permanent coffee liner in the machine that gets replenished every time I clean and then grind. Actually, I'm used to this and it's part of my ritual. At least the espressos are good!