No. But of course it's more complicated than a simple "yes" or "no" answer.
According to your profile, John, you use a Capresso Infinity grinder for making coffee in your French Press. An $89 grinder -- set to a coarse grind (I presume) -- for a French Press may work quite well, but it won't cut it for a commercial or "prosumer" espresso machine. You roast your coffee beans at home on the stove top in a pan; other home-roasters use a popcorn popper, and both setups work for many people. For others, however, who roast a variety of beans and may want repeatable, consistent results may opt to get a home roaster that can be programmed with multiple profiles, etc., etc., etc.
You state that you're a software engineer. But even software engineers depend upon hardware -- would you prefer to write your programs on a "Trash-80" or an Apple II, or would you prefer to use a machine that runs the latest Pentium chipset, an iMac, or even a Cray? Would you like to go back to CP/M? Fortran? Cobol? or would you prefer something more robust and capable?
Two of the grinders that seem to get the most "raves" FOR HOME USE among the espresso geeks that I speak with are the Versalab M3, which sells for between $1,550 and $2,090 fully loaded, and the Mahlkônig K30ES and K30 Vario -- also sold as the Ditting KE640 and K640 Vario -- both models can go for more than $2K, with the decline in value of the US Dollar v. Euro . . . makes the Cimbali MaxHybrid seem positively cheap, don't it? ;^)
Posted Fri May 9, 2008, 8:24am Subject: Re: Cimbali Max Hybrid Users
Does anyone know how the Baratza's New Vario Grinder will compare to this. The Adjustments seem off the charts...in microns!!!! And it is a flat Burr using ceramic blades instead of steel. It look absolutely beautiful!!! It's also belt driven so heat shouldn't be an issue. In addition the design of the chute and burr area is so good that almost no grinds are left over in the unit itself (That I would love switching between decaf and reg everyday...cause cleaning my M4 is kind of a pain). I think the unit is much shorter than the Hybrid...under cabinet friendly. I would love to know the cost. The Baratza grinders have never been considered high-end or even in the same class as the Mazzer or Macap let alone the new hybrid...so I will be interested to see how this things stacks up. Seems like more of a rocky killer then anything but the innovation might prove to be good enough to compete with the upper level grinders...who knows. So much of the grinder technology has been the same is it time for something new? If you haven't seen it check out the SCAA Day 3 section here: "SCAA 2008 Minneapolis Day 3"
Posted Fri May 9, 2008, 12:13pm Subject: Re: Cimbali Max Hybrid Users
Hey Erik,
Yup, just read the article (whereas before, I sorta just skimmed over it). The grinder does look pretty impressive. It would be interesting to see some long-term testing reviews of it. I've been spending the past few minutes wondering how the grind adjustment mechanism must work in that thing. Also, I couldn't see any type of chute on it... unless my eyes are deceiving me.
duke_goulden Senior Member Joined: 27 Sep 2007 Posts: 7 Location: OK Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: La Cimbali Junior Grinder: La Cimbali Junior
Posted Wed May 14, 2008, 4:44pm Subject: Re: Cimbali Max Hybrid Users
Just wondering, has anyone tried to modify a Junior to the hybrid? Can you just replace the bottom burr with a conical one, or is there something else? I have a Junior that I just love, but if the Hybrid is really tons better, it seems like an easy mod to do yourself.
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