I made my purchase based on coffeegeek.com reviews, so I think it's fair to give back my own oppinion.
Ok, so I wanted an espresso only grinder. My Saeco machine has a special 53mm portafilter, and there's no way it fit between the fork and the chute. I saw 2 screws on the fork, and thought: ok, let's unscrew those and remove it. When I unscrewed the first screw I heard *plonk*. omg! There was a nut behind, and now it's loose in the grinder. What to do? Ok, there's 4 screws in the bottom on each feet. Do I really have to open this, and risk my guarantee? Hmm, lets try.. But what is this? Torx, not screws. Torx is like screws for the industry, and I was more than lucky that my screwdriver had a torx extension that fit. So I managed to open the bottom, and get the nuts out.
Now, my polished aluminum grinder has 2 big holes in front where once were screws, and the fork itself left some scratches, being screwed a bit too hard against the aluminum. There goes that polished look down the drain.
Ok, lets fill some beans in the hopper, and start actually using this thing. I pressed the 53mm portafilter against the grind button (which is all slippery/rounded, often causing the PF to glide off). What a mess. Impossible. So right now I use a cup to fill up with coffee, and then a measure spoon to fill up the portafilter afterwards, with the result of excess coffee being thrown out. I could just as well have gotten a doser in the first place then.
I did read in reviews that coffee would get cluttered up between the burrs and the chute. Indeed it does. But I thought that you could just grind some coffee the next time, and have it flushed that way. But no, it just stays there.
Having said all that. The grind quality and burr control seems to be worth the money, but I wanna set the bar so much higher, and in general I'm a bit disapointed with the other reviewers of this grinder, who are kind of responsible for my purchase.
Being available in 20+ colors (cowhide inclusive) should have tipped me off. I thought the Company was italian at first, but no, it's spanish. They got a bit of a problem picking a name too.. Is it Innova or Ascaso? |
