- Grinds from turkish to press pot - Quick to move between the different grind settings - Looks - Lack of doser (for home use) - Compact (for a quality grinder) - Conical burrs
Negative Product Points
- For some the lack of a stepless adjustment would be a negative - To get a good esspresso grind you need to do a simple modification
Detailed Commentary
BACKGROUND Like many geeks out there I've been looking for a decent home use grinder for quite a while. I had 3 main problems with this:
Size - to get a decent grinder (I'm thinking Mazzer Mini etc here) you seem to need to buy a behemoth of a machine
Cost - again, the decent machines are all £200+ in the UK ($370+)
I live in the UK - the range of grinders is pretty poor in the UK. You need to find a specialist (which I eventually did) or buy off the internet
In the end I found Traders Coffee in Surbiton. They sell mainly to trade but have a select range of gear for the home user.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS This grinder looks good in stainless steel. The lid to the bean hopper is actually chromed plastic but that doesn't bother me. It's smaller brother has a plastic settings dial which is what put me off that model.
Crucially it is very compact and doesn't loom in the kitchen like some kind of mechanical Mount Doom. Next to my Gaggia Cubika it is the perfect partner.
GRINDING At first I was dissapointed. I eagerly tipped some beans into the hopper, turned it down to the finest grind setting and pressed the button. The grind that came out was quick, static free, relatively clump free... and a bit too coarse for esspresso. Pants...
I checked to see if I had got it to the finest setting and noticed the limiting screw on the right hand side under the dial. You adjust the grind by turning the entire hopper which screws in and out. A small screw underneath prevented this from getting too close. I quickly whipped this out and tried again.
At first I heard the little squeaks and clicks of the burrs touching but a little turn back the other way and an ultra-fine powder came out. Result!
In short, once the limiting screw is removed you can do a turkish grind easily.
You can also switch from turkish to press pot grind in a few seconds which is good for me as I do both (as well as esspresso).
Some people like a cradle for their portafilter but the lack of one on this machine doesn't bother me - I only hold the portafilter under the chute for a few seconds at a time.
The grounds that come out are static free and not heated up like some cheaper machines can do. The grind is also fairly consistent (my girlfriend thought I was really obsessing when I was spreading the grounds out over a white sheet of paper to see how uniform they were).
I gave the grinder an 8 for usability because I recognise that the optimal grinder would be stepless. But I reckon that this has enough settings for all but the geekiest of coffee geeks.
Some common complaints for grinders are that they are messy and/or difficult to clean. This grinder is neither of these. Some grinds can get caught up in the chute but a small brush removes these easily. To clean the thing (and for that matter to replace the burrs) you simply unscrew the hopper and setting dial together. Easy...
THE COFFEE Now bear in mind that my esspresso machine is mid-range. After a few trials with settings on the grinder I was producing good coffee. I mean goo-o-o-o-o-o-ood coffee. A thick crema on top, lovely rich esspresso, a nice sweetness- in fact, probably the best coffee I think I have ever tasted! What a difference a decently *fresh* ground coffee makes.
CONCLUSION Are you looking for a doserless home use grinder? Do you want it to look good? Can you live with the grind if it isn't infinitely adjustable? Do you want a nice compact grinder? Do you have a screwdriver?
If the answers to all these questions are "yes" then may I suggest the Isomac Gran Macinino is the one for you...
Buying Experience
Can't recommend Traders Coffee in Surbiton enough. Helpful replies from emails and phone calls, unbiased advice (they actually encouraged me to buy the cheaper Isomac model), friendly, and a great esspresso while I waited...
