Oozes quality, it's quiet, it's beautiful, the hopper holds more beans than I can use in three days, fantastic doser (as dosers go) and did I mention its quiet. It is!
Negative Product Points
Weird cord placement, hopper is 1/2" too tall for some American cabinets/countertops, un-useful tamp... um, thats it! Ok, and objectivly speaking, its kinda bulky (but I like that) - dwarfs the Moka!
Detailed Commentary
<the price above is a vague guesstimate from memory>
So does Chris (of Chris Coffee) just rock or what? While I do not remember exactly what he was charging for this grinder (I bought it about a year ago) - he was asking less than any of the other web vendors I could find, and MUCH better than my local shoppes. This guy is TRULY a class act. My Livia came from him as well and I have been nothing but impressed.
So to the grinder - I am thrilled with it. Absolutly thrilled. Depress the substantial "ON" switch (it's a big switch) without beans in the hopper and it just barely purrs, put in the beans and all you really hear is the brans being slivered into tiny slices.
Slices which don't stick to everything like they do in the Moka. Coffee Kid's detailed review covers all this ground (heh) but it is worth reitterating, this is one heck of a good grinder - and at what Chris charges for them it is a steal.
Since the upgrade, Livia has poured better shots, I feel like I have better control over the daily adjustments to the grind, and my housemates don't whine about the grinder being too noisy (they complain about Livia instead ;-).
My gripes are very few, and pretty nit-picky: The cord is in a very inconvienient place - on the middle left side of the machine, pretty high up. That, in conjunction with the too-tall hopper necessitated that I put the grinder on the countertop sideways (www.albuspuer.com/espresso/mazzer.html). It works OK, but I would have rather had it all lined up together properly. The tamp is useless, but that is normal. If you are spending hundreds of dollars on a bean grinder, you've already got a good tamp.
Other than those few things, Mazzer is the best provider Livia has ever had - I am REALLY impressed and thrilled with this product.
