Righty ho! The best time to write this is after setting it up and before you have used it. The story of how it arrived here is a pleasant one. Being the not so sought after conical, there was no waiting list as such. Kafatek seem to release all the grinder variants at the same time and I ordered and only had a few weeks to wait. Payment was an initial non refundable deposit of $1000 with the balance of $1400 plus shipping of $180 due as a final payment. I chose to pay by credit card so there were some additional transaction fees to pay, then ultimately UK duties. The total cost of the grinder as payment to Denis, was £2191.81. Yesterday before it was delivered UPS sent a Duties invoice of £271.13 which I was pleasantly surprised at. That gives a grand total of £2462.94.
I ordered the 71mm Shuriken burr model. This caused me a bit of a dilemma. One of the facts why it took me nearly 3 years to push the button, was I have always been a big fan of the 83mm Mazzer conicals, but never owned one. All the press around the Shuriken burrs seems very positive but unfortunately how many people ever really criticise the kit they are promoting, owners included?
So, the grinder turned up on the day it was scheduled for, arriving at 4.30. I am not the fittest at the moment so did unbox it but went no further. So, this morning I decided to get to grips. Denis very kindly included a packet of beans, so since these were the beans that the factory use to test the grinders before dispatch, it made sense to use them. They include a test report stating grind settings, amount in, amount out so I stuck with those parameters and prepared the shot. Now having been a Niche user for years and years, that is what I am going to compare it against. But you will be disappointed if I do not say one is better than the other. The Kafatek is undoubtedly superbly engineered, but it lacks the slight refinement that Niche spoil you with. If you want to buy a Porsche, do you buy a normal road model with all the luxuries like leather seats, radios, cigarette lighter and the like, or do you buy the lightweight road/racer version where you forego the little luxuries but gain on performance. That is very much the choice you make when buying a Kafatek.
Therefore there is no point in listing its shortcomings. I am not a YouTuber so I have no audience to pander to. I do not have to invent faux problems to get people talking. So, what happened? I said I weighed out 17 gms of the supplied bean. They recommend a spray (and supply a nice bottle) of water which I did. I turned the speed down to 150 rpm. The reason for this is my model no longer has the magnetic chute. As long as your rpm is set below 200 then when grinding stops there is a purge button that speeds up to 200 for as long as you press it. You then power off and there is a thwacker to use. I gave it two or three thwacks but nowt came out. The tube the grind drops down is silicone or similar and that must help with retained grinds. I measured in and out and each time got slightly more out than I had put in, so I expect that to change. I have not yet adjusted the pf clamps to take my smaller pf so am quite happy grinding into the supplied cup. I have not timed the grind but 17 gms is quite fast. Once the cup is inverted a quick stir with the needle thing supplied, I used the Bravo tamper and pulled the shot. It ran too slowly but by the third attempt I was close enough to my normal standards to add some water and drink. The conclusion was not to use the rest of the supplied beans! At this stage I had to go out!
On my return, I was knackered having been taken shopping. Within 2 minutes of me sitting down the cleaning team arrived which meant making 3 espressos. I opened a new bag of Chocolate Point by Black Cat (not a bean that I am familiar with). It took me two practice runs, then I pulled the shots. Now all the girls take sugar but in darker roasted beans that often can help. They seemed quite happy with what I served, but there again, the usually are!
What did I learn? I think that I will stop spraying with water as I do not believe that alone seems to be the reason behind a lack of static. Kafatek have obviously been working hard at this. I am too tired to play anymore today but tomorrow I intend to refine the workflow further and get the shots spot on. Then when that is done I will set my Niche Zero up with the same bean and do some highly unscientific testing. I know tase is subjective, so I have deliberately chose blends and not SO. I have some SO to use next though. What I am hoping for, is to enjoy the shot the Zero produces but be more impressed wit the shot the Monolith produces! I a sorry that this is so long. Happy to answer any questions. I attach 3 photos and a cack handed attampt to video the 3rd setting up shot with the beans that were supplied. I hope that it is all self evident. I know the camera lens will make my Evo look manky….it is! I had surgery last week and being 67 and not recovering as fast as I would hoe, but soon it will receive a spit and polish and away we go!
The supplied beans

The grinds inverted into the pf

After a quick stir

Tamping by Bravo