Who has only used a single dosing grinder?

dfk41 · 27 Jul

Having been around coffee for years, I came through the hopper fed grinder scene for many a year. Believe me, no one complained about freshness of beans and the like. Possibly, I hear some say, that in those days the standards of understanding amongst coffee enthusiasts was woeful to todays levels…..who knows. What I can tell you, was even in those days we had supposed coffee experts.

I started off with a Cunhill Tranquilo that was spectacularly awful but produced quite a nice mound. It sounded like a World War 2 bomber on take off. Hopper fed but grind straight into the pf. I next had a Eureaka Mignon, in fact I had several. Next camea Mahlkonig Vario, then I went on to bigger stuff. Mythos, K8 & !0 Fresh, E8 & 10, Ceado E37S and the bigger one, E92…….and many many more.

I then bought what was by some considered to be the then ultimate grinder, a Versalab M3, my first foray into single dosing. It lasted 2 weeks. I hated every single thing about it! I managed to steer clear of single dosing until the Zero turned up. I still had the slow spin Mythos and in truth rarely used the Zero…..until lockdown. Then for me, everything dropped into perspective and the lack of guests coming round put the Zero top of the tree. That led to the Duo. For me, the flavour the flat burr gave was inferior to the conical and despite owning several Duo’s I sold the last one last year, not to be replaced. I then had a brief flirt with a Kafatek Conical and simply could not get on with the flavour profiles it produced.

So, after a long think I decided to go back in to the Mythos market. I looked around for ages and found one that appeared to be the right price (£350) and condition (very clean). They had reset the shot count but the time in use was 138 hours which in commercial terms is nothing. It arrived, the motor was as sweet as a nut. I then discovered after I could not get the bottom burr carrier off that it had been sat in the chaps shed in the garden for 3 years! Eventually I got the bottom burr carrier out and have not looked back since.

So, my question is, how many folks have only owned single dosing grinders, believing all the nonsense spouted about their god like status? Sure, using a hopper fed grinder you compromise a bit. You do not know the exact weight, there is bound to be some exchanged grinds in the auger but I am suggesting this is irrelevant. Of course, if you make one or two coffees a day then single dosing is hard to argue against. If you swop out your coffees regularly the same applies. But, I would invite anyone to come round and have a coffee and tell me they can detect anything wrong with it.

Have you ever gone to a commercial coffee premises and thought since they do not use single dosers that they put 0.37 gms too much coffee in, or that your delicate taste buds can detect 0.19 gms of exchanged coffee…..?

RRickO88 · 27 Jul

In the late 90s I used a la Pavoni Jolley flat burr grinder that had an hopper along with a la Pavoni Europiccola. I used to just grind what I needed and then cleaned it with a blower which required a bit of effort. I’ve been using single dose grinding with a Kinu and now a Niche Zero with a Cafelat Robot for the past two years and two or three coffees per day. Single dose works perfectly for this amount of coffee.

Adrianmsmith · 27 Jul

dfk41 or that your delicate taste buds can detect 0.19 gms of exchanged coffee

But even for a small coffee shop with not many customers that coffee is 5 to 40 minutes old, not 22 hours of partially ground coffee through the system. Would be very wasteful to purge out the grinder after every 2 to 3 shots ready for a fresh start tomorrow..

My hopper grinder wasnt exactly one of the best , sage smart grinder pro but grind quality wasnt it’s issue for me (even though the coffee from the niche zero was on another level). The faff and mess was. Single dose is simply too easy. I dont think having 10 or so screw top jars full of 20.x g of coffee beans is the same as a hopper full with lets say About 5g of partially ground coffee sat all day and night in between the burrs and exit system.

I dont give a flying rats arse about if i could taste the difference. Just does not appeal after my initial encounter.

A cafe will be serving several shots per hour at worst and will close the hopper and purge at night wasting 5 to 10g out of the few kg served that day, not from the 60 to 100g served that day at home if i were to do the same.

I would not choose a single dose grinder for a cafe. I would choose a single dose for home .

Horses for courses.

I wouldn’t enter s formula 1 race in a bog standard ford escort but would not want to go in to town shopping in a formula 1 car either . Maybe an extreme example but about right.

dfk41 · 27 Jul

I think the point I was trying to make, and probably not very well, is if you have only ever used an SD grinder then just perhaps there might be another universe to explore where taste is far more important than theoretical life changing moments!

Adrianmsmith · 27 Jul

dfk41 Have you ever gone to a commercial coffee premises and thought since they do not use single dosers that they put 0.37 gms too much coffee in

I do agree with that.

I do not spend a lot of time weighing out beans super accurately.

Its very quick with a single scoop to weigh between 20 and 20.6g with my average being 20.3g but i dont spend time adding or removing 2 beans to get the perfect 20.30000g every time.

My main gripe is using 40 to 100g per day of my coffee and 60 to 100g decaf for my wife per week hopper fed would he a chore and single dose simple quick and easy. Regardless of my possibly unproven fear of the partially ground coffee sitting there in sometimes humid air all day.

I even have 2 grinders on the go just because im too lazy to change grind setting from coffee to decaf coffee on a single grinder!!. And my wife last year became super intolerant to the amount of caffeine in non decaf. She can tolerate the caffeine left in decaf and commercial tea bags.

CClodius · 27 Jul

For me it’s the repeatability and workflow. I have spice jars worth of a week’s coffee supply (2 per day, one for me, one for my wife) that I fill up in the evening once a week. That process of weighing and doing my set up for the week is quite therapeutic and calming.

I wake up in the morning and the last thing I want to do is fiddle with the amount of ground coffee etc. I don’t have the time and the disposition to test.

It’s quite set and forget and, because of this? I also know in advance when I need to buy the next batch of coffee.

That’s it, workflow, not taste. I feel like I don’t have the palate to sense the changes in taste from +/- 1g of coffee.

axpetts · 27 Jul

My first ‘proper’ grinder was a Mahlkonig/Baratza Vario which was hopper fed. I followed that with a Caedo E37S, which was also hopper fed. Truth be told I did very much enjoy pushing the little button with the portafilter and watching it fill with fluffy grounds. I did notice on both these grinders that, for my usage rate, I needed to chase the grind setting to maintain shot length. I later found out this was a consequence of beans aging in the hopper and modded the Ceado to be a single doser. This eliminated the need to chase settings. Hopper grinders are convenient, but for my usage rate they are too inconsistent. I am now fully converted to single dose for consistency and don’t mind the extra step of weighing some beans first.

dfk41 · 28 Jul

Clodius I have spice jars worth of a week’s coffee supply (2 per day, one for me, one for my wife) that I fill up in the evening once a week. That process of weighing and doing my set up for the week is quite therapeutic and calming.

If you average out say one minute per jar for ease of maths thats 14 minutes per week or 12.13 hours per year …..there is a lot of things you could do with that time! Concession….if I only made two drinks a day I would single dose

Adrianmsmith · 28 Jul

dfk41

You are joking .

3 minutes per week i would estimate

With hooper fed thats far less than the faff and time taken to clean up the mess created.

dfk41 · 28 Jul

Adrianmsmith what mess created? Bring your gear round to mine and we will see who can prepare and grind 5 doses matey! The Mythos takes 4 seconds to grind 18 gms. I think you might lose

CClodius · 28 Jul

dfk41 exactly 2 coffees per day, sometimes I might skip it, sometimes I might make myself an extra cup after lunch.

It’s personal preference, it gives me structure and I prefer it that way. Some people like red cars, some people like blue ones. Can you hold anything against either of them?

Adrianmsmith · 28 Jul

Clodius Can you hold anything against either of them?

Yes, they should have black!!

Adrianmsmith · 28 Jul

dfk41 The Mythos takes 4 seconds to grind 18 gms. I think you might lose

i had a df83v2 which was around that speed. lasted a few days prior to going on ebay. it was shit. so inconsistent

anyway, you miss the point……

I am at home

I do not have a cafe

I do not want to make 5 coffees back to back

usually one for me and one for Jude

YOU CANT DO that in the mythos matey as one is decaf! obviously Jude is also WRONG for requiring Decaf but there we go.

the most i ever do with friends round (no i dont have many!) is 5 and 2 of those would be Decaf.

i usually have 3 decaf and 6+ “normal” weighed in jars.

I do not care that you can grind in 4 seconds but i hope its a lot more consistent than the df83 was at that speed.

we are never going to agree here . YOU are WRONG and I am WRONG.

if you need a formula 1 car to go shopping then thats great. just dont expect everyone to agree that its the best option.

as i keep saying. IF i HAD a CAFE I would possibly LOVE a MYTHOS.

But I DONT have a cafe.

i make 1 or 2 drinks within any given 30 minute window and prefer NOT to have stale coffee sitting in my burrs for 23 hours waiting for tomorrow to arrive.

THESE ARE MY OPINIONS

NOT THE REGURGITATED OPINIONS OF LANCE OR JAMES or anyone else trying to tell me what I should do.

If i want to listen to Vinyl, not a streaming service and I believe thats the best was for me to listen to it then thats the best way for ME to listen to it.

Until we buy a cafe and only 2 of us live at home then SINGLE DOSING is the ONLY way to satisfy our needs as one of us needs decaf. even without that need, for 2,3,4,5,6 cups of coffee per day SINGLE dosing is still the best way for ME!

AND!!! i do not have space for an ugly Mythos

dfk41 · 28 Jul

Adrianmsmith YOU CANT DO that in the mythos matey as one is decaf!

Yes I can. She would never know i was lying

Adrianmsmith · 28 Jul

dfk41

sorry but you are now heading to a bad line now….. that’s beyond anything we should or should not be agreeing on

she was TOLD by doctors do avoid caffeine, alcohol and a few other things following a serious medical incident we agree that i would test the situation without warning her randomly at a time of my choosing.

i did at random without warning and she ended up with a violent headache and was weeks after out conversation.

I believe the situation is not psychological. NOT open to further discussion.

Cuprajake · 28 Jul

you get more consistency in the hopper fed, but then you have the extreme of people had feeding zerno beans, horses for courses, hopper fed can stale vs single dose, the niche zero has a disc to feed beans that the duo doesnt

choose your poison

Platypus · 28 Jul

I’ve never owned a hopper fed grinder and imagine I would find it very limiting.

I like to roast many different beans on my little Hive roaster which is perfect for my small coffee needs. 150g capacity with roughly 130 ish out and I can then have multiple coffees on the go ,not to mention decaf, which is wonderful.

This along with owning two different espresso machines with different sized baskets, I’m very often changing grind settings. I frequently need to adjust the grinder according to different roast profiles and using different extraction styles etc.

I personally prefer to drink less of something really good and for a light coffee consumer , a small capacity home roaster and a single dose grinder is perfect.

For me roasting a kilo of beans and ploughing my way through the same bean in a hopper day in day out wouldn’t appeal to me, I like to mix things up a bit .

Pprofesor_historia · 29 Jul

dfk41 I did and I was very happy, never single dosed as I only had commercial flat and conical grinders. Some people like them, some other don’t, no one holds the final answer as this is very personal and subjective. I don’t make espresso at home anymore but the day I’ll do it again I’ll buy again a used commercial grinder, like Compak K10 or Mazzer Kony, those grinders delivered flawless. There is absolutely no need to single dose in order to get a very decent cup of coffee, this is one of the many myths around…IMHO :)

Pprofesor_historia · 29 Jul

dfk41 this is an interesting point, I’ve been once in Madrid to a coffee tasting, someone from Colombia, several very tasting coffees brewed with a Behmor and only in the end the lady told us that the last coffee was a decaf. I wouldn’t have guessed in a thousand years, so I could have decaf and don’t have a bloody idea. Strange how the human mind works…

Pprofesor_historia · 29 Jul

Platypus just curious, no offence, you never get bored of all this rituals? Don’t you want, every now and then, just to have a good coffee without all the trouble and working and weighting? Personally I wouldn’t have time for all this, I envy people who have so much time for everything…