Deciphering the Eureka Mignon line

It looks like they hired some new product marketers…it’s all so confusing with the number of models they have.

I thought Mignon Design grinders had a stone or wood veneer over the aluminum frame with a matching wooden hopper lid. In the US, they come with the hardened burrs. I don’t know why these weren’t considered ORO, maybe they will make an ORO version with the upgraded fork and knob. The are also slightly shorter than the 50/55mm Mignons. They cost the same as the Chrome ORO XL in the US.

Regarding the ORO Line, I think the premium materials are just the metal hopper lid and new base. The XL has the metal chute, which is just a stainless steel channel that rests inside the plastic chute…maybe it helps with static. I don’t see this mentioned for the Dolce Vita, but it’s listed for the Turbo…maybe it’s only used with the 65mm grinders.

It’s worth noting that the body of the Turbo is different than the XL and the Stark, it looks more like the Specialita. Also the Dolce Vita appears to have a similar body to the Design, minus the veneer, based on the switch position

We have a model in the US called the Magnifico, which is essentially a Specialita with the hardened burrs. It looks like the Dolce Vita is an upgrade to that with the new base, lid, larger knob, and rubber fork.

I like the gigantic mat, for the reason that people hate it. Loose coffee sticks to it so it keeps my counter clean, but it is hard to clean. The tamping station is ok, it has the same rubber coating as the fork, and it started peeling as soon as I started using it. I thought it was included with the XL to make good on the noise claim, but I can also see how the grinder likes to torque around without it.

I don’t see anyone carrying the Stark here in the US. The XL retails for $899, which is an awful price relative to your comparison. I bought mine from Espresso Coffee Shop back in May for €622 with shipping to the US (577(with 11 discount) + 45), which is close to the cost you mentioned. The Turbo is currently listed for €588… exact same price without hardened burs and the gigantic mat kit. Maybe their pricing is messed up, or the XL is going to get a price increase.

stuefi the dolce vita seems to have electronical distance measuring of the burrs. is this important?

you mean it has a cog on the adjustment dial that turns a little wheel and turns those confusing set of numbers from 1 - 9 on the knob into another confusing and no more accurate set of numbers on a screen?

Point Zero Is both a film, funnily enough Zero Point is as well. it’s the point at which the grinder burrs touch. Normally found by either running the grinder, or tunring one of the burrs by hand, whilst making the grind finer and finer until you hear a rhythmic schrooch, schrooch, schrooch sound as the burrs rub together, or a constand schrrrrrrr!!!!, if you’re heavy handed. If turning the burr by hand you will feel and hear the zero point. The grinder should be completely clean inside when performing this adjustment (the outside can be dirty, it doesn’t matter). Once the Zero point is found the adjustment system can be altered to indicate the new zero point, or not on some grinders. This is achieved by a marker pen, unsticking and resticking a dial, moving a pointer or twiddling a knob after loosening a grubscrew,

I don’t know what an app is, what I do know is I never used a grinder and thought…damm, I really need an app for this!

thanks for your answers DavecUK and Jcheney. i guess, i’ll stick to the specialita then.

hthec Yes, it does, but it’s not quite that simple. It depends on the degree of sound, rhythmic whisper to a rhythmic roar, before ending in a loud continuous rub. Or a whisper to a relatively quite glide….And over how many microns these changes happen.

Shimming burrs and marker pens isn’t that effective, because already significant pressure in engineering terms is required to make a mark in marker.

Aluminium foil is commonly used to shim and the thinnest foil is about 20 micron, more heavier duty foils can be 2 or 3 times thicker. A human blood cell is 5-7 micron diameter and the burrs themselves can have variances up to 5 micron, or more depending on manufacturer. Certain types of variance can’t be shimmed out.

To put it in perspective a human hair is a massive 70 micron.

On a very well aligned grinder moving the burrs 12 micron further apart can add/deduct 4-6 sec or more on espresso shot time, depending on a few factors.

A grinder needs to have very fine adjustability to be suitable for espresso.

Most commercial grinders are not well aligned at all. Single dosers need to be very well aligned. It’s a very big subject, one that when well understood, explains many things we see in grinders. Even some revered grinder manufacturers have said things to customers about using washers under the burrs, which clearly displays a misconception about burrs and alignment.

A very rough rule of thumb, the closer you are to burr touching for espresso, the progressively worse your burrs are aligned. So if you are 6 to 10 micron away from burr touching, then the burr alignment is not great which has other effects as well. If you are 30-40 micron from burr touching for espresso, or more depending on coffee, you’re doing great!

P.S. the above applies to single dosing a flat burr grinder.