Kopi Deva

dcty I never followed the development of this grinder. Can I ask if this was a known issue and if so, how did the ‘influencers’ cover it?

simonc Clare has come back and said lack of consistency is due to lack of seasoning

I’ve had two big conical burr grinders that had consistency issues until seasoned with 2kg. I have no way of knowing if that was related to the burrs or the design of the burr carriers / grinder.

I’m dubious about her claim but based on those two outliers (mentioned above) I guess it’s possible.

shouldnt really affect feed rate though should it?

tompoland this is flat burr.

dcty weirdly it did. Amazon do a kg of beans for £8. It makes a mess though feeding them through bulk.

simonc Definitely worth trying then! I’ll leave feedback when I’m done. Did you season at an expresso level grind I assume?

dfk41 I honestly would be raving about this as a filter grinder. The build quality is great, design is aesthetic. It came out as fantastic value. It’s also capable as an espresso grinder but I’m still having issues. If I get those worked through I’d say it’s pretty good for the price for espresso as I don’t know of any adjustable RPM flat burr espresso grinders for the price that compare but I know it’s getting close. The issue is that a .1 adjustment on the dial can mean a lot in terms of espresso seconds, but with careful movement you can still do fine. The battery part is fantastic to not have a cable and portability is great. Lots of upsides with a couple mild quirks that can be worked through I think. If I get the espresso feeding issue figured out I’d still say pretty positive things. I can’t think of anything else i would want without a major price hike. I have 2 kopis, niche zero, DF64 modded with SSP filter coffee burrs, timemore 078 turbo coming, and have run through others. For espresso, everything has some compromises/issues.

dcty No.. per instructions, 2 whole numbers off touch. I put a big container underneath and ran it through continuously in 200-300g batches. Creates a lot of static though so be warned there will be lots to clean up. Although prob quicker than WDT each batch of beans.

dcty interesting you have the same issue with a kickstarter version with different burrs but @Tjyven seems to be able to get a lot more adjustability, with 0.05 (about the smallest realistic change) being 3 seconds which is fine for me, but I get 15-20 seconds for that 0.05 at espresso settings.

simonc yes aware of that thanks. I deliberately left out the fact that I hadn’t had the same issue with 20+ flat burr grinders/buurs because I didn’t want to leave the impression that it couldn’t or shouldn’t happen to a flat burr grinder. (Just because I haven’t had the issue doesn’t mean it’s not the same issue with the KD).

simonc Yeah, the issue is def with espresso. I switched out the kickstarter stock burrs and put in SSP HU espresso burrs and calibrated. I’m taking pics of my grind number and videos of shot times. 7.65 to 7.85 is a difference of 36g in 20 secs to complete stall. 1 min shot. Before the beans wouldn’t feed to make a stalled shot. They are feeding with the SSP burrs. But I’m using a dark roast that I think might have worked on the old burr set as well. The light roasted beans become another issue. I’m starting to believe this is a decent filter coffee grinder but will be tough as espresso. I have an indiegogo unit in a different location as well that I’ll test with in a few weeks maybe.

How did you get on?

I’ll write back in a about a month. I live between two countries and my other grinder is a month away to do a comparison. I love this one for filter and Clare/Support for KD assures they will get it right if there is an alignment issue. And we both suspect there is some small issue as burrs shouldn’t be chirping to be in espresso range.

I’m going to compare the two and give feedback. Currently I’m pregrinding with my KD at a filter level and using my DF64 for the espresso. Results are great.

Clare and the KOPI team are great people and not disappearing.

A month on I have put another 500g straight through to season and used a lot more in daily use. Currently at 2.75kg through it.

Currently on a single origin from Square Mile, medium roast and I am grinding at 9.9-0.
However the lack of control is still there. I get
45 secs @ 9.95
34 secs @ 0.

I can’t reasonably adjust more finely than I am doing. The 0.05 is about equivalent in rotation to 0.5 on a Niche Zero.
I have now dialled the same beans in on the Niche and get 3-4 seconds of shot time difference on a 0.5 change.

I have complained to Kobi Deva again ( I boxed up the grinder yesterday as fed up with it) and their response was to say that I need to use RPM to adjust the grind more precisely than the burrs.

My understanding was that speed had more of an impact to the grinds than just adjust the particle size, but disregarding that, should an £800 grinder, regardless of whether it offers adjustable RPM, be able to grind more precisely than in 10 second intervals?

If their expectation is that I have to use RPM to get a 38 second shot time, does anyone know whether I need to grind faster or slower? Currently at 700rpm as somewhere in the middle. It was even worse dialling in at 1200rpm for espresso.

simonc Kopi Deva advise that a slower RPM gives a more uniform particle size which slows the shot down.
So maybe 0 grind setting and 500rpm rather than 700 rpm will give a 38 second shot time but then doesnt changing particle size distribution affect the taste. ie more/less clarity, more/less body.

Kinda sounds like excuses .. if you have to use a certain speed - its not really a variable RPM is it ? What happens if you run it full speed ? - Oh I see you did - it does not make a-lot of sense ?

Good point, hadn’t thought about it like that. Or rather, its I can’t use a certain speed as it doesnt necessarily give the best taste for that RPM, ie a shot of either 30 seconds or 40 seconds, no option for 33 or 36 seconds for instance.

(My machine has 10 second pre infusion so generally go longer than 30 seconds which I mean from turning on the pump to turning off. not counted on drips etc)

simonc what espresso machine are you using and have you had this issue with other beans? Doesn’t sound ideal though as judging from other posts it should have more espresso control, so if you’re sure it’s not a beans or espresso machine issue I’d insist on a replacement at the very least.

FadedFrontiers I have an ACS Minima. As I said above, I can get a 3-4 second change in shot time on my Niche Zero on same beans.

Also a lesser but still annoying issue. Sunday, I turned on the switch at the back to connect the battery. Showed 50%. 2/4 lights. Ground and made 2 coffees. over an hour Left everything on, and went to make another coffee 30 mins later and the grinder battery was dead. I am sure they will say to turn it off at the switch but really wouldn’t expect battery to die that fast when it’s only really lighting up 2 little blue LEDs.

Been told they dont do returns for pre-orders but I wouldn’t be returning as I dont like it, but that it doesnt function as a £800 grinder should do for espresso. And they offer espresso accessories so clearly marketed as an espresso capable machine.