# 1st grinder - advice please



## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

New to the coffee hobby, about to buy my first grinder to probably do with a sage DTP.

I believe the best grinders are the ones below, can I have thoughts on what I should get? 
it'll be purely to use with my machine to be made as an espresso & then into a cortado/flat white etc, prefer strong coffee so I'm assuming I'll be leaning towards darker roast coffee when I get some

eureka mignon facile £280

eureka mignon Silenzio £300

eureka mignon specialista £308

baratza Sette 30. £200

sage smart grinder pro £200

Seen some on popular websites but ultimately apart from Bella barista I have no clue if a website is genuine/reputable or not

Any thoughts welcome but would appreciate a choice if you comment


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

If you can get a Mignon Specialita for 308 then buy them. It is a no brainer.

I thought we were the cheapest at 355!


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## 24774 (Mar 8, 2020)

BlackCatCoffee said:


> If you can get a Mignon Specialita for 308 then buy them. It is a no brainer.
> 
> I thought we were the cheapest at 355!


 You probably are, I think he's looking at one I saw too, on Coffee Omega. I thought wow, £308, but that's without VAT. £378.60 once you add to cart.


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

CocoLoco said:


> You probably are, I think he's looking at one I saw too, on Coffee Omega. I thought wow, £308, but that's without VAT. £378.60 once you add to cart.


 Ahh, that makes sense. I was wondering how it could possibly be so cheap.


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## cuprajake (Mar 30, 2020)

When i was looking i was going to go black car and get the silenzo

In the end i bought a hand grinder £190 should i have spend the extra 110. Sometimes 😂


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## Iamsami (May 15, 2020)

Wisey said:


> New to the coffee hobby, about to buy my first grinder to probably do with a sage DTP.
> 
> I believe the best grinders are the ones below, can I have thoughts on what I should get?
> it'll be purely to use with my machine to be made as an espresso & then into a cortado/flat white etc, prefer strong coffee so I'm assuming I'll be leaning towards darker roast coffee when I get some
> ...


I was in a similar predicament, for me I found the sage smart grinder producing some quite inconsistent and clumpy grinds. 
If you really want to dial in your espresso, I think you will find the Sette 30 doesn't quite have enough settings to really fine tune it and make small adjustments, nice fluffy grinds though!
I have ended up purchasing the Eureka Specialita from Black Cat Coffee which I'm looking forward to trying out.
I figured that there wasn't enough of a price difference between the other models to not go for the the Specialita.

A Sette 270 is another option but I hear mixed reviews.

You may be looking at prices excluding VAT as they seem a little off!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## allikat (Jan 27, 2020)

I'd be picking between one of the Eureka's and the Barratza. Understanding that the Barratza isn't always the best built machine out there, and nor is the Eureka. But the price point means that mis-aligned burrs from the factory (the Eureka) and short-ish lifespan (the Sette) are what you get for the money. The Eureka is a solid machine, and it's main issue can be fixed for less than a tenner spent on tin foil and some dry wipe marker pens and a bit of time.

I do agree that 30 settings for grind is too few for espresso, the 270 is where you need to be going. The Mignon will serve you far better there.


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

allikat said:


> I'd be picking between one of the Eureka's and the Barratza. Understanding that the Barratza isn't always the best built machine out there, and nor is the Eureka. But the price point means that mis-aligned burrs from the factory (the Eureka) and short-ish lifespan (the Sette) are what you get for the money. The Eureka is a solid machine, and it's main issue can be fixed for less than a tenner spent on tin foil and some dry wipe marker pens and a bit of time.
> 
> I do agree that 30 settings for grind is too few for espresso, the 270 is where you need to be going. The Mignon will serve you far better there.


 What's the main issue?? What needs fixing?


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

Yeah you're all right it was minus vat! Lack of experience!!

I think £355 is maybe a bit expensive for me, Unless there is an unbelievable argument the £55 is sooooo worth it....so options are

facile £280 from bellabarista

silenzio £300 from @Black Cat Coffee

Sage pro £200

What do people think?


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

Wisey said:


> Yeah you're all right it was minus vat! Lack of experience!!
> 
> I think £355 is maybe a bit expensive for me, Unless there is an unbelievable argument the £55 is sooooo worth it....so options are
> 
> ...


 I have the Mignon Manuale which I believe is exactly the same as the new Facile. Or at least very similar. 
It's a great little grinder, but I would probably get the Silenzio from Black cat for that price.

The Mignon is an excellent grinder, especially when you align the burrs. 
It's a giant leap above the Sage, and capable of producing a very good grind for lighter, denser roasts.


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

TomHughes said:


> I have the Mignon Manuale which I believe is exactly the same as the new Facile. Or at least very similar.
> It's a great little grinder, but I would probably get the Silenzio from Black cat for that price.
> 
> The Mignon is an excellent grinder, especially when you align the burrs.
> It's a giant leap above the Sage, and capable of producing a very good grind for lighter, denser roasts.


 I like strong coffee so I'm assuming when I get my machine I'll prefer darker roasts?

will the facile/ silenzio/specialita do the job for me?

why aren't the burrs aligned??!! Why don't have to do it?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Wisey said:


> I like strong coffee so I'm assuming when I get my machine I'll prefer darker roasts?
> 
> will the facile/ silenzio/specialita do the job for me?
> 
> why aren't the burrs aligned??!! Why don't have to do it?


 they are aligned just not to the tolerances some people think is acceptable or to the level they think they can taste a difference at.

Plenty of people make coffee with a straight out of the box grinder and are happy with it, so perhaps not stress.

Think of coffee's you like the taste of rather than strength - you like dark chocolate , bitter type notes ?


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

Mrboots2u said:


> they are aligned just not to the tolerances some people think is acceptable .
> 
> Plenty of people make coffee with a straight out of the box grinder and are happy with it, so perhaps not stress.
> 
> Think of coffee's you like the taste of rather than strength - you like dark chocolate , bitter type notes ?


 Ah ok...

im not that experienced in trying different coffee to be honest. I'm at the beginning of the journey!

what do people mean about grinders when they say doserless? Thanks


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Wisey said:


> Ah ok...
> 
> im not that experienced in trying different coffee to be honest. I'm at the beginning of the journey!
> 
> what do people mean about grinders when they say doserless? Thanks


 This will answer alot of your questions

https://www.coffeeforums.co.uk/topic/15761-grinders-what-do-you-get-for-your-money/?do=embed


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

Mrboots2u said:


> they are aligned just not to the tolerances some people think is acceptable or to the level they think they can taste a difference at.
> 
> Plenty of people make coffee with a straight out of the box grinder and are happy with it, so perhaps not stress.
> 
> Think of coffee's you like the taste of rather than strength - you like dark chocolate , bitter type notes ?


 Mine were so mis-aligned that I couldn't grind fine enough to get a good extraction from a light dense SHB, because the burrs were touching too soon.

After re-aligning they went from touching at setting 1 to touching at -1. 
So yeh in my case it made ALL the difference.

Your experience may differ


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

TomHughes said:


> Mine were so mis-aligned that I couldn't grind fine enough to get a good extraction from a light dense SHB, because the burrs were touching too soon.
> 
> After re-aligning they went from touching at setting 1 to touching at -1.
> So yeh in my case it made ALL the difference.
> ...


 What's SHB? 
What's touching at 1 & touching at -1?


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

I've just read on bbc about coffee (fits in with the recent boom) and it says for milky drinks dark roast is best & espresso's light roasts best (as you can taste flavours better)....is this about right?


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## cuprajake (Mar 30, 2020)

Really need to start reading bud, no offence but your asking questions left right and centre expecting to be spoon fed.

Do a few hrs reading on the forums. This is all stuff you can learn. Quite easy

Im new to coffee as are you, but please read or your going to be spamming the forum to death.


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

Cuprajake said:


> Really need to start reading bud, no offence but your asking questions left right and centre expecting to be spoon fed.
> 
> Do a few hrs reading on the forums. This is all stuff you can learn. Quite easy
> 
> Im new to coffee as are you, but please read or your going to be spamming the forum to death.


 I've watched so many videos !

& surely this forum is for communicating, anyone can google nowadays but it's good to a) have a conversation. B) get difference of opinions

if people don't want to reply then just ignore when I post or read it then don't reply?


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Wisey said:


> I've just read on bbc about coffee (fits in with the recent boom) and it says for milky drinks dark roast is best & espresso's light roasts best (as you can taste flavours better)....is this about right?


 No.


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## salty (Mar 7, 2017)

@Cuprajake ; is right. The trouble is that people often ask the same questions that have been asked a load of times before. So a quick search around the topics that you're interested in, gives you a starting point. It might answer your question. Or it may be a conversation starter that gets you further than if you'd just asked the question in the first place. And if you ask 100 people an opinion on a piece of equipment the chances are you'll get a 100 different answers. It really doesn't get you far.

There's so much stuff out there - especially on YouTube - that we all learn so much from when we start out. Find a few sites and get stuck in. You'll see that not everyone has the same opinion and you'll start to form your own ideas based on what you see - that makes for an interesting discussion on here.

Personally, I started by watching loads of vids by Chris Bacca, Seattle Coffee Gear, Tim Wendlebow and Whole Latte Love. If I were doing it again I'd start with working through James Hoffman and Scott Rao vídeos and then watch the others.

You're getting into a great hobby - maybe it'll become a passion. And there's people on here that devote hours in contributing to threads which help the likes of you and me. If we can do that by not just asking questions that have been asked and answered a million times before, we can also give something back, and in time have some knowledge or expertise that we can share with others too.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

Is www.coff-hey.com a reputable website?


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## salty (Mar 7, 2017)

Wisey said:


> Is www.coff-hey.com a reputable website?


Never heard of it before. Filter prices are high (eg aeropress filters £11) but other stuff seems about par for the course. Have you seen something on there in particular?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## cuprajake (Mar 30, 2020)

I ordered off them, but cancelled the order as i found my scales cheaper off black cat.

Fwiw they replied quickly and promptly refunded me


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

Cuprajake said:


> I ordered off them, but cancelled the order as i found my scales cheaper off black cat.
> 
> Fwiw they replied quickly and promptly refunded me


 Thanks.....

what does Fwiw mean? 
What other reputable websites is there apart from black cat & Bella? 
again like golf clubs I'm sure there's your reputable ones which golfers have heard of but then dodgy chinese sites.. guessing it might be similar with coffee stuff?


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

salty said:


> Never heard of it before. Filter prices are high (eg aeropress filters £11) but other stuff seems about par for the course. Have you seen something on there in particular?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 No just checking their range of grinders.....just wondering if I see one I want are they a decent company? Apart from BB & BCC I haven't heard any other reputable companies?


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## HDAV (Dec 28, 2012)

There's loads of reputable companies out there pay by credit do your due diligence.

https://www.happydonkey.co.uk

http://www.myespresso.co.uk

https://www.hartsofstur.com

Opinions are just that......

https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/house-garden/coffee/best-coffee-grinder-burr-manual-electric-espresso-machine-a9482821.html

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/review/best-coffee-grinders


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## AAD44H (Apr 17, 2018)

Wisey said:


> Thanks.....
> 
> what does Fwiw mean?
> What other reputable websites is there apart from black cat & Bella?
> again like golf clubs I'm sure there's your reputable ones which golfers have heard of but then dodgy chinese sites.. guessing it might be similar with coffee stuff?


 For what its worth - FWIW


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

Wisey said:


> No just checking their range of grinders.....just wondering if I see one I want are they a decent company? Apart from BB & BCC I haven't heard any other reputable companies?


 Have a look through the retail section on here, or google it for reviews

I don't mean this to sound harsh but you are asking a lot of questions that you could find the answer on google. For instance you don't really need to ask someone what FWIW means, just google it. 
You asked me what SHB means, which if you google 'SHB' and 'Coffee' you will find your answer in 5 seconds.

It's understandable to be excited about a new hobby, but you haven't even got a machine yet. Why do you need to ask every question about how it functions? The manual is for that. Then if there is an outstanding issue maybe ask then.

The answers to every single one of your questions is on here, have you looked through the pages? Have you used the search?

Forums are great places to learn, but you have to play by the rules. You have to read the beginners stuff on here, search for a question before you ask it etc. It's just common courtesy


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## HDAV (Dec 28, 2012)

All starting to sound a little bit bridge dwelling 🤔🤔🤔


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

TomHughes said:


> Mine were so mis-aligned that I couldn't grind fine enough to get a good extraction from a light dense SHB, because the burrs were touching too soon.
> 
> After re-aligning they went from touching at setting 1 to touching at -1.
> So yeh in my case it made ALL the difference.
> ...


 Hi

I was basing my comments mainly on the amount of people who have had a mignon and not had to align it to enjoy the coffee they make.

There will always be outliers with any manufacturer and QC.

The general experience before people started measuring alignment was that they were happy with the grinder /s they used and if people are using darker roasted beans for mil based drink then perhaps the anxiety about having to align burrs is not something they need to worry about ?


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

Mrboots2u said:


> Hi
> 
> I was basing my comments mainly on the amount of people who have had a mignon and not had to align it to enjoy the coffee they make.
> 
> ...


 I would echo this. I have sold a lot of Mignon grinders and I haven't had any misalignment of the burrs reported to me. In actual fact, the name escapes me now but there is a very reputable company that has done and in depth review of the Mignon and say that they have found in their experience burr alignment to be better out of the box than on the EK43.

I do not think it is something people should be worrying about by default unless of course they run in to problems like a previous poster.


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

Mrboots2u said:


> Hi
> 
> I was basing my comments mainly on the amount of people who have had a mignon and not had to align it to enjoy the coffee they make.
> 
> ...


 I agree, sorry if it came across as a recommendation!

Mine was clearly a wonky one!


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

TomHughes said:


> I agree, sorry if it came across as a recommendation!
> 
> Mine was clearly a wonky one!


 Yeah they are out there, the The Eks were so variable, We had three in a room at one point , all zero properly one would grind at a significantly coarser grind number than the rest , even after aligning .

Strange things....


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## JackHK (Aug 26, 2017)

Wisey said:


> eureka mignon facile £280
> 
> eureka mignon Silenzio £300
> 
> eureka mignon specialista £308


 eureka, eureka, eureka

with Largest burr diameter you can afford


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## Oli986 (Apr 24, 2020)

I was just reading through all this and suddenly got a bit paranoid about my specialita 😂 but tbf from what I can tell its been excellent out the box.


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## sjm85 (Sep 9, 2016)

I learnt a lot when I started from browsing the buy/sell forum and seeing what people said about the models.

There have been two very nice super jollys go for £250 in the past few weeks.

Depends how desperate you are, I'd sit tight and get something second hand. I have a gaggia classic and SJ, both second hand off the forum. Ironically, now I'm stuck because I can't upgrade without spending ££££. n.b. I'm very happy with my choice, and could never justify spending big bucks, maybe one day as a 40th bday present but I'm set for now. There's a reason both these models have a big resell market.

https://www.coffeeforums.co.uk/topic/52051-fs-modded-mazzer-sj-ocotpus-funnel-wooden-lids-small-hopper-and-onoff-switch/?do=embed


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

I think I've settled on a eureka mignon specialista.

do people think they may go down a bit in price when we're out of lockdown, stock is high & demand might fall?


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## 24774 (Mar 8, 2020)

Wisey said:


> I think I've settled on a eureka mignon specialista.
> 
> do people think they may go down a bit in price when we're out of lockdown, stock is high & demand might fall?


 No don't think so, it's not like outlets will be piling them up. BlackCat Coffee do them probably cheapest, they don't have tonnes in stock that they're going to be stuck with and look to knock out cheap. I'm no retailer but I doubt these things are bought in crazy numbers.


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

Great thanks


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## facboy (Dec 13, 2019)

Prices look about the same to me as before lockdown. £365-400 for a Specialita.


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## Wisey (May 17, 2020)

facboy said:


> Prices look about the same to me as before lockdown. £365-400 for a Specialita.


 Great thanks.....just wondered if when the boom has ended and supply falls people may have to reduce prices...maybe not


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## facboy (Dec 13, 2019)

I doubt it. They haven't increased at all as far as I can tell, so I don't know why they would decrease if and when this is all over. I guess it's possible that for some reason coffee grinder manufacturers massively overestimate the long term demand for their products because of the recent increase, and end up with a load of surplus stock they have to shift. Seems unlikely.


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