# Messy Maddening Mignon!!



## RobD (May 2, 2012)

Recently had a quite constructive if expensive trip to BB and spoilt myself with a Quickmill Verona, as my set up is round my partners at the moment, even though she says that I have turned her into a coffee snob I was also aware that my kit was taking up a lot of her counter space! So as a compromise and as it has similar size burrs to a Mazer mini i plumped for the Eureka Mignon, she bought it for me as an early BD presie!!

it can grind fine and looks well made but it is possibly the messiest grinder I have ever owned, one moment it produces miniature coffee bricks and then spits fine grinds all over the place!! Even the Asaco Mini was better. have also noticed that for some reason the results are not even as consistent as my old MC2 and can only put this down to some serious clumping as never had to much trouble with my tamp before now. Unless the grinding is not as even?

Is this likely to get better when the burrs age? But its already had about 5kg of various beans through it, or could someone suggest a similar footprint sized grinder that I will not have to pee about with grinding into separate containers and messing around with WDT. If I upgrade to the Zenith 65E will it still clump and throw its toys out the pram like the Mignon.

Was looking at a Compak E6OD or Quamar Q50/80 as other alternatives, as mazer are up their own behind on price.

At the moment the Mignon is close to taking flying lessons as I am less than impressed with its function.


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

If you get a yoghurt pot or similar and put it into the of when grinding, it builds the height up abc stops the mess


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## RobD (May 2, 2012)

Have read plenty about how to get the grind prepared for use but the the point is i do not want to mess about with separate receptacles and then have to use a miniature whisk or similar to make the grind acceptable to go in the PF i just want a decent grinder that is capable of grinding strait in to the PF without all the faff.

Its not to much to ask and when a £125 grinder was capable of it, its P-poor that one twice its price is not?


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## Gangstarrrrr (Mar 4, 2013)

I was always able to grind directly into the pf with my mignon. Might be the burrs settling in (but 5kg should be sufficient I'd have thought).

Take a video maybe?


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## charris (Feb 17, 2014)

My process is very clean with the Mignon and I grind directly into the pf. I use a coffee catcha which makes the process extremely easy.

P.S. Even though my process is clean, I am not very happy with my migmon: clumps and many big adjustments are needed which makes the process very frustrating.


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## Obnic (Jan 14, 2014)

What you describe is a feature of the Mignon until it is very well run in.

I've had mine from new. To start with it ground dice. Beautifully symmetrical cubes, welded together with something that works at a sub-atomic level.

Four years into it, at an average five doubles a day, it's much better humoured. You can grind into the PF with a coffeecatcha (or in my case a cut down and profiled Tommy Tiptree sippy cup) and if you're brave/careless just tamp. I still reckon a quick stirr to distribute perfectly yields results.

So...either grind a load more beans and relax into a catchable + stirr routine or, if that's going to drive you mad sell it. But in my limited experience, there's no such thing as a perfect grinder. You have to live with some feature that irks.

I now have three grinders. It's an unmet need!


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

I had really good results with the Mignon using a cut down yoghurt pot and stirring the grinds with a fine needles stuck in a cork.

I think the faff factor is as much with a converted Mazzer doser although it more brush work and blowing out grinds. The end result produces a nice mound of coffee (and maybe with more messy).

Might be worth posting a clip of your routine to see if there's anything going wrong with the Mignon.


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## RobD (May 2, 2012)

After talking with Claudette at BB have had an offer to take the Mignon back an replace with a 65E if i pay the difference, which is a very kind offer indeed, but i am still concerned after reading DaveC review of the Zenith, as even on that machine he was using a cut down pot, i think i am going to have a further look into this before changing.

Ideally I would like a grinder that does not require cut off yogurt pots. Magic wands and other ephemeral clutter to get the ground coffee in a useable state in the PF, but this is starting to feel like looking for unicorns!!

As for the Mignon i will just have to except its the nature of the beast as having read threads on here im not the only one to find it a bit Clumptastic.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

RobD said:


> After talking with Claudette at BB have had an offer to take the Mignon back an replace with a 65E if i pay the difference, which is a very kind offer indeed, but i am still concerned after reading DaveC review of the Zenith, as even on that machine he was using a cut down pot, i think i am going to have a further look into this before changing.
> 
> Ideally I would like a grinder that does not require cut off yogurt pots. Magic wands and other ephemeral clutter to get the ground coffee in a useable state in the PF, but this is starting to feel like looking for unicorns!!
> 
> As for the Mignon i will just have to except its the nature of the beast as having read threads on here im not the only one to find it a bit Clumptastic.


Don't be concerned, I have had all the grinders you mention, including Mazzer Mini, Mini E, RR45, Super Jolly. The reason for using the ring is invariably dosing to 18g, you will get a mound, this is prone to a little spillage and a rong of sime kind aids with, tapping to level, with nothing spilling and stirring, if that's your thing. Even my dosered RR45 had some spillage when dosing. I have 2 ceados now and with the E37S I use my ring...simply because i don't like a single grain of coffee going anywhere but in the portafilter. now if you are dosing the 14g all the manufacturers vids show.....then yeah you probably can get away with grinding straight into the portafilter, perhaps with only the tiniest bit of spillage....but not when grinding 18.5g. To follow 2 videos, both with VERY fine grinds required for the Vesuvius.

This is the Zenith without a ring, notice the mound at 17.5g, still pretty neat, but with a ring it's messless.






Even for the very expensive grinder, I use a ring, because I hate any mess. I think BB have made you a great offer and the 65E is a much much better grinder.....go for it.


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## reneb (Nov 2, 2011)

i've just gone from a mignon to a 65e

as others have stated, it takes a while for the burrs to season on a mignon, and until then it will clump. until then this will obviously be worse with some beans and in certain weather conditions. some suggest sprinkling a small amount of water on the beans, and this does seem to help, but I couldn't be bothered with all that.

i think the mignon is a great little grinder, but the 65e is much better. larger burrs, bigger motor, slower speed leading to nice, fluffy grounds, less fines etc. i've had no clumping issues at all so far, though the burrs are well seasoned as i bought it second hand. more importantly, the flavour in the cup is much better - more complexity, sweetness, better balance of flavours etc. it's also a fairly quiet grinder, quicker than the mignon, though definitely not the fastest by any stretch of the imagination. also has a much more sophisticated, electronic timer, with two timer options or on-demand mode, but you'll know all that from reading dave's review.

however, be warned, it is significantly larger than the mignon, so measure up if you're worried about placing it under cupboards etc. and definitely go for the small hopper.

if i were you, i'd go for the upgrade...


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