# What to buy as a novice?



## coffeefalafel (Apr 26, 2015)

Help me justify my spend on a grinder.

I started with intention of getting an MC2 because it was the cheapest. Reading more I thought well if I'm going to do it, I might as well do it right the first time. So I decided to increase my budget, looked at the Rocky and then the Mignon.

£300 is the maximum.

For my situation specifically is it worth spending the extra money?

Theres no room for a massive grinder in my kitchen.

I'm irrationally bothered by the idea of excessive clumping, purely based on things Ive read on the interwebs.

Grind retention, a term that I'd never heard of until a couple weeks ago, angers me. I hate the idea of wasting good coffee because the grinder (I haven't bought yet) collects more than it dispenses.

The grinder would be used with a Gaggia Classic.

At £300 I want a warranty or If second hand it needs to be well built and easily DIY repaired.

I'm just trying to get a good shot, I don't need the "God shot" at least not yet.

I don't want to upgrade for a long time.

I've never pulled a shot I thought was close to a good coffee shop standard. Using a LOGIC machine (borrowed from my brother), with pressurized baskets, supermarket ground coffee (Lavazza oh yes), always producing shots of total disappointment. It's only after a lot of reading lately have I figured out why I was never able to get close to coffee shop results.

So with all that said, being a total novice, will I see the benefit of Mignon Mk2 over an Iberital MC2 for example.

Should I spend the extra money and on what?


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## Mr O (Jan 14, 2015)

I started with a used Mazzer SJ and would advise the same - if you find a nice used one it will serve you well. But beware of the upgrade bug....

But without the hopper i dont think an SJ is too big and it is more than capable of producing great coffee when teamed with a Classic

You can find one for way less than £300 (i paid £225 for mine and it's mint, also gloss black which i prefer to the more common silver)


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## Kai (Feb 1, 2015)

I've just got a SJ to go along with my Classic , without the hopper they a both the same height.

You can get some bargains if your patient , I managed to get a bargain with the SJ as I was quick off the mark online . It only had about 5 kg through it , 3 years old , unmarked and I paid £125 !!

Using it has immediately improved my coffee


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

SJ is a great combination with a classic.

Mignon is good too, but can clump.

Grind consistency of a SJ is better though, but it's deeper as it has a Doser on the front of it.


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## Thecatlinux (Mar 10, 2014)

Go the super jolly route ........... The resale value should be the same when you catch the upgraditis bug


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

Whilst will absolutely confess to this being a shameless "bump"







you could always plump for a very nice clean with brand new burrs Rocky in the for sales thread and spend the remaining £150 of your budget on quality beans (or put somewhere safe until upgraditis kicks in).

Seriously though, all of the above good options depends on whether you want a doser or not if second hand commercial and if the grinder will fit where you want it to go.

John


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## coffeefalafel (Apr 26, 2015)

I've watched people use the SJ, single dose without the hopper and then brushing grinds out of the shoot so very little is lost. Not sure what to think about that, seems a lot of work and I can hear the condemnation of my relatives already... "You paid how much for that?!" "Why aren't you using it with the plastic bit?" "Why do you need a paint brush to grind coffee?"

The mignon is nice to look at and small, these things will appease the family. However it apparently clumps so need to stir the dose without spilling it all over the place. I'm wondering how much of the grind is retained in the seemingly inaccessible shoot. How do you accurately grind one dose with this machine?

I'm leaning toward the Mazzer if I can find it cheap enough they seem to be pushing £300 on ebay right now.


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## coffeefalafel (Apr 26, 2015)

Thought I should come back to this thread and post an update.

Purchased a super jolly off of the ebays. It is been well used and came to me full of old coffee grinds and grease. I dismantled the simple bits and cleaned it all up as best I could.

The burrs seem OK, running my finger tip across them they feel almost knife blade sharp just not quite enough to cut you and there wasn't any major nicks.

I really wanted to remove the lower burr carrier from the motor shaft but couldn't release it. Tried tapping a screw driver with a mallet to pry it up but didn't want to mark the metal on the chute so after a few attempts I gave up. I think there's still a lot of coffee gunk hidden under there, does anyone have a suggestion on how to remove it without causing too much damage?

I would like to open up the body and have a nose inside sometime but at the moment I'm in a hurry to start making espresso with fresh beans.

Following some videos on you-tube I set the adjustment collar 0 point just a touch back from where the burrs started squeaking. I ground 18g of beans, without the hopper, just using the plastic tamper from my Gaggia to push the beans down. Straight away I realised the doser was going to be a pain, so much coffee gets stuck in places under the arms and on top of things, 18 grams became 16 even after much brushing out.

I had a good idea that it would need modding heavily before i started but I've become impatient having spent more time taking things apart and reassembling than actually making fresh espresso.

Pulled the doser off completely and replaced with Sainsbury's lemonade bottle cut in half. This actually works surprisingly well, for a single dose theres a lot less waste, its easy to clean and i can brush out the chute and inside the bottle. Didn't notice much clumping either. Downside being it looks terrible and I rushed the cuts so it doesn't quite match up with the chute causing some grinds to wander into the body of the machine.

I'm going to spend another twenty pence on some more lemonade and try and make a neater job of it. It would be nice to modify something metal to do the same job so its not obviously a hack. I saw a thread on another forum where some fella had used a metal funnel to do the same job, I'm struggling to find something similar I can buy in the UK.

Gallery link if anyone wants a look.


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

You could also check the 3d printing thread in the sales forum. I don't know if anybody is doing this already but that might look better and is probably a reasonable price - "whiteyj" who is doing it was charging postage and a pretty low price considering (I only got a tamper holder and PF collar but they're good).


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