# New Ascaso i-1



## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

So finally committed to a grinder, got a new Ascaso i-1 on fleabay for £140 including P&P. 54mm flat burrs and some good reviews for it. Considering it is £200 RRP and on the street for about £180, I think I did well.

Yeah its not a Mazzer or another ex-commercial, but it doesn't have a doser, it does have a warranty, it has flat burrs on a brass carrier, reasonably low rpm (700) and it will be more than adequate to match up to my Gaggia Classic and my ineptitude.


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## StuartS (Jan 2, 2015)

Interested to hear how you get on with this. I'm considering the I1 or the Compak K3.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

Grinder arrived yesterday and so far I've run a kilo of stale beans (thanks to Stuart from ManCoCo for the freebies) through to season the blades and get it close to dialed in. I then went through almost 200 more grammes of Brighton Lanes (from Coffee Compass) getting it dialled in. Its is now producing nice, fluffy and quite lump free grinds. I gave it a dose of 18g before starting to figure out the retention. Retention seems to be about 2.5g including beans that are left in the chamber, it popcorns a bit when single dosing, although for now I have decided to not single dose. I can now eyeball it to within 0.5g of my desired dose (18g) when grinding with a half full hopper and straight into my basket. So usually grind, weigh basket plus grinds and then add in a second grind or remove some grinds to get my dose.

Overall I'm happy with the results.

Good points:


Consistent grinds. I'm not sieving but to the eye, the grinds look pretty consistent in size.

Grinds aren't heated by the grinding. Grinds come out cool to the touch.

Very little clumping.


Things I'm not so keen on:


Beans which are prone to static (I have found this to be the case with Brighton Lanes) stick to the clear plastic output nozzle. If I was single dosing I would give them a quick spritz of water to get rid of the static.

My grinder is white (which is why I got the great price £140 vs £200 RRP) which shows up every single speck of coffee grinds. I spend alot of time brushing it down to make it spotless after using.

It is loud. To me it seems louder than a Mazzer Mini at the coffee bar in my office building.

Retention seems to be quite high to me, although I don't have experience of other grinders to compare to.


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## willbove (Apr 17, 2015)

I've been looking at the entry level asasco grinders - I noticed some have flat burs and some conical - why did you go for flat? I'm finding it difficult to find out which is best


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## aaroncornish (Nov 7, 2012)

Stuart and Darren at Mancoco are great aren't they. They have sorted me out with stale beans to run through both of my new grinders recently.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

willbove said:


> I've been looking at the entry level asasco grinders - I noticed some have flat burs and some conical - why did you go for flat? I'm finding it difficult to find out which is best


It seemed to be received wisdom that flat burrs are preferable to conical although I have since found this not to be always true. There is a review of entry level grinders on Bella Barista that found the conical burr i-2 was cack while the flat burr i-1 is quite good. I'm happy with my results. Any improvements for time being with be in the operator as opposed to the tools.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

aaroncornish said:


> Stuart and Darren at Mancoco are great aren't they. They have sorted me out with stale beans to run through both of my new grinders recently.


They really are a great couple of guys and have helped me alot along the way. I don't understand why they aren't better known. They don't have the range of Rave but the beans they do have are certainly just as good if not better to my taste buds. I love their Kaffa Forest as an espresso and in a flat white. Espresso blend is tasty as well. I've never had a bad bag from them.


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## CamV6 (Feb 7, 2012)

Did you try a couple of drops of water in the beans to cut out the static issue with the plastic chute?


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## frederickaj (Jul 31, 2014)

I've got the Ascaso I-2 and retention is a B**ch . If you have the extra £££ get the I-1 model and accept the noise . After all it's only on for about 20 seconds max !!


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## bitterbuffalo (Oct 24, 2017)

I picked up the I1 and really like it, it's my first proper grinder.

How often should i be cleaning the burrs? Each time I change bean? I change bean a lot as I'm probably grinding 250grams per 4 days for v60.


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