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Permalink Reply by olivier dutil on September 12, 2010 at 9:41am

i use the mazzer mini for my decaf and i find it way to slow , but i have to say, the i only have the robur beside to compare.

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Permalink Reply by Chris on September 12, 2010 at 4:04pm

"Grinders make espresso, espresso machine only make the water hot and push it through the puck."

The quality of your grinder will have more of an impact on the quality potential of your espresso than most any other tool you bring to the table. Skimping here will ultimately limit how good your espresso can be.
Knowing that, it's akin to racing's ultimate question, "How fast can you afford to go?"
I'd suggest a Major at minimum for a commercial environment, Robur, K30, etc. if you can afford it.

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Permalink Reply by Adam Wilson on September 12, 2010 at 6:54pm

I completely agree with Chris; however, if your "low volume" translates to "low budget" as I assume it does, you could easily get by with a Mazzer Super Jolly.

But again, I agree with Chris: the grinder is the most important link in the chain. Figure out the absolute maximum you can spend, and spend it. It'll be worth it.

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Permalink Reply by Jared Rutledge on September 13, 2010 at 6:22am

COMPAK K-10 BRO

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Permalink Reply by Ron Ingber on September 13, 2010 at 6:25am

You will probably get more (and better responses) if you post this in the "Equipment" discussion, rather than "Braista Exchanges & Travel".

Ron, the Country Guy

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Permalink Reply by Steve Belt on September 18, 2010 at 1:34pm

In my shop I've used a Super Jolly, Compak K10, Elektra Nino, and Mazzur Robur. The grind from the Elektra is my favorite. The K10 has a doser, so it "wastes" some coffee each use, though barista skill means the waste varies from small to atrocious. The Robur is a huge workhorse, and can handle super high volume, without heating up.

On the "cheap front", I just plain hated the Super Jolly. I had 2 of them initially, which I picked up used for $500. I don't know how a shop that cares about quality (thus grinds per order and doesn't just fill up the doser with stale coffee) and does any reasonable volume can tolerate the slowness of the Super Jolly, at almost 10 seconds grinding time per double shot.

As far as price/performance, I'd recommend trying to scrape together the $1500 for a K10, or the $2500 for a Nino, if you want to go doserless (which will pay for itself fairly quickly as a result of almost zero waste).

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Permalink Reply by Shadow on September 19, 2010 at 5:11am

I currently use a Simonelli MDX and it works fine for my needs. Not the fastest thing by any means and I'm not a fan of dosers, but it works well. My eye is on the K30 as I think that would be perfect for my situation.

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