Best multifunction Grinder?

Mr Magnolia

A good friend of mine is looking to get [more] into coffee. He has a moka pot and a french press and is using pre-ground. He was thinking of purchasing an espresso machine, I recommended he pick up a decent grinder and run it with the moka pot and french press before he shells out on an espresso machine (no point buying the machine without a good grinder to run with it imo).

So I'm looking for a grinder with ease of adjustment between a filter grind and a moka grind then later maybe an espresso grind. What do you think? The stepless grinders are obviously out and I imagine a doserless would be best.

The Bodum Antigua would have been a good way to start now but would be no good for espresso in the future (aside/ I must look into buying one of these for myself actually).

Budget of €120 - €200

Thoughts?

RE*AC*TOR

Solis 166 aka Starbucks Barista grinder. Same burrs as the Bodum Antigua but AFAIK the adjustment is done better. I think they sell for about €120.

Don't know how much an MDF is going for these days but they can do the job.

The Rancilio Rocky doserless can be got for €265. If the budget could be stretched that might be a good option. Doserless is nice for non-espresso stuff also.

Mahlkonig will have a new grinder on the market quite soon which I think will probably be in the €300 range. It's a collaboarative effort with Baratza, and if it lives up to the hype it will be one of the best designed multifuntion grinders.

Mr Magnolia

Super, thanks for that. I'll give him a dig now.

Mr Magnolia

May as well throw this together for anyone contemplating buying a grinder. These are the cheapest I can see at the minute, sterling is low at the minute so the it's always worth looking around before you buy.

I don't think Starbucks sell their machines on the interweb, they're available in most outlets though.

Rancilio Rocky Doser/Doserless £199 - Ristretto
Good for mulitfunction use.

Gaggia MDF €192 @ coffeeitalia.ie
Good for multifunction use. Did some users seem to have had bad customer service experiences?


Iberital MC2 Doser/Doserless £99 - Happydonkey
Not good for multifunction use due to the stepless adjustment.

Ascaso i-Mini - €170 @ espresso coffeeshop.com
I think this is another stepless grinder, so no good for multipurpose applications.

RE*AC*TOR

That's a US voltage Gaggia MDF - wouldn't recommend it.

Mr Magnolia

RE*AC*TOR wrote: »

That's a US voltage Gaggia MDF - wouldn't recommend it.

Good spot. I'll remove it from the post just in case.

bonkey

This may be a really dumb, n00b-identifying question....but why is stepless bad for multi-function?

I'm guessing the answer will be along the lines that with stepless, you fine-tune to one exact setting you're happy with for one type of use, and leave it there. However, from what little I've seen whilst browsing around, some afficianado's claim that different beans require different settings, even for the same type of use....

I'm interested in the suggestion to go for a grinder before a machine though...I've been wondering if I should do just that...

Gran Hermano

As you stated, stepless gives you an infinite number of settings which allows
endless fine tuning to allow for different beans and conditions. The trade off
is whilst fine tuning is easy it is not convenient to switch between say the
grind you would need for a French press compared to the grind for espresso.
(As is the requirement with Mr M's friend who's looking for ease in
switching between grinding fine for a moka pot and grinding coarse for
the French press).

A grinder with preset grind options allows you to switch easily with the
press of a button between coarse and fine but you're stuck with the presets
which may not match 100% your need. A grinder with a high number of
presets and the ability to grind from very coarse to very fine should cover
all mainstream requirements.

Ideally a grinder would have presets but then allow you to fine tune from
the presets.

So which grinder suits ? It varies depending on individual needs. If you
know that you stick to one brewing method and rarely switch then I'd
say go with a stepless. A stepless grinder with good burrs can grind
what you need and provided you're not swapping brewing methods I'd
recommend it.

Mr Magnolia

What Gran Hermano said.

Also, can anyone recommend somewhere to puchase the Bodum Antigua from? I'm going to pick one up for the french press.

Gran Hermano

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

Also, can anyone recommend somewhere to puchase the Bodum Antigua from? I'm going to pick one up for the french press.

http://www.javarepublic.com/iopen24/product_info.php?cPath=0_1196&products_id=1268

I think the Kildare Outlet mall may have them in their kitchen shop also.

Mr Magnolia

Gran Hermano wrote: »

http://www.javarepublic.com/iopen24/product_info.php?cPath=0_1196&products_id=1268

I think the Kildare Outlet mall may have them in their kitchen shop also.

Great stuff thanks. May as well add the 2 bags of coffee for a couple of euro, that Munkey Espresso Bean wasn't bad the last time I tried it. I wonder how fresh the beans will be?

Yet another piece of kit, it's nearly worth gear buying for the missus' reaction alone