The right grinder.

From blend building to coffee grinding. It's a small step.

I discovered why it seemed to be impossible to find the blend i was looking for.
At Caffènation we have 5 grinders.
One is this huge (50K) Ditting to grind big packs of coffee and also Turkish/powder. For quick tests of samples or grinding for Chemex and French press i also use it, to my satisfaction.

A couple of weeks ago i asked a specialized company to clean up a (old) Santos Silence grinder. This is a very popular machine in Belgium and France, and according to the resellers one of the best on the market.
I was very happy to have it repaired and ready with a new set of blades. Until today.

This morning i started working one hour earlier to give my newest blend a go. 4 equal parts of freshly roasted Yirgacheffe, Santos, Picacho and Italian Roast. To give it all the chances to succeed i threw it into my newest grinder, the Mahlkonig K 30 (see picture).
After 2 seasoning shots on each group i presumed my E91 Faema was ready for action.
First the espresso. 22 seconds. Mmm .... too short. Sourish and a lack of body.
Again a double. 18 grams updosing. 28 seconds. Mmm ... yes! I finally found this rich, full bodied, lightly citrus and punchy but no bitter aftertaste. The cappuccino. ... No problem.
Then the lungo. Coarser grind. (setting 8). Something like 7 grams on the single.
Mmm .... wow! One of the best lungo's i ever tasted. Then i checked it with some sugar and milk and again it came out fantastic. I'm a big fan of the Yirg for espresso's, but first of all for taller coffee's, on the espresso machine or other coffee brewers. It goes really well with sugar/syrup/chocolate, either warm or cold.

Then it was time to open the cafe and i filled the Mahlkonig with it's normal blend. My newest blend went into my Santos Silence grinder.

Between a couple of clients i pulled a double (new blend) shot for my barista Bird and myself. What a disappointment.... not bad, but way too sour and bitter. And then i suddenly realized, that until today i have been testing this new blend always on this same Santos grinder. Never i was able to obtain a good result. Sorry, never my grinder gave me the taste i asked for.

Unfortunately i sold my spare Mazzer Super Jolly last week to a friend. And i still need to wait one more week to go to Henk at ESW for my new Macap Chromé.

There are surely more good grinders on the market, but for myself i decided to stick to the three M's : Mahkonig, Mazzer and Macap, that's for sure.