To make nice espresso at residence, you want the very best instruments — and most significantly, the very best grinder. The grinder is certainly an important a part of your espresso setup and might make or break your morning brew.
Till lately, for those who needed espresso grinder at residence, you had a restricted variety of decisions. By and enormous, the espresso grinders obtainable for residence customers have been pretty comparable, with predictable designs and solely superficial variations of their options.
In the previous couple of years, nevertheless, there was a wave of thrilling new grinders for residence baristas to select from. These new grinders are very completely different from those that got here earlier than. Many are designed with one particular function in thoughts, whereas others deliver to your own home the form of high quality that was as soon as reserved for big, industrial grinders. As well as, they’re designed to look good on the counter, in addition to to make superb espresso.
At 5 Elephant, we lately began providing two of the brand new breed of grinders on our webshop: The Fellow Ode Brew Grinder and the Mahlkönig X54. We selected these grinders as a result of they every provide one thing completely different. They’re full opposites in the way in which they work — and but, they’re every among the many finest residence grinders on the market, as a result of they obtain various things. So for those who’re hoping to make higher espresso at residence and need to improve your grinder, or for those who’re searching for the proper present for the espresso lover in your life, then learn on to search out out what makes these two grinders particular.
The Fellow Ode: A great-looking grinder devoted to filter espresso
The Ode is a surprising new grinder designed particularly for one factor, and one factor solely: making excellent filter espresso. The mix of slick design and ground-breaking options attracted large quantities of hype at launch, and it’s no shock that the Specialty Espresso Affiliation chosen the Ode grinder for Finest New Product of 2021.
Distinctive Design
The very first thing you’ll discover about this grinder is that it doesn’t look something like a espresso grinder. Fellow has thrown all established concepts of what a espresso grinder ought to seem like out of the window. As a replacement, we now have a modern, modernist design that appears extra like a high-end Hello-Fi amplifier than a espresso grinder.
The Ode is a grinder to show proudly in your countertop, to not disguise away in a cabinet. Fortunately for these of us with small areas, it grinds quietly, and at simply 12cm vast it doesn’t take up a lot room. Regardless of this, it’s surprisingly heavy — they’ve packed a number of gadgetry and a strong motor into that aluminum and metal chassis.
Distinctive Options
On the coronary heart of the grinder is a pair of 64mm burrs — the metal disks that grind your espresso. These are monumental for a grinder this dimension; you’d usually solely discover burrs this huge in far more costly fashions or industrial grade grinders. Giant burrs typically produce higher grind high quality, coaxing extra taste out of the beans. As well as, they cut back the quantity of warmth generated throughout grinding, serving to to protect the fragile aromas of the espresso.
These large burrs are coupled with the Ode’s most revolutionary function (for those who’ll excuse the pun): the ‘Good Velocity’ management. In most espresso grinders, the burrs spin quicker at first or finish of every dose, when there are fewer beans creating resistance contained in the grinder. This creates some inconsistency in the way in which the espresso grinds. The Ode solves this downside by exactly controlling the ability despatched to the motor, and therefore it ensures that the burrs all the time spin at a constant velocity whereas grinding the espresso.
These options alone would make the Ode the perfect filter espresso grinder in its value bracket, but it surely additionally has some considerate design touches that make it a pleasure to make use of. For example, there’s a nifty magnetic catch within the base that ensures the grinds cup is completely aligned with the grinder chute, with the outcome that your espresso grounds all the time find yourself in your cup, not on the counter.
As with every experimental design, there have been some glitches reported at launch, however Fellow was remarkably fast to repair these and the brand new fashions ship with upgraded burrs and electronics that handle these points.
Briefly, the Fellow Ode is the proper grinder for any espresso and design lover who enjoys exploring the flavors of various coffees. The one factor it will possibly’t do, nevertheless, is grind fantastic sufficient for espresso — and that is the place the Mahlkönig X54 is available in.
The Mahlkönig X54: Skilled high quality in a house grinder
In distinction to the Ode, the X54 was designed as an all-rounder, that may grind for each filter and espresso. The X54 is sort of a scaled-down model of Mahlkönig’s widespread industrial grinders — in actual fact, it seems similar to the grinders we select for our personal cafes, and consists of a number of the identical options.
One of the simplest ways to get an concept of how properly a grinder works in apply is undoubtedly to speak to somebody with first-hand expertise. Because the X54 remains to be a really new mannequin, there aren’t many opinions on the market — so as an alternative, we reached out to Mathias Meyer, a Berlin-based espresso aficionado and 5 Elephant buyer, who has been utilizing one among these grinders at residence for just a few months now.
Rugged Building, Quiet Operation
The very very first thing in regards to the X54 that Mathias remarks on is the construct high quality. “The entire thing is strong and feels properly made, which I suppose you may anticipate from Mahlkönig,” he says. “It simply feels good and made to final.”
Regardless that the design relies on massive industrial grinders, the X54 has a surprisingly compact footprint. However, one factor that some customers have commented on is that with the hopper in place, it’s fairly tall at 42.5cm. Consequently, it might not match beneath low-hanging kitchen cupboards.
It has barely smaller burrs than the Ode at 54mm, however because of Mahlkönig’s experience in burr design, these can function effectively at simply 1050 RPM — considerably decrease than most grinders. The sluggish rotation of the burrs means they generate much less warmth, and produce lower than 70 dB of noise when grinding. “It’s surprisingly quiet,” Mathias observes.
Nice High quality for Each Filter and Espresso
The X54 is well known for its glorious grind high quality — which isn’t that stunning, contemplating that it’s made by Mahlkönig, an organization whose grinders are present in specialty espresso retailers everywhere in the world.
The grind high quality might be the only most vital consider figuring out how good your espresso tastes, and the X54 actually delivers on this entrance. “Having the X54 has been reminder of how a lot distinction it makes to have grinder,” Mathias says. “Good beans and grinder (just like the X54) already take you very far.”
Moreover, the X54 has stepless grind adjustment, which provides you infinite management over the grind dimension, and lets you actually nail the proper taste of your espresso. It not solely produces gentle, fluffy grinds for espresso, but in addition compares favorably with widespread filter grinders at coarser settings.
Constructed for Velocity
The X54’s massive hopper hints at its greatest energy: making coffees again to again. It makes use of a timer to regulate the quantity of espresso delivered every time. As soon as the timer is appropriately programmed, it will possibly ship the identical dose of espresso with uncanny accuracy. That is just like the system we depend on in our cafes, which permits us to make a whole bunch of espressos each day.
Likewise, it’s designed for a quick workflow, fitted with forks that maintain the portafilter hands-free and let you grind straight into the filter basket, simply as in Mahlkönig’s industrial grinders.
Conversely, this method makes it much less efficient for ‘single dosing’, the place the barista weighs out a person portion of beans earlier than grinding. “I’ve seen different opinions report that grind retention isn’t a problem, [but] I have a tendency to finish up with typically extra, typically much less grounds than the beans I put into the hopper,” Mathias says.
Accordingly, the X54 is finest used with a full hopper, which implies sticking to 1 form of espresso at a time. Single dosing is actually attainable, but it surely’s not what the X54 was designed for — it’s a lot better fitted to the house barista who desires to make a number of coffees at a time.
Placing the X54 to the Check
With a view to actually see how properly the X54 compares with industrial grinders, we ran a small trial in our coaching lab. Our , made espressos utilizing each the X54, and the industrial grinder we use in our cafes, Mahlkönig’s E65S. She used precisely the identical recipe, espresso, and espresso machine, and used an automatic tamper to remove another sources of variation.
She then measured the extraction in every espresso. Extraction is a measure of how a lot we managed to tug out of the espresso bean, which, in flip, is one indication of how good the grinder is. Surprisingly, she discovered that the X54 not solely matched the industrial grinder — it beat it! In a straight comparability, the X54 achieved an extraction of over 22%, whereas the industrial grinder solely reached 21.3%. It is a substantial distinction and highlights simply how good the X54 is.
Conclusion: The Final House Espresso Grinder
To sum up, the X54 and the Ode are two excellent espresso grinders, every constructed with very completely different customers in thoughts.
The Ode is the perfect grinder for the filter espresso fanatic, who desires to take the time to coax the refined flavors out of each espresso. Should you’re the form of espresso drinker that likes to sip on a honey-processed Nicaraguan with breakfast, after which change to a fragile pure Geisha for the afternoon brew, then the Ode is your form of grinder.
In the meantime, the X54 shines while you need to make nice espresso many times. Whether or not you’re all the time having buddies spherical for espresso, otherwise you similar to to drink a number of espressos whilst you work, the X54 is a grinder that offers you glorious, constant outcomes time after time, regardless of the way you prefer to drink your espresso.
Each the Ode and the X54 are undoubtedly among the many finest residence espresso grinders available on the market. Relying on the way you prefer to drink your espresso, both of them might be the proper grinder for you.
Contact our workforce for those who’d like several extra details about these grinders, or when you have another questions on your espresso tools setup.
