Eureka - Mignon Manuale

I got my Eureka Mignon Manuale from Clumsy Goat over a year ago and very happy with it.

Is there a reason the mignon manuale isn't suggested anymore?

It's definitely more "prosumer" than a lot of the other cheaper grinders, but I feel just as much as the DF54 that everyone is now acting like is the greatest grinder to ever exist... im thinking about picking up a manuale as a cheap, sturdy, repairable, flat burr grinder since I have an ESP (conical) that does a decent job but I occasionally feel i need more granularity and I do enjoy flat burr profiles now that ive tried them.

Haha, I have the manuale sitting on my counter and the first thing I thought when I saw the thumbnail was "Wait, no Eureka?!"

Mind you, it is my first and only grinder so I have no comparison, but I love it. For the price the build quality is phenomenal. Easy to dial in new beans. It is a tad loud in my kitchen, but I've read that is more silent than other similar priced grinders.  Check out this review for more details: https://www.reddit.com/r/espresso/comments/hrr978/eureka_mignon_manuale_a_review/

Mind you, I may not be as sophisticated as you in the coffee world... My machine is the gaggia, it is known for inconsistent results as well, so I could just be making bad coffee for all I know. Most of the time I just want a nice espresso to get my day started, and it does the job. I rarely do the complete workflow of RDT, weighing the dose before and after the grind. But I usually get fluffy grounds and the coffee tastes great.  In terms of retention, yes... When I go through the whole workflow of weighing the dose, portafilter, rdt, I notice I can get .2 to .4 of a gram missing after a single dose grind.

Another nice feature of the manuals is the straight dimensions mean you can model it quite easily and 3D print anything for it. I did a spiral input funnel to slow bean entry, a base to put it at a 9 degree angle and a piece to hold a (3d printed) blind shaker. Hard to do that with some of the other more curved grinders in the video. Not saying they all work well, but a fun option to have!

I just wanna counterbalance by saying that I love my Manuale but I don't understand the review that you posted. It says retention is minimal; i have tons of retention and resorted to Etsy modification kits to angle the machine and add a single dosing bellows. (the fact that the machine is so prevalent that you can have all these mods is of course also a plus in itself) I get quite some clumping, even with RDT. But I'm not sure it influences the brew. I don't find the machine easy to dial in as the adjustment dial is so imprecise. Here again I added a third party mod that gives you more precision. With the added mods the machine is almost perfect, but adding up all those costs and considering the current price point of the DF64v2, I would have opted for that option if it was available at that price at the time.

This is far from a comprehensive or thorough review as daddy Hoff leaves out the Eureka low end grinders like the Manuale as well as other options at this price point.   Pretty funny that he picks a bellows grinder after using the necessity of a bellows as a reason to just about disqualify other grinders in the past. He skims right over all the QC issues people report on the DF grinders.  IMHO quality should be above all else in the low cost segment. Then again, I have grown more and more aware that finding quality roundup reviews these days is virtually impossible as the bias always leaks even if unintentional.  While I like Hoff's presentation style and particle data, others do better reviews. Let the downvotes begin.  Lol

Eureka Mignon. I would not go cheaper than that ($200-$250 for an espresso grinder). edit: reasons to go with Eureka: you get a consistent grind. easy to clean, easy to disassemble, easy to replace parts and replacement parts are available. reasons to go no less than $200-$250 for any grinder: below that you just won’t get a consistent grind which will be frustrating as you learn to make espresso and ultimately cost you a lot of money in beans. for brewing coffee it doesn’t matter but for espresso it really does.

Espresso is an expensive hobby so if you want to get into it, make sure your really into coffee. Beginners machines start at 500$ and grinders start at 200$ anything below those price points are not capable of making actual espresso. Beginner setup would look something like this. Bambino plus, paired with DF54, or Eurka mignon grinder. You of course can spend more, but that's just an example of the most "budget friendly" setup. Because it only goes up from there lmao.

https://www.espressocoffeeshop.com/en/8-coffee-grinders Entry level Eureka is only around 200usd. Email and ask them for a coupon code, you’ll very likely get one. Excellent grinder, will make a huge difference.