Mignon Manuale

Blue Star coffee doing Eureka Minion Manuale at a good price. Solidly built piece of kit mostly metal where it counts. I believe they ship all over Europe.

Open box Mignon Manuale is just over $200, that's my vote (espresso only) 

I haven't read all the replies to this thread yet. My only advice so far is to NOT buy any of the grinders you have shown. I have a Eureka Mignon Manuale which is very good, but I only use it for light roasts nowadays because I also have a Timemore Bricks 01s which cost me even less but I prefer it. My next step is probably going to be to replace the Eureka with a Timemore 064S or a Lagom Casa. I am just waiting long enough to avoid my wife's annoyance at yet more investment in grinders even though the coffee we share is already excellent!

I have had 3 Shardor grinders, 2 of them being the model shown, one being a replacement for a cheaper one, the third being a replacement for the second. The first 2 lasted less than 6 months in combined total, and the third showed signs of exhaustion on speciality coffees, at which point i moved up to a Eureka Mignon Manuale. You are much better off with a Barazza ESP or a Breville SGP. Or even a DF54.

Sorry I have no experience of this particular model. (I misinterpreted the original photo, I had 3 cheaper grinders with smaller, conical burrs) However their after sales service was quite good for me, they replaced or refunded for all 3 of my faulty models. So maybe it would be worth the risk, but I wouldn;t buy one myself. The Manuale is rock solid and gives good results, but it is tedious and inconsistent if you change grind settings frequently. I now have mine on a fixed setting for the locally roasted decaff beans I drink every day, and use my Timemore for 4 bag medley taster packs I buy online.

I have had 3 Shardor grinders, 2 of them being the model shown, one being a replacement for a cheaper one, the third being a replacement for the second. The first 2 lasted less than 6 months in combined total, and the third showed signs of exhaustion on speciality coffees, at which point i moved up to a Eureka Mignon Manuale. You are much better off with a Barazza ESP or a Breville SGP. Or even a DF54. (Phillintheblank90 suggested I move this post to where it would be more obvious, to act as a warning. I must admit that the vendor of my Shardors gave excellent after sales service, both free replacements were sent free, but that might also suggest that they were resignedly familiar with the problems.)

Go for the eureka and buy the bigger dial. It’s the one that’s built the best , like a tank, and has little to no quality control issues. Unlike the others in your list.

I’ve got the Eureka Mignon Manuale. A bit loud but I don’t care. It does a great job.

Search this sub for "Opus" and note the many issues reported with it. You might want to take it off your list. The other 3 grinders are all solid choices. DF54 and Manuale are worth more than the ESP if you are willing to spend the money.

Consider one of the Eureka Mignon grinders. They are flat burr, but (except for the new 65 AP burrs) they have the flavor profile of a conical burr grinder. When I used to own both a Niche Zero and a Eureka Specialita, the espresso brewed from both tasted nearly identical.

As a former barista I think you will be most comfortable with a Gaggia Classic E24. It will feel closest to the commercial machines you've used in the past. Don't forget to budget for a good grinder. When brewing espresso, the grinder is much more important than the espresso machine. lf you really have a budget for $1K, an E24 for $450 will leave you $550 for a grinder. Spend as much of that as you can stand. If you want to single dose, Timemore 064s would be a great choice. Get it at one of Amazon's frequent 20% discount sales. If you want to grind-on-demand with a hopper, then one of the Eureka Mignons.

How’s the grind consistency with single dosing on the Manuale? I tried it for a bit and while retention even without bellows was 0, shot times varied by about 5-10 seconds. Has been incredibly consistent with hopper dosing!

Stay away from the Opus. The ESP is a good choice, though I feel like the Mignon Manuale/Facile/Notte is the best budget espresso grinder you can get, and SCG has it for $280. ESP for the easy adjustments if that’s important to ya.

For that budget I'd go for 3 options depending on preference/workflow. - Turin DF54 (54mm flat burr, single dose, dosing cup) - Fellow Opus (44mm conical burr, single dose, dosing cup) - Eureka Manuale (50mm flat burr, hopper or single dose, direct to portafilter) Those are all great options that are towards the top end of your budget with Eureka coming in a bit higher with the Opus being the cheapest option. IMO the Eureka is probably the best built quality and durability wise.

Pro tip, if you struggle to get a good coffee out of it in a few years, first thing you should try is replacing the burrs. I was going crazy getting 15 second shots with the burrs nearly touching. After replacing them, I'm more than half a rotation of the dial back. Not sure how they became blunt after 4 years of 1-2 coffees a day...

Eureka Mignon Manuale ($450aud, 4 years ago). It was good for a couple of years, but somehow the burrs wore down, and for the last 6 months I've been struggling to get a good coffee out of it. Replaced the burrs ($50aud) which fixed the issue, but I'm still considering switching. The retention is ridiculous (more than 0.5g), so I got the bellow upgrade which helped, but theres still 0.1-0.3g of exchange. Plus, I find the workflow annoying, as the button is plastic and my portafilter is obviously metal, so there is zero friction in pressing the button, meaning I regularly slide off the button causing the grind to stop. The Lagom Casa has nothing but good reviews, so that's my next grinder. As someone who's been down this path, a word of advice; spend more on your grinder than you do on your machine. It sounds crazy if you're just starting, but it's true.

Eureka manuale here, 0 ragrets but very loud! But if I'm spending 500-1000 on a grinder, it'll be another Eureka