M98V Monolith 98mm Vertical Flat Burr Grinder

M98v. I have a Z2 on order that I'm super excited about, but the M98v is as good as it gets but a little much for me.

SCRv3v2 in the M98V - however it really depends on the particular coffee. It’s not my favorite for Ethiopians for instance, but for Gesha’s and PB’s it’s spectacular. It’s worth noting though - the 102HU is extraordinary, and a Lagom 01 with that burr is nearly 1/2 the cost of an M98V after shipping and config costs. If tomorrow I only had the 01 with 102HU burrs as my only pour over and spro grinder, I wouldn’t feel any fomo.

Neither fellow ode nor ek43 are the min or max. The real min/max are femobook A2 or M98V.

Femobook a2 is the cheapest but decent quality electric grinder that you can get. Except it's very slow. M98V is the flagship brew grinder from monolith. They design everything inhouse and test each unit. You could potentially get better with eg1 with ulf burrs or lagom 01 with SSP lab sweet or brew burr, but less guarantee on the alignment. At the end of the day all 3 are end game machines and the difference will be minimal and barely noticeable for most coffees, unless you compare side by side.

98mm platform of your choice - I’d say if budget is not relevant kafatek m98v since you could use both kafatek and ssp style burrs The millab hand grinder seems cool and maybe a bit different so that

In addition to the budget, you need to figure out how much time you want to budget :) If you are interested in fine-tuning to your preference, I think you can get pretty much all of your top 5 burrs in that budget. Try all and sell some, and keep the rest. You can get single person perspectives from u/Impossible_Cow_9178 or burrtopia or home-barista, etc. But obviously things are going to be quite a bit subjective to your personal taste. At a $10K budget for pourover, everything but the grinder spending is negligible largely (besides beans of course, but that is recurring cost and capped by how much caffeine you can handle) For grinders, I'd get the EG-1 ULF, M98V, Lagom 01 (both 102mm SSP burrs) and then figure out trying what works for me personally.

It is very consistent.

I’ve owned the Key MK2, Kafatek, and Niche Zero (and many more flat burr grinders). I’m sticking with the Niche Zero. For me personally, it’s the best grinder for medium to dark roasts. You won’t get the most complex flavor notes, but you’ll enjoy a rich, chocolatey, nutty, and syrupy-thick espresso. It’s honestly the best and easiest conical burr grinder to use even for other people in the household. Also, this grinder is truly high-quality. With the Key and Kafatek, you must shake, because they produce a lot of fines in the grind and I don’t like to shake my grinds.

Believe me, you won’t experience a big change in flavors if you switch to the Key of Kafatek.

Espresso machines and grinders still have significant manufacturing in Italy and other western countries. None of my equipment is made in China. Mazzer, Kafatek, LA Marzocco, Elektra.