EK43S

Eh it depends on your budget. Can get Titus Nautilus or Ozik with brew burrs… realistically any 80/98/102mm platform will be great. Pietro is very capable and is a great value for money, I often reach for it instead of my EK43S with SSP HUs which are more espresso focused.

I would pick 98mm platform over 80mm… Titus Nautilus, Lagom, Levercraft Ultra and its variants, heck… even EK43.

Well I put EK43 right at the end for a reason - other options have nicer workflows and less messy out of the box (my EK43S with Titus BC and Grafikus catch cup solve the problems but it’s not worth the money). 98mm platform has so many more burrsets. 80mm is lagging behind. P.S. I forgot Ozik Bold. That one is getting good reviews.

Mahlkonig EK43s with SSP HU burrs. love it

I have EK43 with SSP HU burrs. The light roasts are so good that i do not know why I would change the grinder. but 98mm burrs are kinda expensive. It was a huge pain in the ass to align and it took me about 10 tries and over 2 hours. But everything is super tasty. So well worth it. Good thing is that EKs pop up on used market periodically where i live for around €1600. So if mine breaks I would get a used one again probably. of course the coolness factor and experience of eg-1 is superior. depends what you want from the grinder. Option O P100, Weber EG-1, monolith grinders, ek43. All are amazing choices you wont regret.

The Atom 65W is a cut above the others. It’s more sturdy and substantial. My second choice would be the Malhkonnig. I have heard the the Allground has high retention and loses your settings when you open it for cleaning. The Eureka adjusts from the bottom. Also their ACE anti static system leaves you with super fluffy grounds in the basket (not clinging everywhere). Both will hum out an 18g dose in about 5 seconds. I love my Atom.

You are in a weird place with "way to expensive for medium grinder" but "not enough money for end-game". Wilfa make amazing pour over grinders. Fuji R220 as well. Anything flat burrs and larger size (up to 98mm) will give you good coffee. The bigger size - the better coffee. Try to get 2nd hand EK43 with good burrs, probably your best bet

Linea Mini R/ EK43 and Ode SSP MP

Haha, I appreciate the check in. I’ve noticed light espresso can be polarizing! I’ve been blessed to have a coffee shop with a EK43 and a Lagom 01, so I have been able to experience some really crazy espresso, even from beans thst really should not have a shot pulled from them. You’re spot on though, light espresso is a whole other ball park. A shot of good Kenyan can taste like juice!

Ek43 is the worst for more than 2lbs. Not because it can’t handle it, but because of the insane static field it creates—you’ll be losing a fair bit of your weight to static on the machine and counter and floor unless you’re really choking up on the chute with a bag. We have a large bag/shop grinder for things like cold brew or grinding for wholesale accounts as well as a couple of eks. When we moved the roaster to another location, the shop grinder went and I had to use the ek for about a month and it was a horrible experience lol.

For the record my workplace has an Ek43 with the post-2015 burrs, and honestly I often prefer the cups I get from my Ode 2 at home. That's with the same beans (I often bring beans in to work), but I don't have control over the water at work, so that probably accounts for some of the difference.

Agreed. Get a Bunn grinder if your shop grinds beans for customers. Get an EK43 for grind on demand and pour overs

Bunn G1, it's a beast that will outlive us both lol I'm not a fan of the EK43. It's certainly better than the Bunn, but also considerably more expensive but I feel it's less versatile. It'll make you a better V60, but grind a whole lb through it and it gets hot. It gets the grounds hot. The G1 doesn't. In the coffee shop I often have people buying 1, 2, 3 even more bags of beans and they want them ground. I've done 12 1lb bags back to back on the Bunn. Totally fine. I do 1 bag through the EK and it gets hot. So yeah overall I think it's more versatile, indestructible, and good enough for anything other than espresso.