MAHLKÖNIG - EK43S

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.

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.

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

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.

the EK43, Guatemala, and Ditting 804/807 are all great options for a coffee shop that wants to signal to customers that they take coffee seriously (ugh). The Bunn models including g and newer gvh are more common in lower budget coffee shops and frequently found in diners, gas stations, restaurants, and grocery stores. This varies regionally though. They are rarely found in quality coffee shops near me but that isn't the case everywhere. They can all produce great coffee in the hands of an experienced barista. I think the answer depends on the vision you have for your coffee shop.

I have a Mahlkonig EK43 and I bought it brand new. I wanted something for grinding espresso, pour overs and bulk.

i just turn the grinder on before adjusting finer, same as i would on an EK43 and havent noticed an issue, though admittedly i make espresso very infrequently

I have a niche, a bartza encore, a zepresso jmax, an ek43. The niche does just fine