we start the year by adding another good espresso grinder to sit beside the Kafatek Max II with Shuriken Sweet burrs, the Nautilus by Titus Grinding of Germany

i like to support independant operators that have invested a lot to help us create consistently excellent espresso; all of the operators in this space live and breathe their craft; it isnt a 9-5 job, they all wake up in the middle of the night wondering about a particualr issue, or suddenly realising the answer to a particular problem that they have been mulling over for months

please note that we paid the market rates for both of these grinders

while it is true that we are playing in the realm of diminishing returns with grinders at this level, that is only true if you are drinking dark roasts.  if you drink dark roasts dont waste your money on any of these grinders, get a Niche Zero and youll have everything you ever need.  dark roasts are so soft you can crush them between your forefinger and thumb.

however, these grinders are an absolute necessity if you want to make pleasing espresso with light roasts, the lighter the roast the more essential they are.  some light roasts are so hard they will stall all but the most powerful of these grinders; the Ceado E37Z for example will stall on light roasts unless the beans are fed into the grinder one by one, something i do not consider acceptable on any grinder, let alone one at this price point

one thing i can almost guarantee; the espresso produced from the same roast by these two grinders will be significantly different as they both solve the challenges of grinding in very different ways; both will have relative strengths and weaknesses and i look forward to exploring them