pleasing design, like straight drop into container, very consistent grind
Negative Product Points
Can't handle partially roasted beans
Detailed Commentary
I am a home roaster who likes the lighter roasting styles ,because the coffee has a brighter flavor and more closely resembles my mother's Norwegian egg coffee. This grinder cannot handle any green beans at all and the lighter roasts present a problem for it as well. The grinder has some sort of mechanical slip mechanism so that when it encounters a lighter roasted bean it makes a loud banging noise. This mechanism wears out rather quickly. My three month old Solis Maestro now gathers dust on my counter as I await delivery of a Bodum rotary burr grinder.
There were two comments to my review that in retrospect I can understand from what I wrote above or rather what I didn't write above.
I use a KitchenAid Superba convection oven in which to roast my beans. I set the oven to a temperature of 460 degrees and always take the roast into first crack. For La Minita Tarrazu I stop the roast about 30 seconds into first crack, for most Colombian's I stop between first and second crack.
The people at Baratza where very patient, but where also insistent that my roasting style must be producing some unroasted beans, which their grinder is not designed to handle. When I look at the finished roast they all look a uniform brown color on the outside.
The Bodum grinder that replaced the Maestro only lasted one month before the gearbox gave out. I guess the Baratza people are right.
I'm back to using a plain jane Krups blade style grinder for my Bodum stove top vacuum pot. I can't really say that the coffee tastes different. So for snob appeal my setup is cheap, but the coffee is great.
Buying Experience
The people at Kitchen Window were their usual courtious selves.
