The Kafatek Monolith Flat Max (Episode #5)
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- Опубліковано 29 чер 2024
- More about the Monolith Flat Max here: www.kafatek.com/index.php/mon...
Other episodes in the series will appear here as they are released:
Ep #1: • The Option-O Lagom P-6...
Ep #2: • The Weber EG-1 (Episod...
Ep #3: • The Mahlkönig EK-43S (...
Ep #4: • The Levercraft Ultra (...
Ep #6 (Finale): • The Ultimate Grinder S...
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Thank you for the great set of entertaining reviews James. I appreciate your measured and sensitive approach without drama.
I wanted to add that Monolith is the only one in this series that is completely made and assembled in USA. Pretty much everything but the motor itself is made in my shop in Seattle and that includes the burrs which are ground to less than 2 microns in flatness and parallelism. We test every single critical part that we make. I also test every single grinder before it gets shipped.
The selection of motor/RPM controller was driven by desire to future proof the grinder. I decided to use industrial stock DC motor and DC driver in standard industry size from large Japanese manufacturer with world-wide presence to future proof grinder. I did not use custom components for these parts since design goal is that grinder will work for more than 50 years from now and electric parts that can fail must be standard and available world-wide. Pretty much if motor or controller fails you can order replacement anywhere in the world from the local distributor. Also, every single Monolith Flat or MAX ever shipped includes “RPM profiling” which is a stock feature of most of DC motor controllers.
We settled on slower grinding speed since over the years most people with Monolith ended up at low RPMs based on better taste. Everyone kind of naturally gravitated to lower speeds so that’s why MAX runs at 400 RPMs maximum.
If you like to follow our journey, you can follow us on Instagram @kafatek
Best in the world. BTW I use 375rpm on my flat. wow.
@@gwcfeb03 Thank you Bill. None of this would be possible without support of people like you. Its the only reason I am able to do this and try to push coffee just little bit more forward.
I run mine at 200rpm. Greatest grinder ever. I’m very lucky to have one for over a year now.
It’s a pleasure to use and the results are amazing. Everything in life should function so perfectly. 😀
A range upto 500rpm would've been nice to have though... "more freedom"
Not to tip the scales, but just wanted to add that investing in my Monolith Flat in 2017 was easily the best decision I've ever made for my coffee workflow. This thing is unparalleled for espresso. I own a Decent Espresso Machine (review by James Hoffman before), which provides real-time data on flow and pressure, and I can say confidently that the Monolith 100% eliminates grinding aberrations as a variable in shot development. But, I cannot stress this enough: it makes incredible pour-over, French press, drip, and cold brew as well. While Kafatek may be too modest to say it: the Monolith Flats do everything an EK43 does, only better, with greater precision, and in a smaller and more practical form factor. To this day, I still think one of the greatest advantages of this machine for home baristas is that it truly is the only grinder you’ll need, and will excel at everything. And, Denis Basaric (Kafatek’s founder) is phenomenal with customer service and communications.
I promise I wasn’t paid to say any of this, and Denis surely doesn’t remember me since fulfilling my order several years ago. I say it because it’s the truth.
The real MVP in these series is the dosing cup from a Niche Zero grinder.
Would be lovely if the sold those separately. The acaia portafilter doser is probably what comes closest.
@@coffeewithcarl1779 honestly don't know why they don't lol they could price it however they wished
@@azzarooni8532 Well they actually already do that - the cup costs £499 GBP and conveniently comes with a grinder :D
There is a dosing cup made by Kafatek, it just doesn't come in the box. And there are other more premium cups from Acaia, Tidaka, Pesado, Tiamo, Rhino and others many. But nice joke.
When are they gonna be in stock again :(
You could have easily spread this out over 6 weeks and I would have waited for each video and not thought twice. The fact that you're making it a bit of an event for every morning of a slow week in January is a real gift. Thanks, James!
well said...100 percent agree!
slow week? You gotta look into what's going on with stocks rn
In feb we get new creators...that'll be something!
+1
@@ROBLOXER1234 Maybe we can afford some of these new grinders once we've sufficiently squeezed $AMC and $GME...
Well, I get a McDonald’s coffee advert prior to this video... glad they’re reminding me of my place.
Lol
Less coffee is the way to better coffee
Honestly, it's at or near Starbucks quality for half the price so probably not the worst option when you are on a budget. 😄
There's a McDonald's coffee comment under every of James's videos - I was not disappointed to find one under this one either!
Do you guys know if McDonald's is grinding with unimodal or high uniformity?
‘I get to complain about everything because that’s just who I am.’ Can we print this on a merch or something.
completely agree
I like the "it's my job" part, b/c not many people make a living by dispensing their opinion, but with Mr. H, it's objective and when otherwise, he says so.
Can't wait for the showdown! Would gladly sit through 1 hour of that.
Let's be honest, I hope it's at least 1 hour 😂😂
Same
No detail too small!
Or even more
1 hour of James going full "fussy". 1000 times yes.
Would LOVE to see this replicated for high-end dual boiler espresso machines.
I think he might feel biased there, given his involvement with the nice machine he used in this series.
He won't since he is involved with arduino
True, but I always find James very good at disclosing conflicts and not letting them get in the way of his objectivity. He could just exclude that machine from the test.
Also, isn’t the Eagle One a 2/3 group machine? I’m talking about a test of consumer machines, so single group only.
@@ashfanman the Eagle One Prima got released later than the 2/3 groups.
I enjoy how it’s called the Monolith when it’s designed to present itself as two units held together by two legs
In a week, we’ve gone from slightly nitpicky James to ‘I get to complain about everything because that’s just who I am’ James, and I’m loving it.
We'll, geez, if I'm paying 3,000+ for a grinder, I should feel like I can complain about anything about it.
Sometimes I think even James gives too much credit to super luxury machines
Was looking for this review in particular because this is the grinder I liked most. After the review, I’m not so sure anymore. Can’t wait for tomorrow! Great week.
I'm really excited for the showdown. This has been a fantastic series, and what excellent machines!
@jimseven I believe I am loving this 6-day Grinder event way too much. The content is so impressive, and I can't take it anymore and go for your Patreon.
Thank you, James.
What a great week, waking up to a James Hoffmann video everyday. Watch it while drinking my pour over, such an enjoyment.
This is the one I have been waiting for!!!
Also, the spray bottle spritz has been a great addition to my routine.
On the fifth day of grinder reviews, my preferred coffee guy got me five tiny spray bottles, four 58.5mm tampers, three vst baskets, two naked portafilters and a bag of light roast.
Perfect for when you want espresso at 8, but need to study microbiology at 8:30.
Use sketchy micro my friend and youll be golden like the pigment of staph aureus
@@juliankochanowicz5626 Never expected to see a Sketchy Micro/Medical reference in a James Hoffman video lol. Greetings fellow med student
“Lower or higher... as you desire” 🤣 Something about the way you said that killed me!
Loving all of these videos. The showdown is gonna be epic!
OMG the suspense for the final video is too hard to bear. You got really really good at the UA-cam game.
I’ve been really enjoying this weeks videos. I don’t even plan on ever being able to ever afford one of these, but still, such quality content.
Yeah! It's like watching fashion shows: haute couture and pret-a-porter 😶
Hi James,
I absolutely love your work and the level of detail that you go into your videos! It would be super useful to see a video on books, best books about coffee, what you’ve read, sources of information all that good stuff.
Great series James and curies to see the grand finale tomorrow. I have looked at the LW and the Max and finally made my choice for the Max. My key concern with the LW was the production and shipping from Taiwan. Douglas from LW was very responsive but future service did not make me feel warm and fuzzy. Denis makes all components himself and the motor is a standard model that can easily be replaced, even in 20 years. Kafatek has a nice user community and Denis constantly works on making his product better, listening to his customers. In short, I don't regret my choice for a second but keen to see what you think tomorrow
Bang on 10minutes, a perfectly executed concise review.
Wooo I've been waiting for this all daaay!
HYPE TRAIN IS PULLING INTO THE STATION!!! NEXT STOP, SHOOOOOOWWWWWDOOOWWWWN!!!!!
Cool review series James. I have a Max (the last batch prior to the Shurikens) with the low uniformity SSP burrs. My experience aligns with yours, love the results and the use, and actually get very different results in cup based on RPM, but do think it could improve a bit on the aesthetics and design aspect. Had to choose between the grinders you have been reviewing and went with the Max and have no regrets. One thing - KafaTek does have a catch cup that fits into the portafilter forks that works really well for brew coffee grinding. It is an additional accessory that you have to pay extra for.
I was surprised you did not include the Ceado 37SD in your reviews. I have one and love it. Thanks for the reviews.
Loved this little series, excited to see how it ends!
I have seen a lot of people with this grinder and all of them are very happy with it. I also think that in terms of manufacturing, KafaTec has the highest standards of quality from all the others as it is all made in their Seattle machine shop. I don't think that any other small manufacturer excluding Mahlkonig, is making their own burrs with such low tolerances. This grinder has proven itself throughout the years and I am sure it will also keep its value if anyone will sell it second hand. Cheers!
Before this week, I thought the Niche was overpriced...
Same.. Same..
Yeah, these high-end multi-thousand dollar grinders are starting to make Niche look/feel like a DollarStore item now. lol
@@austinfreyrikrw6651 although the design of the Niche means I'd probably still want that in my kitchen over any of these. I can see lots of aesthetically concerned hipster cafés thinking the same...
@@austinfreyrikrw6651 cries in Encore 😭
@@dechasrisen4783 The only one of these meant to be used in a café is the EK43. The rest are single dose grinders for home use
A great review as always, I am just amazed with the grinder at that price point you get a plastic dosing cup and even need a bellows! 😆
That motor control being separate from the rest of the grinder reminds me of some high end turn tables. Kinda cool!
Great review James!
Thanks for a fantastic youtube week with grinders, would have loved seeing the Ceado E37Z-Hero as part of the contest.
I' m also an owner of a great Ceado grinder, the E6P in my case, but I believe that they would compete much easier the Niche than those 5 James reviewed
Even Lagom, which was in the list, couldn't compete the rest
There appears to be a large overlap between people who make espresso at home and people with OCD
"Stickage" ... new rating on your grinder, thanks James, great review as always!!!
Love the expert constructive criticisms you give - or 'complaints' as you say. The designers should want to deliver the best product possible, and your comments are invaluable to that process :)
I love your voice just as much as I love your content. Keep it up.
Have been hoping for this review for a long time! And this might be just me, but I find this to be easily the most beautiful coffee grinder out there - it's just such a unique and sexy design
🌍A series in which you deliver daily uploads reminds me of just how fast a day flies by, let alone a week. Does anyone else feel this way, but I have no complaints about more exposure to Mr. H content. Every day just got a little bit richer due to your thoughtful observations and candid comments.
Bring on the showdown Mr Hoffmann! Todays grinder kinda looks like day two and day four had a baby and this was the result! I like the look of all three but given the choice I'd have day four as my daily driver! Great week of vids!
We need this upload schedule on the daily
Love my Max and glad you loved it too!
That look on his face during that split second that he questioned himself for saying "Stickage" is the highlight of the series.
The word jagged for me too and I noticed the tell in the eyes.
Timestamp?
my favourite was the first one. smaller. but it's a feast to my eyes watching such well made machines. will remain with my Comandante though. it's a lot of money. really great videos as always. waiting curious for the conclusion
Thank you for the review, always qualitative.
This time on very expensive setup which we will only approch in youtube.
If i had to choose without thinking about money i think i would go with this one (or the Weber) over the 5.
Monolith also makes a conical and dual-conical 71mm burrs “pancake” burr grinder with one burr for crushing and final burr for finer grinding.
Thats a fun fact
Made a conical and makes a dual-conical where the top one acts as a pre-breaker*
Nice!! I'm hoping that the next thing we'll see in the high end home market, after rpm profiling, will be dual stage grinding.
Every time a chance to put in a deposit came up, I was all ready to plunk down the money right up until I saw the final price, and then I would hesitate just long enough to miss my opportunity. I ended up buying a Niche. Just based on this video, I think that was the optimal choice for me.
For grinding for filter you could use one of the acaia portafilter dosing cups
Look forward seeing you tomorrow!!!
Oh my gawd. This was the machine that caught my eye first, but purely for very odd and nerdy aesthetic reasons. I want to put some eyes on it, because it looks like a bowing digital penguin. So when I build my Star Citizen/Spaceship themed coffee machine, something like that would be amazing to put alongside it.
* sells GameStop stocks to get one of these grinders
But only if you sold them earlier in the week ;)
HOLD
Paper hands
The SEC just called to deny your request :)
SEC is monitoring your comment
I love the fact that there's video day-to-day. Can you keep doing that? XD
cannot wait for tomorrow!
This is a great series and I look forward to the show down tomorrow. I have a 10 yo Baratza Virtuoso (conical) that struggles to grind espresso even with new burrs. I noticed that I can wiggle the burrs with my hands which I'm sure is partly original design tolerance and partly wear over 10 years of use. For this high end grinder review, I hope some perspective on "sustained performance over time" can be offered. Maybe a $3k grinder will be consistent with burr replacement over 10 years versus a a $500 grinder which may loose consistency after 1 yr? I would love to know the difference from a value standpoint.
Thanks for these wonderful reviews! Because 5 three thousand-ish dollar grinders aren’t first world enough, I would have loved to have seen these beauties compared to the Ceado E37Z. It’s probably bias since I have the excellent E5SD for my home espresso grinder, but I would love to see how it stacks up (or even how the lesser E5SD would do).
I have this grinder with the SSP Low Uniformity burr set. It has been very enjoyable to use, and I am kind of yolo upgrading to the Shuriken SW burrs in hopes it improves filter coffee. I’m looking forward to seeing how this stacks up tomorrow!
@James Hoffmann Thanks for adjusting the intro volume. It's much better now!
I have have my Porlex Tall and Aeropress for over 3yrs - I really enjoy my coffee to the fullest - now seeing these machines - I can't help wonder am I really having the best coffee experience or is a simple case of diminishing values as the price goes higher - let me make myself a cup
The anticipation is killing me!
My guess for showdown- 1 weber (for ease of use and overall tasty, easy to open and looks pretty cool), 2nd option o (cuz value proposition), 3rd monolith (cuz slightly inconvenient will loose marks for manual brewing ease and rpm controller quality), 4th levercraft (too much stuff!), 5th ek43 (good stuff but not for home brewing and qa/qc doesn't justify the price and not micro adjustment, inconvenient dosing, retention)
I couldn't agree more
Hopefully taste is more important than ease of use, or we would all be using nespresso pods ;-). In which case 1st Monolith, 2nd levercraft, 3rd weber (limited by steps and smaller burrs) , 4th o, 5th EK43 (not really suitable).
That would certainly be my order too, but I think he hates how the numbers go for the Option O, think he will rank the Monolith higher than the Lagom. I would also put the EK43 over the Levercraft, that thing is ugly, and too much stuff, and half the price is just import tax from China or something.
I really like the way this one looks. I hope there is a comparison to the Niche in the showdown - I would like to know just how much better a $3k grinder is than a $500 grinder.
Using one of these grinders in the morning your shots will become _consistently_ precise. And lethal.
great videos, would love to see a review of the kafatek monolith conical grinder and how it matches up to other conical grinders in it's class. an idea for the future maybe? conical grinders are a bit underrated in domestic use.
Kafatek MC4, conical burr set with a pre breaker, apparently makes a cleaned up conical espresso. Might solve your quest for texture in the cup!
What a week!
The RPM display looks like an after thought with it slapped on sideways. I wouldn't expect that lack of detail on a $3000+ coffee grinder.
yep, just slap a burr set on a big ass servo motor, dress it up a little and bob´s your auntie...
@@Markus__B Isn't that how each grinder is designed? Oh yeah, add machined aluminium.
God... I am so spoiled... Now I expect to see new video everytime I am on UA-cam
I'm excited about the head to headdddd
It's always a boost for confidence in the morning when your grinder is running on shuriken
Incredible!! That’s the grinder I want!!!!!😊
Since there has to be a pre selection of grinders it's be great to know which criteria were used to exclude others like Ceado, or some of the other brands.
There has been allot of desire among his patreon supporters to test those specific grinders. These are all high end single dosing grinders where 3 of them are specifically designed for home use, the ek43 and Eg-1 are commercial grinders but because so many use them in a home environment it makes sense to include them in a ultimate SD grinder showdown, where EK where the grinder that sparked a revolution in grinders so because of its fame and history worth to include. Yes there are a some that has been omitted like Titus Nautilus, Ceado Naked/Hero, Mazzer ZM, Bentwood Vertical, Molar Z and Ditting 804/807 but none have yet to get the name capacity among home users yet and as you cannot include everything the selection makes sense. None of the standard commercial grinders would
make sense in this test.
Anothe good one! Tomorrow it's gonna be a great day!!
Loving this series James! I'm curious to see how these grinders compare to others in the $200-$500 range in another series of episodes.
That's twice now I've had a James Hoffmann milk ad right before a James Hoffmann video 😂 anyone else??
A video a day feels 😎
Ultimate grinder showdown is awesome!
This is like HI-FI for coffee nerds, I like it
I'm rooting for the EG-1 as I have a HG-1 which I love. An EG-1 is the only thing I'd change it for because I love the aesthetic and build quality of them. Maybe one day when I am too old and decrepit to hand grind.....
This grinder look like as a microscope. Good video :)
James your superhero cape is showing 5:06
I have a Monolith Titan on order and breathed a sigh of relief when you gave this machine a pass. Whew! But you left out the best part! Per Kafatek: "...
“…but we use your grinder to make espresso using our benchmark coffee on one of our machines... Then we compare those espresso shots to the shots made with our reference Monolith. If we are happy with how the espresso tastes, we measure the extraction yields using refractometer and compare those to shots made using our reference Monolith. If either the taste is not to our standards or the extraction yield does not measure up, the grinder will not ship to you.” Now that’s quality control!
Simple solution for filter coffee....they should make an accessory that is a cup that fits in the portafilter holder.
One person disliked before even finishing the video -- how are you hate watching coffee grinder reviews??
Probably just wayyy too excited and click the wrong button 😂
it was probably someone's cat walking all over the keyboard of the laptop
It looks like a telescope, absolutely amazing
They basically all do, noticing a theme.
The only thing I want to buy from this grinder review video is that sweater!
Agreed. I want a sweater that blinks and flashes as my hands move over it also. And one which also changes its colour and darkness as you move. James has a magic sweater.
wait, what happened to the shot in the fancy cup? the cup is different
I recently went from Lidl own brand instant with the gold lid to Lidl own brand instant with the red lid.
Looking forward to the showdown. Please compare it to a Niche as it would fit in the single dose category. Did you mention the burr size? I did not hear it.
It looks like an award.
Love how every video he has called out his own "fussy" complaints. Almost like I look forward to him saying "but that's my job!"
I have one with the SSP burrs. Previously I had a Monolith Conical and Monolith Flat with SSP. I prefer the two flats to the conical (although I have a Niche in another location and love that, so I'm not against conicals). The Max is more finicky than the regular Flat was, for whatever reason. When it's good it's really good though. I never had luck pairing it with my Decent. The Niche/Decent combo seems pretty much unbeatable. So I swapped and now use it with a Londinium R. It's pretty hard to pull a bad shot with this combo. Lastly, Kafatek makes a cup that is extremely well machined and fits perfectly in the forks. I much prefer grinding into this than directly into the portafilter
Also I love how compact it is and how solid it feels
Would have been super interesting to open it up and see the custom burrs! That aside, good video.
This series is proving that Soviet Stalinist Industrial Design still lives on.
Also this series of videos is proving that Niche's Martin Nicholson is a "genius", who hasn't forgotten the concepts of beauty and "Value for the Money".
In general the manufacturing cost of producing something ugly is really no different than the cost of producing a beautiful, thoughtful design.
A most amusing series without a doubt.
Nice review as always. I just miss comparasion of Versalab M4 and Ceado E37Z Hero. But I understand that 5 grinders to review is a lot. Any thoughts on grinders I mentioned?
Great review, thank you. A couple of questions for you James: did you need to season the burrs as part of your testing? If so, did you notice the grind setting moving around / becoming much smaller post-seasoning and was there any impact on taste? Did this happen with the other grinders? I'd also love to know if you can brew different coffees back-to-back with this and reliably/repeatably alternate the grind size adjustments for each, once each coffee is dialled in.
I think we need to go to the next level of particle accelerator grinders and see if they pull better shots.
Excellent review, James! With the scarcity and price of the monolith it's relatively more difficult to find an unbiased review than it is for other high end grinders, colored as owner expectations are. I anticipate the head to head with pleasure.
I'm an eg-1 owner myself, having failed to secure a kafatek pre-order. I love the design and consistency of the unit but do find that it jams at smaller grinds and lighter roasts; this is with the core set, the problem having been worse on ultra/ssp burrs. I've also found unimodal grinding to be very demanding on the rest of your recipe and prep without fines to slow the shot down--trying to go fine enough for true unimodal aggravated my jamming problem! For future eg-1 owners: perhaps I have a defective unit but perhaps avoid the eg-1 if unimodal style is what yr after.
Would contact LW. My EG-1 V2 had a lot of jamming and it was the motor. Replacement has had no jams with Core burr set at very fine setting.
I suspect that your unit is new. Burrs need seasoning and it will be perfect 👍🏻. A friend of mine has an ek43 and he said that he struggled with it for a long time and it started to improve once he hit the 75 kilos mark! Now he is way passed 100 kilos and he said that it’s awesome. Then he told me that the larger the surface of the burrs the more seasoning it needs. Give it some time and enjoy your coffee.
I would love to see a comparison of these with a Ceado E37SD and a Versalab M4. Some of the grinders that are being reviewed are not readily available.
Lagom P-64 for me (which I was already considering). The others seem slightly awkward and overkill for home use regardless of results.