Kafatek Monolith

[Melbroaster]

Denis should start building the flat and conical joined as a set like the K30.......[emoji41][emoji41][emoji41]

[Paolo]

Go on Sam! You know you want to.....

[samuellaw178]

Anybody got some free $4k lying around? Based on the good Conical experience, it is so tempting to try to Flat too...hahaha

[Melbroaster]

Orders now open again.....

[wattgn]

Looks like a mortar in stealth black!

[Jono_Willmer]

Kafatek Monolith

here we go


[ATTACH=CONFIG]14750[/ATTACH]

That is the sexiest set up ever, huge congrats mate, wow!

[338]

Sounds pretty close to perfection

[samuellaw178]

Samuellaw, you have had your Monolith 3 weeks now and a few weekends, is it still your all time favourite grinder or have you noticed any areas you would like to improve?

The Monolith continues to perform perfectly. So yes, still my favourite grinder to date by far. The shot-to-shot consistency and adjustability are just impressive. It's a cinch switching between 4 different home roasts, and the number makes it easy to remember unlike some obscure marking on the other grinders.

Improvement, yes. I can be a super fussy user for the record....

Wish list - (I am holding no punches so this is everything..):
(i) It could be a bit more quieter (sorry I am in a odd situation where the coffee area is outside the bedroom, and I always wake up earlier than the partner and she's a light sleeper)...I am thinking about Eureka Atom quiet or even better, completely insulated/silent. The Monolith measures about 60db at 30cm away (using a phone app - when grinding beans) so it's pretty quiet compared to most.
(ii) I still need to remove the chute to get the last bit of retention. It'd be perfect if this can be skipped altogether, but not sure how this could be achieved. Alternatively, I can also tap on the top to push out the retained ground, but I find that awkward and prefer removing the chute.
(iii) And lastly, it's not an entirely mess-free grinder. I get some ground on the bench after a week. No big deal as I vacuum it anyway weekly but it can be improved.

So close enough to perfection, for a very fussy user. If you list any other grinder I could easily list way more points on the 'wishlist'...

I still have my previous grinder (Compak E10) and thought of doing side by side comparison before the Monolith arrives. Once I used the Monolith for a few weeks and tried firing up the Compak, man, you just can't go back and there's not even a need for comparison...

[338]

Samuellaw, you have had your Monolith 3 weeks now and a few weekends, is it still your all time favourite grinder or have you noticed any areas you would like to improve?

[mrgray]

yeah i think it is all a bit rich. plus my machine is a matte black LMLM. i don't want to be too matchy matchy. i think wood cap yes, black no.

[338]

Mr Gray, I am with Ninja in getting what you want but I just checked the site and realised it is US$150 each for motor, body, funnel and exit chute. US$600 (+duty) buys a lot of anodizing! (it actually buys an ok grinder!) By way of comparison I just got enough cut alloy plate and bar to make two 100mm vices anodised black (rough size) and it cost A$95 for the privilege. Might be worth getting and seeing if you really want black, cant imagine it is that hard to take apart. Then again nothing like a factory finish but assuming the factory is Denis and he just say say anodise black instead of silver to the anodisers.

[Logga]

well in an interesting development Kafetek have changed the way the default flat looks (conical too but i'm not interested in that too much). what Denis has done is introduce a safety cap and this replaces (except for the people who just got their batch) the wood lid.

so from a workflow perspective this might be a good thing (can run it prior to having beans in and no lid to take off).

it is my contention however that the flat does not look as pretty when it is pointy like this. the shortness of the top chute arrangement is more pleasing to the eye IMHO.

what say others?

also one can ask for any part of this grinder to be black. attached is an example. it costs extra to make bits black. 150 USD for the motor. 150 for the other bits (except the red plate). 45 for the red plate. in an ideal world i would get everything black except the red plate. would that be a crazy thing to do or am i already in that space having put a deposit down for this thing today so what the hell?

Yes it does look nicer with the wooden cap, so just get a wooden cap and take the finger friendly one off.

[level3ninja]

I reckon if you've gone that far you may as well go all the way. No good to look at it every day wishing it was slightly different. Are you going to use this for years and appreciate the craftsmanship and precision engineering? Then do it. If you're like me it's better when things are significantly imperfect because when they're close all I can think about is how much better it would be if only....

[mrgray]

well in an interesting development Kafetek have changed the way the default flat looks (conical too but i'm not interested in that too much). what Denis has done is introduce a safety cap and this replaces (except for the people who just got their batch) the wood lid.

so from a workflow perspective this might be a good thing (can run it prior to having beans in and no lid to take off).

it is my contention however that the flat does not look as pretty when it is pointy like this. the shortness of the top chute arrangement is more pleasing to the eye IMHO.

what say others?

also one can ask for any part of this grinder to be black. attached is an example. it costs extra to make bits black. 150 USD for the motor. 150 for the other bits (except the red plate). 45 for the red plate. in an ideal world i would get everything black except the red plate. would that be a crazy thing to do or am i already in that space having put a deposit down for this thing today so what the hell?

[Melbroaster]

Who ended up placing a preorder?