I appreciate all you do, so I hope my feedback is taken charitably as I intend to offer it. I've been frustrated a few times with a few products where I read a "first look" or something like that and you say something like "wait for the full review in about a month" and it never materializes.

Very well written. My cousin is between this, something by Delonghi, and the Oracle Jet. Will you be publishing a 1st look or review of the Jet? I just got one (an hour ago) and I'm wishing I had a little more control/visibility to tweak and save adjusted versions of the drinks, but maybe you can.

just watched this episode tonight

Has anyone taken a close look at the Lelit Elizabeth vs. the Victoria? I get the difference in dual vs. single boiler, but @coffeegeek.com gave such a glowing review to the Victoria, that I'm not sure if I should recommend the Elizabeth over it or not. #Lelit #Coffee #Espresso

Curious if @coffeegeek.com plans to compare last year's Oracle Jet to the new Dual Boiler from Breville. Obviously they seem like they're aiming at different audiences on the one hand, but which one would Mark rather have standing by? I'm loving the updates I'm hearing about across both machines.

Update/related comment I made on one of their YouTube videos.

Really curious to see how these work out once people have some time with them.

first

Looking forward to reading more!

I hear you. I would be looking for espresso only though and the J Ultra seems to have a tighter micron range per click. I still have my comandante for non-espresso use. Just a thought. I'm not sure I'll get one, but keeping it in mind in case I decide to.

My wife just asked (over breakfast) if a bacon co-ferment would work. 😄 #coffee

Love your content, extremely trustworthy. Are you planning to publish a review of the Option O Lagom Mini 2?

I'm thinking their J-Ultra as an on-the-go espresso option since I already have a Comandante C4 for my pour over/Clever/AeroPress needs when traveling. Does that seem like the right choice given the circumstances?

Super excited for this to release. I hope you’re still posting on this platform. I’m not on Threads, but I like following your feed.

How does it compare to the top-of-the-line Oracle Touch?

I asked. It's the same across the entire grinder. About twice as many settings in the espresso range. It's stepless, but since the display shows you exactly where you are you can easily jump back to your preferred setting. Pretty cool

"One detail we’re eager to clarify is whether the micron jump per click remains consistent across the non-espresso range, or increases as you move coarser."

I'll try to get my hands on it in Houston and will report back 🫡

Just looked at the website and it is $54 to ship it. I know may not seem like much, but it certainly is a considerable cost. I wonder if they will eventually warehouse product in North America.

Thanks @coffeegeek.com! I would "argue" that commercial grinders have really advanced quite a bit since then, but the ones I used between 2019-2023 frequently produced fluffy grinds that really weren't clumpy at all. Knock on the portafilter forks and a couple of karate chops and you're golden.

wild times...everyone is getting acquired lately

Perhaps features of some of those machines will trickle into the La Marzocco/Mazzer/Mahlkonig machines, but it won't make sense to do so if they are solving a problem that applies to home brewing, but that commercial equipment either is already better at or doesn't need to be better in that way.

Today it might also be an EG-1, as pictured in the video or another high end light commercial/home grinder. Even still, no one is using an EG-1 back-to-back-to-back (at least not in a truly high-volume setting), so it's not like there is home equipment that can keep up in a busy cafe.

...but that grinder was rarely used and was there mostly because it was dedicated to that station and wasn't used enough to stress the motor. It was more about not making baristas walk away from that station just to grind coffee for a pour over - efficiency.

Along with that, the comment about commercial cafes using home equipment to signal quality focus is interesting. I rarely see a high-volume cafe doing this in any meaningful way. For years the oft neglected pour over bar might have a high-end home grinder (used to always be a Baratza Forte AP)...

So home enthusiasts come up with things like RDT and WDT that are less necessary on high-end commercial grinders. Are they useless on commercial equipment? Not necessarily, but the return on investment (of time more than money) is much much smaller and speed and efficiency matter.

High-end commercial espresso grinders were (and are) very good at dispensing coffee into the portafilter in such a way that less (not zero) puck prep is needed to get a very good result.

The one that jumps to mind is how well grinders distribute coffee into the portafilter. Home machines used to be awful at this. Cheap commercial grinders were pretty bad too.

A couple of thoughts: Everything James said is correct. That being said, there are some aspects of this that are often missed. One of these is that problems home equipment face that require certain fixes don't always apply (at least to the same degree) in commercial equipment. (continued below)

This is NOT a comment on the merits of the blackout, but rather the efficacy of it. If consumers, even in mass, don't spend their money on Monday, but still make that purchase on Wednesday...does it really matter? I've seen this before with campaigns like "nobody buy gas on this day" to no effect.