I'm still getting used to it, but will report back once I've worked on my technique. It's the E10 Conic OD, I felt the Master was probably overkill! 😉 There is a small amount of retention that I can see shining a bright light up the chute, but not a huge amount. I've found a couple of pulses tends to dislodge most of it. There are two things that I massively appreciate about this grinder (not in order of appreciation): 1) The speed. Holy mother of god, this thing is fast. It gets through my 15.8g shots in 4s or less. It's also quiet and 'feels' solid as hell when it kicks in. After being on the Breville and the Rocky for so long, the speed of this thing is a very welcome change. 2) Taste It really is like getting a new machine. I've been drinking Lamkin Lane's Seasonal Blend for a while now because Justine likes it. I haven't been a fan, but felt it was a nice, solid brew, very drinkable but a bit homogenous and not particularly interesting. The grinder changes all of that. As it turns out, it's a blend bursting with flavour and a very interesting, rich and multi-layered blend that stays with you long after the espresso has finished. I would never have known had it not been for the Compak (and the L1, of course). In time, I'll be changing my technique significantly. I believe that single dosing the way I have been going about it (pre-weighing, dose at a time) is probably not going to work as well on this grinder. Instead I plan to get an Acai scale and simply fill the hopper with beans (grinder will be out) and dose by weight output. The weight of a hopper full of beans should prevent popcorning and I'll simply purge a gram or two at the start of my routine. The NS Mythos looks like it's intended to be a deli grinder? I couldn't tell from their brochures whether it's got vertically mounted burrs or not. A couple of my industry contacts have been using the EK43, the Compak R120 or have tried both. Lamkin Lane runs an EK43 for single-dosed espresso shots, but they've burned through one motor already. Londinium espresso were also using an EK43 for a while, but are now preferring the Compak - same type of grinder conceptually however.
