Something You Need Know About The Coffee Grinder: EK43

The EK was originally designed as a hand drip coffee grinder, and its strengths outweigh its inherent inability to deliver a consistent ground coffee (e.g. 1-1.5 grams for a 20 gram coffee bean).

So what's great about it?

The main advantage of the EK43 is the uniformity of the grind. All grinders produce a bimodal distribution of particles, and the EK is no different in this respect. This means that in general the grind is compromised by the polarisation of the grain size, and although there are fine tolerances down to less than 100 microns, the grain size tolerances are usually in the range of 200-1000 microns. With the EK, however, the grain size error is significantly lower than with other grinders.

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Setting the ground scale of the coffee machine, the EK becomes the appliance to visit cafes to see how they use it for single-grind and drip coffee.

Perger and others in the boutique coffee community analysed the particle size distribution of the EK43 and found that, contrary to initial assumptions, it did not produce a more even grind size because it produced less debris (in fact, it produced more debris than many other well-known grinders). However, at the grind setting during extraction, it produces a more uniform particle size than other grinders. In fact, its particle size is smaller, so it grinds to a finer size than competitor grinders. It also grinds fewer grounds and larger particles (clumps).

So what does evenness of grind mean for coffee? It means a lot. The more uniform the grind size, the more evenly the coffee will be extracted.

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Curious as to why particle size affects extraction? Smaller particles have a larger surface area, so extraction is relatively easy - whereas the opposite is true for larger particles.

For most coffee lovers, the handle and method used by EK for powdering are unusual, and although the process is not very simple, many people find it worth the extra effort.

An uneven grind may produce an average extraction rate of 20% (roughly speaking, the proportion of coffee in an espresso determines whether a cup is good or bad), which would give good parameters for traditional coffee extraction, but this may include 10% extraction of large grains, about 18% extraction of medium grains and 25% extraction of fine grains. Doesn't that feel right?

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EK produces a more uniform particle size, so the extraction contains a high proportion of similar sized particles, so the similarity of the extracted particles has a significant impact on the flavour.

The result of EK cooking can be pushed to a higher extraction without negative effects, which would normally be achieved with a conventional bean mill.

Many grinders, especially these conical grinders, have to brew more than 20% of the extract and it becomes overly diluted or unpalatable. This is a major consequence of uneven grinding and different extraction rates, and the EK can, in comparison, produce good coffee at a higher yield, as it is not possible to brew a good cup of coffee with such a wide variation in extraction rates.

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With all these advantages, you may wonder why the EK43 is not as popular in boutique coffee shops, mainly because of its practicality and its inability to deliver a consistent and precise volume of coffee.

Coffee shops that brew espresso usually measure the amount of beans needed for a single cup and store it in a container, which is of course time-consuming and inefficient in terms of space utilisation (hundreds of measured beans in small cups can take up a surprising amount of storage space).

However, when it comes to the practicality of the EK, there is something to be said for the fact that although it is not very convenient to have to measure a single cup in advance and store it in a suitable container (e.g. a sealed, opaque jar), the fact that there are very few errors in the adjustment of the grinder obviously reduces the loss of coffee grounds, which is the main advantage of the EK. When serving individual coffees, there is no need to buy an additional grinder to brew multiple espressos (although it can be a little time consuming to switch grind settings when switching between individual beans).

As a coffee lover, do you brew coffee at home? If so, you need to choose a manual grinder based on a few factors.

The rotary or swivel filling pressure can be applied evenly to the disc, which is designed to slow down the flow rate and theoretically improve extraction. However, your wrists may be a little sore after a day.

If all this sounds difficult to handle, there is a solution: the Mahlkonig Peak grinder, which combines the EK43-style blade, particle size distribution, and the instant grind of the K30 grinder. The downside is that you can expect a high price (similar to the current UK rate) and you need more than one grinder if you want to brew multiple coffees at the same time.

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