For Christmas Miss Silvia decided to dump her long-standing partner, Mr 
Rocky, for a sexy new Italian, La Cimbali Jr. I thought I'd report on the 
status of the relationship now that August has arrived (how did that happen ??)
I enjoyed the Rocky for the seven years or so that I had it. The only 
problem I had was that I had nearly maxed out the dial the last couple 
years. I mean my zero point was about -2, I think, and I was constantly 
having to grind between 1 and -1 to get good shots with Silvia. An 
interesting side note, when I started buying Roast coffee from Tom, often I 
could dial all the way out to 4 or so. Peet's coffee was consistently 
around 0, and my homeroast (PII popper) was between 0 and 2. Depending. 
Decaf mostly needed a notch or two finer than regular for some reason. 
Probably due for new burrs I guess. Hopefully he is happy in his new home.
Anyway, sprang for the La Cimbali Jr to go with my new kitchen. Partly due 
to the height (fit under the cabinet) and the looks. Really, from all the 
reading, I couldn't tell any functional difference between this grinder and 
the Mazzer.
Super heavy. Not quite as quiet as I was expecting, but not bad. The micro 
adjust is great.
When I first started grinding, seems like I was at about 3.5 for a shot. 
Last four months I've been closer to 2.5. But the adjustment has been a big 
improvement over the Rocky. I'm not sure my shot quality is consistently 
better, but I'm happy with it.
With the Rocky, the grinds would generally dump straight down into the 
doser. With the Cimbali, half the time the grinds shoot out to the left of 
the chute, getting all over the doser. Not a big deal, but hard to know 
exactly how much to grind. The hub of the doser is fairly shallow, so I 
constantly have to brush the grounds off of it and into the slots. Lots of 
brushing actually.
One good thing about Rocky was it was easy to take the top off, take the 
top burr off and clean it really good. Lots of old grounds would build up 
around the burrs, in the crevasses. With the Cimbali, I don't see any way 
to get things apart. Does anyone take it apart and clean inside? Am I 
missing something? And while I'm at it, any point in leaving the plastic 
ring in the hopper? I assume it is some kind of finger guard. There is also 
a little lever that slides to cover the chute between the bottom of 
the  hopper and the burrs. Not sure what this thing is for, but it doesn't 
get in the way.
Now, just got an I-Roast for my birthday. Will post some comments soon....
   - Bryan
Bryan Gros      bgros
Oakland, CA
I don't know, mister, what you heard
"Bartender set 'em up" are my favorite words...
                                       - Lyle Lovett