Eureka makes many good grinders. However, in the world of single-dose espresso grinders, the Italian manufacturer was absent for a long time. Now Eureka has caught up and built a single-dose espresso grinder that combines the strengths of Eureka Mignon XL and Eureka Specialita. Added to this is a forward-tilted design to further reduce the retention. Whether Eureka's plan has worked out and how the espresso grinder fares as an underdog compared to the popular Niche Zero and the G-Iota, we discuss in this test report.
This test is part of our comprehensive espresso grinder test series. The summary of the tests can be found here. For the tests we use our Espresso Apas. With this you can replicate our results yourself:
Where can you order X? For example at the Bohnendealer*, Lücke, Die Röster
Single Dosing and Single Portions
The principle of single-dose espresso grinders is clearly in its time. More and more manufacturers are presenting corresponding grinders and helping the barista community to even more freshness. Direct grinding has long been standard practice and the trend towards smaller bean containers has also become established in recent years.
The reason is simple. Coffee should be exposed to oxygen and light as little as possible to prevent premature aging and oxidation. This keeps not only the coffee fresh but especially also aromatically complex.
Single-dose espresso grinders like the Niche Zero, the DF64 (G-Iota) or the EK43 used in gastronomy consistently implement this concept. The home barista weighs out the espresso, puts it into the running grinder and receives - if the grinder is good - the exact amount of coffee ground back out. Then it's straight on to grinding.
Advantages of single-dose espresso grinders:
- Espresso is freshly ground. No old coffee remains in the grinding chamber.
- The coffee variety can be changed quickly and easily. Guest A can reach for decaf, Guest B for complex espresso from El Salvador. Changing the beans and grind setting happens quickly.
- Grind adjustments are possible more quickly because no ground material needs to be ground out.
- Cleaning the grinder is faster and no coffee needs to be ground out.
- Some single-dose grinders are also well suited for grinding filter coffee if espresso is not desired at some point.
Inside an Eureka Mignon XL
The Eureka Mignon Oro Single Dose is internally an Eureka Mignon XL. Accordingly, it performs well across almost all parameters. The 65mm burrs do swift and good work. This is evident not only with espresso, but runs through the parameters.
The increased noise level compared to the Mignon XL may be due to the altered placement area. As a reminder, the XL came with a rubber mat. The "purported" retention of the grinder is 0.9 grams.
For comparability with classic espresso grinders, we interrupted the grinding process with single-dose grinders and removed the beans. Then, analogous to other grinders, we weighed the ground coffee residue remaining between the burrs. The Single Dose came to just 0.9 grams. This already shows the positive effect of the approximately 15-degree tilt.
When the Eureka Single Dose is used as intended and ground out, 0 grams of coffee remain. In other words: what goes in is also ground out. Excellent! That's what makes single dosing fun.
A bit amusing about it: Eureka itself doesn't seem to have believed that the ground material slides completely out of the grinder. That's why the grinder was equipped with a bellows that, like with the G-Iota, is supposed to blow out the remaining coffee powder by pumping multiple times. Well-intentioned and thank you for it. But less than 0 grams of retention is unfortunately not possible.
Sturdy, High Quality and Somewhat Short-Sighted
The grinder is crafted with quality, impresses with just 8.1 kilograms of weight and is available in chrome and black as well as further color variants. The wooden lid looks stylish on the rubber bellows and makes the XL a great eye-catcher.
Since we found in our test that the bellows are not necessary at all, we removed it. This is certainly intended. The bellows can simply be pulled off. It's unfortunate that now the stylish wooden lid is just a millimeter too large to fit on the plastic bean container. Instead, a plastic lid is supplied. Rather frustrating, because not much is missing here and the wooden lid would fit and would also give the grinder in its reduced form that certain something.
With a width of 12 cm, a height of 32 cm and a depth of 26 cm, the grinder is characteristically compact Eureka-style and fits well next to almost any espresso machine.
Espresso Quality and Particle Distribution
We pulled many good espressos with the Single Dose. The coffees were soft and balanced. Some of the time we had a slight astringency in the finish, but it didn't carry much weight.
The particle distribution of the Eureka Single Dose meets our expectations. The main peak is not too broad and the fine content is relatively low. This should provide less unpleasant bitterness in the cup. The main peak is medium in its breadth, whereas the fine peak is more in the front-middle range, meaning less fine content.
In our example, it was relatively easy to adjust the espresso back to the starting espresso after adjustment. With the small grind adjustment of the Eureka Single Dose, this is not simple. As with the Mignon XL, it works better than with the Eureka Specialita, but the Eureka Single Dose cannot convince here as much as other grinders with larger grind adjustments.
Note: Before you read the conclusion, you should know two things. First, it's important to always read different sources and reviews. We show you our view of the grinder, but other reviews may emphasize different strengths and weaknesses.
Conclusion on the Eureka Mignon Single Dose
The Eureka Mignon Single Dose from the Oro series is an overall very good espresso grinder for home use and especially also interesting in terms of price. It's cheaper than the XL, but has comparable technology inside. So if you don't necessarily want to refill the bean hopper, you're better off with the Eureka Single Dose.
It has a lower retention because the remaining ground material slides out of the grinder remarkably effectively through the tilt angle. The grinder also impresses in terms of speed.
Of course, the central thing is espresso quality, but the Single Dose also delivers proven Eureka quality there. Over multiple pulls, the temperature barely increases and has the edge over the Specialita here too.
There really aren't any significant counter-arguments against the grinder. The biggest weakness might be the grind adjustment. However, in our experiments we were able to return to the base setting relatively reliably.
The only downside: the grinder cannot simply be turned further into the filter coffee range. At coarser grind settings, the grind adjustment no longer works reliably. That's a shame, because the best single-dose grinders shine in this category too.
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