It sounds promising when the German mill forge brings its own single dosing grinder for home use to the market. It's a momentous occasion, because Mahlkönig started "single dosing" as we know it today almost 15 years ago. Back then, a young Australian named Matt Perger ground his coffee on a grinder for the Brewers Cup and the Barista Championship, a machine that Mahlkönig itself primarily understood as a grain mill. The legendary EK43 is what we're talking about. This grinder began its triumphant march and became established in numerous cafés around the world.
Today, many years later, single dosing is hardly absent from home use either. Mahlkönig, once a pathfinder – though without any great contribution of its own – has become a reluctant pioneer and has thoroughly neglected the topic of single dosing for home use until today. But this summer it finally happened. Mahlkönig delivered: with the Mahlkönig x64 SD, it was finally here. Since then, we have tested the grinder from the Swiss-German company extensively. And I should mention directly: the x64 SD model is not manufactured in Hamburg, but in Chinese Mahlkönig production.
Whether the grinder, which comes to market at the competitive price of 499 euros, also shines under the magnifying glass of our test protocol, you'll find out in this test report.
Design and Craftsmanship
The first impression was unusual. Anyone familiar with the clear, industrial lines of the EK43, E65, or X54 will pause at the X64 SD. The compact design looks almost stubby, the curves rather playful. Like many, we wondered: does a Mahlkönig really look like this?
But when the grinder arrived at our test lab, the impression changed. What looked like plastic in photos turned out to be a solid aluminum housing that gives the grinder a solid weight of over 4.5 kg. Everything feels high-quality, from the premium silicone blower to the thoughtfully designed magnetic holders. Despite its compact size – 14.3 cm wide, 25 cm high, and about 26 cm deep – it stands rock solid on the work surface.
Nevertheless, we couldn't help but enjoy an amusing association that solidified over the course of testing: with its squat body and central, round grind setting dial, it reminds us of a frog cyclops, a figure from Greek mythology. Once in your head, you can't get rid of this image – a likeable, if somewhat quirky character for the home coffee bar.
Buy Mahlkönig x64 from our esteemed specialist partner
Are you looking for a good specialist retailer for the Mahlkönig x64 SD? Then we recommend one of the following shops. We search for and visit specialist retailers for you, knowing that they provide good work and good service. If you order the grinder there, it won't cost you more, but we receive a small commission that we put into more test machines: Mahlkönig X64 SD at Stoll Espresso.
Buy Mahlkönig X64 SD
The following specialty shops distribute the Mahlkönig X64 SD and we can recommend purchasing from these businesses.
Switzerland: [Partner links] Simons Kaffee
* We search for specialist partners for you, knowing that they provide good work and good service. We maintain close contact with the retailers. These are commission links. If you order through this link, it won't cost you more, but we receive a small commission that we put into new test equipment.
Technical Data at a Glance
| Test Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Burrs | 64 mm flat burrs |
| Speed / 18 g | approx. 7.0 seconds |
| Speed / 10 sec | approx. 35.0 grams |
| Volume | 81.0 dB |
| Temporary retention | 0.6 g |
| Absolute retention | 0.9 g |
| Grind Setting Replicability | Theoretically good |
| Price (RRP) | 499 € / 499 CHF |
Operation in Daily Use
The grinder is simply constructed: no display, no gimmicks, no menu. Grind, press the blower, done. We generally like this – but there are subtleties you should know about.
The adjustment dial works with a small planetary gearbox that translates the rotation path. This allows for very precise grind adjustment. You can practically feel something "reducing" its movement inside – a clever solution that allows for sensitive fine-tuning.
However, the grind scale itself is quite small. The printed dots and lines are far apart, which means a tiny movement on the dial often makes a difference of several seconds in extraction time. It's advisable not to move the grind setting all the way to the next line. Those who stay precisely between the lines and make quarter-step adjustments can set the grinder very precisely. We would have liked to see simply more intermediate lines here.
Positive: The zero point can be easily adjusted. If you regularly open and clean the grinder, you can very easily find the zero point again. Negative: it becomes necessary after every opening.
The Grind: Where the x64 SD Really Shines
Let's get to the crucial point: the taste in the cup. And here we can keep it short: the espresso from the Mahlkönig x64 SD is excellent. In our tests with our Mano espresso, the results were consistently convincing. We got complex, dense, and fruity espressos with wonderfully silky texture and a long, very pleasant aftertaste. But darker roasts like Apas or Compadre also worked very well.
What particularly distinguishes the grinder is its enormous versatility. It's a true all-rounder. With modern, light roasts, it coaxes out fruity notes nicely with shorter extraction times. At the same time, it also handles the classic spectrum well. With darker roasts, it delivers full body and clear notes of marzipan and chocolate. This ability to serve both worlds so well is rare in this price range.
Another typical Mahlkönig characteristic is very little clumping. Even at the finest grind settings for espresso, the ground coffee remains loose and fluffy. This not only makes distribution in the portafilter easier, but is also an important prerequisite for even extraction.
This outstanding performance in the cup reveals a clear design philosophy. It seems Mahlkönig was willing to make compromises on the external form, acoustics, and even workflow details to achieve a price below 500 euros. Where they made no compromises, however, is in their core competency: the quality of the ground coffee and the resulting taste. The x64 SD may have its quirks, but it delivers in the cup.
Caveat: those who work with very light roasts and seek absolute clarity will find more suitable grinders for that. The x64 SD delivers a very good quality compromise in terms of particle distribution, bridging different worlds from classical Italian roasts (Compadre), transition roasts (Mano), and light, highly complex specialties (lila and orange line).
A Closer Look: Particle Distribution and Mechanical Precision
To support our taste impressions with objective data, we subjected the x64 SD's grind to particle analysis. The result confirms what we tasted: the grinder does excellent work.
The particle distribution for espresso shows a typical bimodal curve, that is, a distribution with two peaks. The so-called "fine peak," which represents the proportion of finest particles, lies at about 33 µm. The "main peak," which is crucial for extraction, is located at around 210–215 µm in our espresso settings. This distribution is narrow enough to provide clear flavor profiles even with complex, light roasts, but wide enough to give classic espressos the necessary balance and body. This explains the already mentioned versatility of the grinder.
However, our replicability test provided the truly impressive insight. For this, we first ground an espresso with one setting (T4) and measured the particle distribution. Then we adjusted the grind setting significantly to grind a ristretto and a lungo. Finally, we visually returned to the original marking T4, without measuring instruments, and performed a final measurement (T7).
The result is astounding: the main peak of measurement T7 was at 214.61 µm, just a few micrometers away from the starting value of 209.49 µm from test T4. This is a highly precise, almost identical repetition. This test provides objective proof that solves the paradox of operation. The grinder is a precision instrument. Its mechanics, from the planetary gearbox to the burr carrier, work with extraordinary accuracy. The weakness lies solely in the visual representation of this precision on the adjustment dial. It's a shame that such good mechanics are hidden behind an inadequate scale, but it proves that the foundation of the grinder works.
Cleaning Capability: Outdated
Unfortunately, cleaning the grinder is quite tedious apart from the burrs. While other manufacturers have figured out how to do this without tools by now, we reach for the screwdriver up to seven times with the x64 SD. This is always the case when we want to properly clean the grinder. We recommend doing this regularly, especially for grinders that also have a certain retention.
What is admittedly easy to clean is the discharge. The Mahlkönig can be removed simply and quickly, as is typical.
The Achilles' Heel: A Single Doser with Backflow
One of the most important characteristics of a single dosing grinder is the lowest possible retention, that is, the amount of ground coffee that remains in the grinder after grinding. Here the x64 SD shows its greatest weakness. Our test revealed an absolute retention of 0.9 g. This consists of 0.3 g of permanent retention (coffee stuck in screw heads and crevices) and 0.6 g of temporary retention.
This temporary retention of 0.6 g is the decisive value for daily use. It's the amount of old ground coffee that is replaced by fresh grounds with each new grinding session. For a grinder marketed as a single doser, this value is "rather high." The top performers here deliver values between 0.1 and 0.3 grams.
For daily use, this means: if you frequently switch between very different coffee varieties – for example from a fruity-fermented natural to a chocolatey-nutty washed coffee – you will taste the influence of the 0.6 g of residual coffee. To avoid flavor mixing, we recommend grinding two to three beans of the new coffee before grinding your actual dose ("purging"). This makes the workflow somewhat more involved, but ensures the purity of the result.
Speed and Acoustics: Small, Fast, and Hard to Miss
In addition to grind quality, the x64 SD impresses with its speed. For an 18-gram dose, it needs only about 7.0 seconds, which corresponds to a throughput of about 35 g in 10 seconds. That's impressively fast for a household grinder and ensures a quick workflow in the morning.
However, this speed comes at an acoustic price. At 81.0 dB, the grinder is loud. It sits just above the threshold of what we would find pleasant. But it's not just the volume, but also the character of the noise that stands out. The grinder sounds and feels slightly "unbalanced" when grinding and especially when running down.
At this point, it's important to clarify a possible misinterpretation: an unbalanced sound could indicate poor alignment of the burrs. However, our particle analysis proves the opposite. The excellent and consistent distribution of the ground coffee shows that the burrs are well aligned. So the noise is a characteristic of the motor and construction, but doesn't seem to have any negative impact on grind quality.
Our Conclusion: Value for Money Top Notch
After intensive testing, the Mahlkönig x64 SD leaves a mixed, but ultimately positive impression. It's a grinder of contrasts. On one side is good performance in the cup. The espresso is multifaceted, supported by good particle distribution and mechanical precision that makes a strong statement in this price range.
On the other side are noticeable workflow compromises: a frustratingly inaccurate grind scale, a relatively high retention for a single doser, somewhat messy discharge behavior, and loud, slightly unsteady operating noise.
At the end of the day, the decisive question is one of priorities. The value-for-money ratio, in terms of pure taste performance, is very good. For 499 euros, you get a grinder that produces coffee that can hold its own against significantly more expensive equipment.
One last, not to be underestimated point is the safety and reliability that comes with purchasing from an established German-Swiss company. In a market flooded with direct imports, the x64 SD offers the assurance of CE certification and a functioning dealer and service network – an important added value that rounds out the overall package.
