Hi Fabian, I can't say whether you got a "Monday machine". I have the same one, but I am very satisfied with it. I set the quantity so that I get about 10g (letter scale). This is the case when the quantity regulator is set to about 2/3 and fills the 1 sieve just right. I have the grind on the 2t-fine setting. It would be desirable to be able to grind a little finer if you want to brew a strong espresso or even ristretto.
So maybe it's just me, but there are a lot of things wrong with this machine?
Grinding beans:
The lowest grind (a 1) is still overly coarse. This is far from fine powder for an espresso.
And yes, as described in the instructions, I only ever lowered the grind level by one per grinding process.
That's where the next problem comes in.
Adjusting the grind:
The grinder must be running so that you can only change one stage at a time. Who thought of that? And you can't see anywhere which level you are currently at.
Coffee powder quantity:
Even on the lowest setting, far too much powder comes out for the small sieve. With the large sieve, it just about opens up on the lowest setting.
So the conclusion to the grinder is totally unusable. The only good thing is the integrated tamper, but due to the above-mentioned situation, it can't get anything more out.
Brewing coffee:
Because you get such a poor quality of coffee powder, you either can't even get the plunger in because there is too much powder. Or it builds up practically no pressure. And you can't use the sieve anyway, as already mentioned above because of the quantity.
Is there anything else that can be done? I doubt it, as long as the mill cannot grind finely and the quantity cannot be adjusted cleanly, there is nothing more that can be done from my point of view.
Or is it just me who has these problems with the machine?
Everything works fine for me. It took about 13 coffees until I had everything adjusted to my cappuccino. The same with espresso. Which is also a very big variable - the beans. Then you can start again from scratch (which I have done).
In short: now I know with which beans & settings I can prepare cappuccino or espresso....and this is exactly the experience I wanted. Not just one button and thats it. And for this price as an entry-level model - tiptop. For 4k, I would also have somewhat different expectations. And of course a separate grinder.
