Part 2, Espresso and some thoughts.
We continue our tests of the Timemore Sculptor 078S. We have approximately ground around 1.2kg through the grinder at the end of the tests. We used the first 650g for pour-over and another 100g for calibration for our Columbia and Indonesia beans.
Many reviews and users have reported the grinder getting better overall after 2 or 3 kg of seasoning. We do not plan to do that now but will report back closer to the end of the year as the Sculptor will be used as an alternate grinder. Right now, we are testing the espresso extraction with the Nurri Leva Type-L machine which is a La San Marco lever grouphead. No RDT is used as we’re located in humid Malaysia. However, we did our regular amount of WDT for puck prep. Each coffee was tuned to extract the following recipe:
17.5g dose, 20 seconds preinfusion at approximately 2.5bars and at the 21 second mark, the lever was released to ramp pressure up to 9 bars for full extraction. Extraction time was targeted at 20 seconds to hit the release valve which lowers the pressure to 0 in 5 seconds. We aim to extract around 28-30g during each pull as a calibrated target.
So what did we find?
When we managed to get a lovely espresso bloom, the coffee tasted wonderful. It was rich, with lovely crema and body. Flavor notes again a bit more muddied and less smooth compared to the Acaia Orbit but overall quite delicious. We tried with and without milk and most of the flavor notes could come through although some of the notes, like for pour-over were quite hard to discern for our Columbia. I would say the Orbit wins on flavor clarity and notes, but otherwise when we got a good shot, it’s hard to tell the two apart.
During our multiple tests, excluding the calibration shots, we did 18 shots of espresso. From that total, we experienced channeling in 8 attempts. Out of the 8, we had 4 shots that we discarded as the coffee was literally going everywhere. We reduced the likelihood of channeling by dropping the grinding speed down to 800rpm and spent a few extra seconds on WDT. For now, with all that, you might get minor channeling but from others’ experience, it should go away once the grinder is seasoned. This we expect to hit at the 2-3kg mark. For those shots that channeled, you would get a noticeable astringency but the shots were drinkable only with milk.
The User Experience (UX)
As UX professionals, it is hard to notice three main glaring issues with the design of the grinder.
One is that the grinding dial is right at the back of the grinder where you cannot even see it. If you have the grinder on the counter against a wall, it’s going to be pretty hard to adjust the RPM. Not a major one as you quite likely would not be changing grind speeds every other time but still, it should have been on the side at least.
The second one for me would be the grind switch. Not having a power switch is acceptable but depending on your placement of the grinder, you might have issues toggling the grinder (or if you’re left-handed). You would need some space on the right of the grinder. Interestingly, the grinder doesn’t auto-stop which is odd, considering it would be simple to trigger based on the resistance of the burrs. This just adds to the right-located switch issue as you’d need to toggle it on and off.
Finally, the grind adjustment dial looks beautiful until you try to fine-tune the settings, especially for espresso. The markings are in front but the indicator is on the right side of the grinder. Back to the second issue above where you’d need some extra space so you can check the setting. For espresso, the range seems to be fairly narrow, between 0.6 to 1.4 on my unit but other friends have reported slightly high numbers, such as 1.2-2.2 which could indicate that the grinders may not be 100% factory-zeroed.
Some final thoughts
We will have a couple of shots from a DF64 to compare next week but otherwise, I would say the Sculptor is a grinder we would not hesitate to recommend to folks looking for an affordable upgrade that will elevate their coffee experience. Design and usability issues aside, the grinder has plenty of positives listed below:
- 78mm or 64mm burr (at this time, the 64mm burr gives you more third-party options if you think you might want to upgrade the burrs but this would probably change)
- Quiet and fairly fast grinding
- Magnetic base and cover for the dosing cup and lid respectively
- Zero-retention if you use the fines knocker. Generally, we noticed anywhere from 0.1 to 0.2g max retention which is good enough
- Wide range of grinding for pour-overs to espresso
In short, it is a capable grinder that probably would get better in a version two but for anyone who is willing to put in some effort, this grinder is quite capable of delivering quality coffee. For our users and friends with entry level machines such as Gaggia Classic or Rancilio Silvia will definitely be able to notice an improvement in terms of the ability to calibrate lighter roasts.
Final Thoughts on the Dosing Cup
If you typically invert the dosing cup into your portafilter, the supplied dosing cup may have an issue as it does not have a lip which can increase the chances of the cup tilting.
