The Mahlonig E65S Espresso Grinder
Today we’re taking a look at the E65S Grind by weight espresso grinder by Mahlkonig. It’s a 65mm flat burr grinder that produces fluffy coffee grounds, delicious espresso and with the added benefit of weight based grinding. This is one of our favourite grinders to use in our headquarters for making our coffees day-to-day, so in this video we’re going to give a quick overview of the grinder, make some coffee with it and run it through a couple of tests to see what kind of a difference it can make to your barista’s workflow.
Who is the Mahlkonig E65S GBW For?
So this grinder really is designed to be sitting on the front bar of a café. It’s espresso focused and is just a great work horse for quickly and reliably grinding for your house espresso coffees all day.
It’s an upgraded version of the standard E65S by Mahlkonig which only offers time based and manual grinding. You still get both of those modes in this version, but the additional grind by weight feature will cost you about an extra £300.
An Overview of the E65S
The Grinder has an on off switch and the back and an easy to use locking mechanism that holds the current grind size in place. You can change the grind size using this paddle on the front which has really nice clear number markings, and for espresso we usually find we’re grinding between a 4 and a 6, though your milage may vary.
There’s a pretty basic screen and menu system. There’s a dial which allows you to change between grinding modes from grind by weight to grind by time and fully manual. There’s a dedicated button on the top loft for manual grinding if you want to purge out grounds or top up your dose. And another button to change the dose settings.
The hopper holds just over a kilo of coffee, and can be removed by closing the bean gate, purging through the beans that are left inside and then twisting off the hopper to get access to the burrs.
What is Grind-by-weight Grinding?
So the main reason you would invest in this grinder is because you want to fully eliminate the process of getting your coffee dose right for every shot.
With a time based grinder, you would have to use the timer to get in the ballpark of the right dose, but then use an external weighing scale and top up or remove grounds as needed to get to your correct weight. With the grind by weight system, the grinder will tare out the weight out of the portafilter automatically and then grind until it’s achieved your exact dose.
Grind by Weight Accuracy on the E65S
So I ran a quick test to see just how accurate the grind by weight system is. I set the grinder to an 18 gram dose and pulled 10 shots using two different coffees and at a range of grind sizes.
| 1 | 17.8 |
| 2 | 18 |
| 3 | 18 |
| 4 | 18.1 |
| 5 | 17.9 |
| 6 | 18 |
| 7 | 18.1 |
| 8 | 18 |
| 9 | 18.1 |
| 10 | 18 |
| Average | 18 |
The worst shot was 17.8 grams so only 0.2 grams off of the target. It was occasionally 0.1 of a gram off but half the time it got the exactly 18 grams, and over the 10 shots it averaged out to 18.0. So not completely flawless but incredibly impressive and massively helps speed up the workflow for your barista.
Grinding Perfomance of the E65S GBW
So aside from the main selling feature, the other reason we keep coming back to this grinder in our showroom is the quality of grounds it dispenses. The grounds just come out incredibly fluffy and well distributed thanks to the clump crusher just above the grounds shoot. It’s also pretty quick grinding in about 5 seconds, and pretty quiet as well.
So I ran a quick test to see how well the grounds are dispensed straight out of the grinder, and whether you absolutely need to do some distribution and puck prep or if it doesn’t make much difference. I ran three shots back to back at the same grind setting but with different levels of puck prep. If there were any major differences in extraction time between the tests, then that might suggest the grinder is producing clumps, creating channels and extracting the coffee quickly and unevenly.
Firstly I pulled a shot with very minimal distribution, just tapping the side of the portafilter to level the grounds and then tamping. Secondly I used a wedge distributor to flatten the bed of grounds before tamping, and thirdly a needle distributor or WDT tool to get into the puck and break down any clumps that might be in there. The results were as follows.
| Method | Time (s) |
| Minimal Distribution | 27.0 |
| Wedge Distributor | 26.4 |
| Needle WDT Tool | 28.0 |
So don’t put too much weight into the results of that test but I just thought it would be interesting to see if there were any major differences. The results would suggest that there is a very small difference in grind distribution and extraction between the grounds straight out of the grinder and grounds that had been prepped using WDT. This means you’ll probably be fine without any extensive distribution workflow, and you can be pretty confident that you’re still getting a well distributed and evenly extracted shot of espresso.
Issues with the E65S Espresso Grinder
So, the E65S is a great espresso grinder especially with the addition of the Grind By Weight feature which makes the barista’s workflow much easier than your standard time-based grinder.
There’s a couple things to consider if you’re interested in picking one up for yourself.
What is the retention?
Firstly is retention, it’s definitely not a single dosing grinder as the bean chamber can hold onto a full shots worth of coffee that needs purging every time you change the coffee or the grind size. In reality we have found that only about 4 or 5 grams of coffee need to be purged when changing grind size. It’s probably not the best choice if you’re looking to switch between guest espressos and decaf coffees, but it’s absolutely ideal for putting out shot after shot of your house espresso coffee.
Stability and GBW Accuracy
Another thing to be weary of is where you’re going to use the grinder. Obviously it has a built in scale so it needs to be sat on a stable surface. I’m told they’ve improved this with their more recent models but if you’re planning on using the grinder outside or on the move it might be worth trailling it first.
Interested in the E65S?
You can learn more about the grinder by heading to our E65S product page or giving it a trial run in our Showroom here at our main headquarters in Cardiff. Or if you’re ready to buy, get in touch with us. Consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel for video reviews like this, brew methods and recipes each week.