Should I Single Dose?

Single dosing is a style of grinding that’s becoming increasingly popular in recent years. It simply means rather than having a hopper full of beans, you weigh out each dose of coffee as you need it, grinding into either a dosing cup or directly into your portafilter handle.

This is a great way to keep your beans fresher for longer as it allows you to store your coffee in an airtight container instead of the hopper. Another great benefit of single dosing is it allows you to switch and change your coffee throughout the week, rather then having to go through a whole bag of coffee before trying a new type.

It's important to note that due to the increased popularity of single dosing, there has been an emergence of grinders designed and built specifically for single dosing in the market. Body shape, burr carrier, grinds cute and bellows/hopper all specifically chosen to make single dosing as efficient as possible. However, this doesn't mean that you can't single dose with a grinder you already have.

Can I single dose with the grinder I already own?

The Eureka Mignon Specialita over the years has been the most popular grinder to pair with an espresso machine in our range. Let's have a look at how well this grinder is geared towards single dosing; It is a flat burr grinder with incredibly low retention of around 1.3 grams. Its hopper and neck design also prevent popcorning by narrowing down to a relatively small opening, leaving little room for the beans to play around. In the burr chamber, you can see another unique design feature that helps keep the grounds moving: the entire lower burr platform spins. This generates angular momentum, spinning the grounds out toward the edges of the chamber so that they’re more effectively pushed out the chute. Grinding a 18-gram dose takes 10-12 seconds. 

In response to the global single dose trend, eureka have also brought out a range of products to help aid your workflow whilst single dosing. The most popular, the single dose hopper and bellows. The helps make the retention of the grinder go from 1.3 grams to as close to 0 as you can get.

Here at Bella Barista we noticed how the trend was moving so we has Eureka adapt the Specialita for us straight from the factory to come with all the essentials you need for single dosing. The Eureka Mignon Specialita Switch is based on the very popular Specialita grinder. The "Switch"  boasts a single dose hopper with bellows, a large (micrometric) grind indicator knob (making it easier to select your grind level) and includes the Eureka dosing funnel making this a grinder package easy to switch from multiple coffee's to single dosing and keeping your coffee making area clean and tidy all at £429.  

Should I buy a grinder designed specifically for single dosing?

The Solo DF64 has blown up in the home barista world and it's clear to see why. With the Niche grinder being one of the most popular grinders on the market it was going to take a lot to throw some actual competition its way. Being a conicle burr espresso drinker were after a flat burr version and this was the answer! The DF64, sits at £399 with the standard 64mm flat stainless steel burrs, is really easy to dial straight out of the box because of its easy-to-read micrometric stepless collar adjustment. It has has the classic angled body of a single dose grinder which aid in reducing retention and topped with the bellows it makes it almost 0 retention. Coming out the box with a plastic dosing cup and the bellows this makes it one of the cheapest single dose grinders in the market. 

With the Solo DF64 being so popular it was only a matter of time before a bigger and better version was developed and here is is, the DF83. Being named as the 'Ultimate endgame grinder' and it's clear to see why! Being the DF64s bigger, better brother in every way, read more on on the DF83 here.