Customer Reviews

La Pavoni PA-8801B La Moka Burr Grinder, Black

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Cheap, grinds adequately. The moniker "La Moka" should've clued me in that this was a mediocre manufacturer's lame attempt to make a coffee grinder sound hip or trendy.

It grinds fairly well, but the two-piece plastic hopper for the grounds is awkward and tends to fall apart easily, spraying grounds all over the counter and the machine itself.

Also the dial used to select coarseness can be confusing. 9 is for coarse, 1 is for fine, but there is a left arrow ( <- ) and a right arrow ( -> ) each pointing away from the number, so that if you move the dial all the way to the right, you think you're choosing FINE since the word fine is at the right, but in actuality you're choosing COARSE even though it's on the opposite side. The fine grind is pretty fine, but coarse really isn't, there doesn't seem to be much difference between coarse and fine with this grinder despite your selection.

I regret this purchase.

I have two burr grinders, a Starbucks grinder, and this one. I like my Starbucks one okay, but the La Pavoni was terribly inconvenient. I didn't know you could design something quite so bad. Not to mention, a month after buying it it stopped working. Timer goes, but no grinding.

So, when it did work why was it bad? The receptacle for the grinds won't come out without some force, which spills grinds everywhere. Then, you have to take off the lid for it, which gets grinds everywhere. Finally, it's not well shaped so when you pour it into your coffee maker or french press, it gets grinds everywhere.

I only write reviews when I love or hate products (I know, I should write more), and this one I would NOT recommend.

I never loved this grinder because the container that catches the grounds does not have a tight fit, making a small mess every day. Moreover, the lid to the catcher is hard to seat correctly.

After 8 months of daily service, this unit no longer grinds beans properly. The finest it will now grind is to split a bean into maybe 2 or 3 pieces.

The box says "9 grind settings". In the manual, it says "This model grinder is not recommended for very fine grinding however it will handle many types of coffee specifications" (i.e., it has 9 grind settings and we know very well that some of them don't actually work, but we'd lose a lot of money scrapping the design and starting over). I guess it could do percolator, and it might manage a French press, but I haven't seen it grind anything evenly so I would count on getting sediment. It's serviceable for drip, I guess, if you don't mind knowing that the pebble-sized hunks are being wasted and you could have gotten better results with a blade grinder at half the price and a millionth the headache trying to clean. Everything you hear about how burr grinders are better is true - just not about this one.

Edit:

The second day I was trying to use it, I discovered that the problem I'd had with the top burr staying in place wasn't my inexperience - it was unscrewing itself in the course of normal operation. It can't grind 3 tbsp of beans in a row for any purpose. I started to throw it in the garbage, but decided I'd crack it open and see if I found a DC/AC converter and a motor that could be repurposed.

For the price the grinder does a decent coarse grind. I haven't used any other settings beyond the French Press grind. The timer is somewhat fidgety, there is a static problem with the cannister, and the bean reservoir should have a tighter seal. In the end, it grinds better that the industrial grinders that supermarkets never maintain well enough and it's easy and quick to use. It's part of my morning routine and for the price I couldn't find a better electric burr grinder.

I've been using this grinder at home for whole beans for the last year or so. Its been a good machine, but not a great one.

Pro's:

- Good value
- Burr grind is pretty consistent
- Durable

Con's

- With dark roasts, the grinder output chute needs to be cleaned after each use or it will clog
- The finest grind is still pretty coarse, certainly not fine enough for espresso

If you need a grinder for a french press, this is perfect, especially if you use mostly medium roast coffees.

I truly enjoy coffee. I like the fragrance while brewing and while grinding. I have a blade grinder. I hoped that this grinder would improve my coffee enjoyment. It did that very well.

It is a bit messy. That doesn't bother me, most of my other kitchen endeavors produce more mess. There is some blowing of small particles but that does not deter my enjoyment one iota. A good product at a very good price. I recommend it for a value item.

A great burr-grinder for the price. Grinds from very fine for espresso to coarser. Operates much quieter and grinds finer than the Krups that just went bad after a couple years.

Worthless! The grind is much too course for use.
Mine is at the city dump if anybody want it.
Bought a Cuisinart DBM-8 and it does the job.

It looked nice and had a reasonable price. However:
- the grind settings don't seem to make any difference on the output grind;
- the ground bin jams while inserting it if the lid correctly seated;
- the ground bin will spill grounds whenever you remove it from the unit, take the lid off, or put the lid on;
- worst of all, the unit will jam with grounds every few minutes of operation. To unclog, you need to pry the grounds out of the chute then run it over the sink to blow out the debris.
I would not purchase this item again and highly recommend against others purchasing it.