Conti Grinder

[NottmSteve]

Any help on the quality of a Conti Valcero, model MDMCA ? Its a grinder, and all I can see is an Italian website certifies it for Espresso!
Very little on Google...

Can anyone shed light on the value, ability, and worth of this thing??

[NottmSteve]

Posted: Oct 11, 2004 - 10:41 PM

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Anyone heard of one of these? Eureka Conti Valerio, there's one on ebay without a hopper, it has what looks like a micro dial adjustment.


This was posted by Simonp... did you hear anything? It seems one is back on ebay!

[zix]

Yes, very little on google. Can find nothing at all on ebay. Pray, which item is it? Link?
What little there is mostly leads to images of Mazzer grinders. Is this a rebadged Mazzer?

[NottmSteve]

Who knows! I'm dying to find out, as I'd make an offer if it was! As for the link, I'll post it after the close

[zix]

Who knows! I'm dying to find out, as I'd make an offer if it was! As for the link, I'll post it after the close

The enigmatic espresso machine and grinder manufacturing business continues to mesmerize me. Looking at the Conti website... they have two grinders, one looking exactly like the mazzer mini with a conti badge, and one looking like a Cunhill - or ist it spanish Gaggia, or... is spanish Gaggia in fact the same as Cunhill? And who are Mazzer, really?
This is quite a bit like when I realized I had no idea about who really owns the swedish roasteries. It´s a mess, but in this (the grinder) case a nicer one.

[phil]

Roger Barrett, an American friend of Joey's, was kind enough to send me the following in answer to your query:

Conti, the company that manufactures coffee grinders has nothing to do with Conti, the company that manufactures espresso machines. The grinder manufacturer is located in Firenze and their web site is located here: http://www.eureka.florence.it/ . When sold under their own name the grinders made by Conti Valerio are sold as Eureka brand. They are used by Nuova Simonelli and by La Marzocco who put their own labels on them. Their grind adjustment is a unique stepless design. It is accomplished by raising and lowering the motor with its attached rotor burr. The stator burr is in a fixed position. Other manufacturers adjust the grind by raising/lowering the stator (non-rotating) burr.

The design works well and I like it. I have two of the MDLA model, one MDL model and one MCF model.

[phil]

Roger also subsequently sent me this:

I forgot to mention in my Conti message that there is much more technical info on the grinder models at the Nuova Simonelli factory site than there is at the Conti Valerio site. N.S. have a nice cross table on the grinders with all the info. They use several of the Conti models but not all.

For burr specification info the "Macina" section at the Mazzer site is without equal - they offer replacement burrs for nearly everything, including long out of production marques.