Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

INTRODUCTION. . .

Hello and a warm welcome to anyone that is reading this guest post in collaboration with Happy Donkey Ltd!

Today’s post is all about the Iberital mc2 auto domestic coffee grinder and the experience using it with the Sage Barista Pro coffee machine.

I will talk about my personal experience as an at home user of the Iberital mc2 and my Sage Barista Pro machine and even give any tips and tricks along the way too.

So go and grab a coffee and sit down and let’s talk about coffee!

MY EXPERIENCE OUT OF THE BOX. . . 

Firstly I wanted to mention that the fact this comes in minimal packaging and that everything can be recycled is a massive bonus to me, instead of tons of un-necessary plastic etc.

But the out of box experience for me was okay actually! – as I have had an Iberital mc2 auto coffee grinder with my past older machine (Gaggia Baby) so I had previous experience with the set up, but needed reminding from Happy Donkey first as this was a fair few years ago! – Scott was extremely helpful as always and got me up and running in no time at all!…

I will admit if you are new to at home grinders then it can be difficult at first to keep track of the burrs as this machine is a manual adjustment, by a knob to the side of the machine connected to a worm drive, but taking your time and not rushing will get you the PERFECT set up for your machine and when I say it is totally worth it – believe me, it really is.

That being said, the machine usually leaves the factory at a setting for espresso, so usually doesn’t need that much adjustment, just tweaking really to your own taste and of course what suits your machine.

Talking of the coffee burrs, this machine has some of the best blades called ”Conical burrs or mills” this meaning keeping the coffee grind temperature to a minimum and retaining as much of the taste from the coffee bean as possible, for you to get the very best out of your coffee every time!

Honestly these are the ONLY issues I had faced while setting my Iberital mc2 up for my Sage barista pro, the rest of the set up was a breeze and to smell the coffee grinding was the icing on the cake once it was complete!

USING THE IBERITAL MC2. . .

With set up out of the way, now is the perfect time to be enjoying making your coffee at home like a true barista would!

Grab that portafilter that you would normally use, and start filling it with coffee grounds to do this is very easy, here’s how –

• Switch the machine on (bottom left hand side)
• Position portafilter under chute and rest on the portafilter support arms.
• Gently push portafilter forward toward the machine making contact with the grind button to start the grind process.
• Tamp with a good quality tamper & even pressure and lock into your espresso machine.

Personally I would recommend a dosing funnel for your portafilter, for ease while grinding coffee into your portafilter, as I will be doing once I find one suitable for the Sage barista pro portafilter – just saves any coffee waste and makes any tidying up quicker before you tamp your coffee.

Or you could even more simply place a small container under the chute and grind into that before-hand and then use this to fill your portafilter with, which is also a popular option.

I have not experienced much ‘clumping’ of grounds at all when grinding into my portafilter, yet which is usually just caused by static in your grounds from the grinding process, this can be easily rectified by grinding into a container first, then adding to your portafilter or getting a levelling tool which will level and break any clumps of coffee in your portafilter.

Coffee grounds clumping is an issue among coffee people like myself, but as previously stated this machine and the coffee I currently use hasn’t caused me any spoilt espresso’s due to channelling of the coffee puck though static clumping, I cannot personally comment on other at home grinders as I used to own a Iberital mc2 and when I was on the lookout for a new grinder to pair with my Sage barista pro machine I came straight back to this one due to its excellent build quality and grind.

WHY AN EXTERNAL GRINDER?. .

I hear the question being asked why the extra external grinder if you have one built in to the sage barista pro machine?

As I like coffee variety I wanted to get an extra external grinder exactly for this reason, to have different blends of coffee to hand at all times with my machine’s built in grinder always having the classic Italian from Happy donkey, and my Iberital mc2 having the same along with different blends, too.

The main reason for keeping the Iberital for versatility is because the ease of cleaning with usually the Puly grind crystals and knowing the machine is of high quality to pair with my Sage machine.

 Puly grind crystals ensure that the coffee is kept separate from other blends by cleaning the burrs and making way for any other you may be putting into the hopper.

I personally didn’t want to be constantly cleaning my sage burrs and chute to change the blend of coffee and sought the Iberital as my best option for easing the burden on me and the sage barista pro internal grinder.

Obviously my in-built grinder that works from a digital wheel on the side of my machine performs well with my Sage machine, but sometimes it is nice to be able to adjust the burrs a bit more exactly with the Iberital mc2 allowing this more easily with the worm screw adjustment.

SUMMARY. . .

So we are here now – the summary of my thoughts.

Below are my final thoughts positive / negative.

POSITIVE. . .

• Conical burrs.
• In built timer.
• Fully customisable / adjustable grind.
• Push button to start grind / on – off switch on side of grinder.
• Hopper holds 500 grams of coffee beans / tinted lidded hopper protects the beans inside.
• Ease of cleaning.
• Build quality.
• Consistent output of coffee.
• Price point is amazing!

NEGATIVE. . .

• No written instruction book.
• Grind size can be challenging to set up.
• The numbers on the hopper could be easier to line up making adjustment of burrs easier.
• Portafilter arms don’t fit my portafilter.

Even though I have given this grinder some negative feedback I want to take some time and tell you that the slightly negative feedback that I have given the Iberital mc2 is down to just

two things – time – it’s good to spend time to set this grinder up just the way you want it. instructions – it would be good to refer back to should they be needed.

That’s it and I hope this post has been informative for anyone thinking of doing the same and purchasing a new external grinder for their machine, I would whole heartedly recommend this grinder to anybody in the market and for the price this domestic grinder really is such amazing value!

”Please see below for links to the Iberital mc2 coffee grinder & Happy Donkey’s website.”

Thank you to Happy Donkey and Scott for letting me review this Iberital mc2 grinder!

Many thanks for reading but for now, take care.

M A T T I BEAUT O N L I N E.

Iberital mc2 domestic coffee grinder – buy here

Puly grind crystals (to clean burrs of the mc2)

Another review of the grinder on this site

**Disclaimer – I was kindly gifted the Iberital mc2 coffee grinder and coffee to review and photograph by Happy Donkey Ltd, all views are of my own and I was not paid nor do I own or have any affiliation with Happy Donkey Ltd **

** I do not own any affiliation with Sage products or brands this is my own machine purchased with my own money.**