Graef CM702 & CM800: Quick Review and Grind Finer Hack 

Graef CM702: geni.us/CM702 (worldwide Amazon link) 0:00 Intro 0:19 Grinder Review 2:13 Grind Finer Hack! 5:57 Espresso test DISCLOSURE: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase and/or subscribe. Affiliate commissions help fund videos like this one.

Got this grinder after watched this video, it’s super nice that we have this information here so I would like to share my experience. I only got it today, first thing I installed all the 4 washers. Coffee wouldn’t come out unless it would be on a high coarseness setting. After disassembling half the machine and understanding how it works I removed the 3 washers and only kept the one which came from factory. I would say I get a decent grind on a setting between 10 and 15. It looks like either they shipped a different set of washers before or these machines have some variation on the tolerances between units (which for the price would be expectable). Again, somewhat of a rough start but I’m happy with this purchase. There’s a third model now which looks a bit nicer but looks like it’s essentially the same grinder.

I have this grinder and I see many people struggling with it. I want to add a few extra tips to get the max out of it: 1) The washers have different thicknesses - not all 3 washers are the same, which causes the whole confusion between different people achieving different results with seeming the same number of washers and the same setting. Currently, I have the thickest one and 1 thinner installed and grind for espresso anywhere between 15-20 on the adjustment ring. If you have different ones, your ideal range can be between 1-5, 10-15, or other. Just try going courser and slowly decrease by a click or 2 until you find the right setting. 2) If you are grinding and nothing is coming out there are 2 options: - Your machine needs to be cleaned - More likely, you are grinding too fine and there is no space for the coffee to go through. Go back to a significantly coarser setting and then slowly start going finer. Grind some coffee on a very coarse and then slowly start trying the finer options. I found that ideally for espresso this grinder struggles a bit but still grind come out fairly consistently. So it is not grinding too fast, but not too slow as well. If barely any coffee comes you when grinding, then be give the machine a few taps. If it continues, you are grinding too fine and be sure that your machine will choke as well (this applies to dedica, gaggia classic, and a few other machines). 3) In order to minimize retention use the droplet technique - which is just add a drop of water on a little bit of spray to your beans before grinding. But WARNING, add a little bit. Soaking your beans is BAD and can cause problems with your machine. Just a couple of small drops is enough. I found that this reduced the static in the machine by a huge margin and the grinding is much easier. Also, it allows to achieve better results when single dosing due to the lower amount of retention. This applies to all grinders by the way. 4) You have to clean the machine regularly. Unfortunately, After cleaning, especially if you remove the burrs sometimes, the same setting as before might not deliver the same result so you need to dial in again. Overall, the machine is not ideal if you like to use different coffees all the time and need to switch settings all the time, unless you are super meticulous and take notes. 5) You definitely need to spank the machine on top a couple of times, while grinding sometimes harder in order to push some of the coffee through and especially at the end of grinding to remove residue. 6) Also, your dose is very important. Try to maintain the same dose. If you grind 12 grams one time and then you grind 16, of course you will not get a good result. This seems obvious, but I do not think many people weight their coffee so I wanted to add it in. If you apply these, you can have a really good espresso capable grinder for a cheap price. I think the price in only comparable with hand grinders, but obviously that is not ideal, if you have to grind more than 1-2 cofffees a day. I will be testing the Kingrinder k2, which costs about the same as the Graef and can share an opinion later on. Having said all of this, I think if you can afford, upgrading the grinder is a good option. I have my eyes set on a Eureka Manuale, which is probably the cheapest grinder you can get which provides exceptional espresso setting. But it is still triple the price of the Graef and if you are on a budget, Graef will get the job done quite well in my opinion.

If you are searching for the spare washers: look for the little white bag that is glued together with a strip of tape😊

I did it and it worked perfectly, here is the dimensions of the grief washers: Outer diameter: 14mm Hole : 7mm Thickness: 0.3mm I added a 0.3mm thickness washer with an different outer diameter, and It work well ! Now I have 4 washers.

Thank you so much 👍

Guys! Beware before doing this, when you reapply the bottom burr, ALWAYS aline it with the little metal bump part and the little crevice underneath the burr! If you don't do that the grinder will NOT work and it will damage the machine.

Thanks for this. I was think that my Gaggia Classic have some issues, because the water just started to go through too fast from one day to another, however I didn't change anything. Then I set the grinder to the finest, but it was still not fine enough. Don't know what could happened with the grinder, but know I did this trick with two ring, and everything is ok :D You saved me a pointless round in a coffee machine service :)

great video. I've been using Graef 702 for 2 years right now for espresso, can't complain. Also I have added the washers.

Hello Tom, I'm wondering if I should buy the CM900 which i can have for cheap ? I have a Dedica and a bottomless portafilter. Thanks a lot for your videos !

Hi.Thanks for the review. Do different coffee beans requeire different levels of grinding ? or once you find the right grind setting theres no need to change again ?

Thanks Tom Next time tell us about Vorwerk cordless vac?

Hello tom. I have the same Grinder. Did you put all of the 4 washers and grind the beans? what number did you select? Thank you

What do you recommend for espresso king grinder k2 or graef 702 ?

hello Tom (I'm French) and thank you for your videos, I love them. I just bought a not new CM702 but the person didn't have the washers to hack the graef. Where can I find a set of washers to improve the fineness of my grind? thank you very much if you can help me!

Hi thank you for video, is this machine capabble to grind espresso and filter Coffee level at the same time when you optimizaed it for espresso?

Wow just saw another video on this machine suggesting putting pressure on top of machine during grind to achieve even finer grinds.

Hi I have a question for you. After three months of using cm702 grinder I noticed that the grinder no longer grinds so well. At beggining it was very well on 3 grind size option and now I need to setup 0 and it is still to much. Do you have any idea what could it be?

Hi Tom! After the hack, Do you recommend this grinder or the Delonghi KG79 (after the hack too) Thank you!

Thanks for the video! So I have this grinder but I lost the washers that came with it. I would like to install them since I want a finger grind for expresso. Do you think I could buy regular washers and do it with that? Because I can't find anything sold directly from Graef.

Hey Tom, thanks for the useful video. I use a bottomless portafilter. My issue is that if I place the grind setting under 10 almost no coffee comes out of the Graef, it just retains everything. I have to smack it like crazy to get some coffee out and then when I do get some coffee out and use it, it is too fine and and extraction is too slow. There is always a lot of clumping. I've tried all kinds of coffee some specialty coffee roasted like week ago or Lavazza bag that is 6 months old and still experience this to a degree. So I am forced to use the at least 13-14. It would be impossible to grind anything under 5. What am I doing wrong?

Hey Tom, I have Graef CM702 grinder for some time, haven’t applied the extra washers. My problem is when I try to grind less than size 10 no coffee comes out of the grinder. It accumulates inside it and I need to hit or shake the machine to get it out. How can I solve this? Also I have delonghi dedica ec685, and with less than 15 grind size with graef no espresso comes out. Thanks for help

si no encuentras arandelas tan finas, prueba tu mismo ha hacerlas de papel grueso. If you can't find such thin washers, try making them yourself out of thick paper.

I have been using the graef 800 for quite some time now and for its price its a very good entry level machine. I didnt actually knew about the trick, I have only played with the upper burr actually, but will try to find some washers to try that trick too, do you have the measurements of that washer by any case?

I'm looking for a set of the washers for my CM80. Unfortunately I'm in the UK and Graef won't post spares here.

How would you compare this grinder with the K4 in terms of consistency, taste of the coffee and the overall expierience?

Hello! I have also misplaced my washers. Any idea on what is the dimension? Inner/outer diameter, so I can get replacement (looks like there are many options over on ali etc.). Thanks!

Hi Tom, would you recommend for me to get this second hand or get a Kingrinder K4 brand new for espresso?

How is the Espresso grinding quality of this grinder (after the change) compared to the Eureka Mignon?

Can you grind fine for espresso without doing the grind finer hack ?

Does anyone know where I can purchase the washers needed for adjusting the burr?

This or baratza esp?

HelloTom, which is better the Graef CM702 OR the CM 800 ?

But we are agree that even with this trick, yes you can have enough thin powder for expresso but you can't adjust after that like a micrometric machine to have a more precise powder and be able to adjust to the differents beans that exist

Does anyone know where to get the washers?

No matter how many washers i add coffee remains coarse .Any ideas ?

What about CM500 series, has anyone tried it?

Well, I live in Greece and I lost my washers! How can I acquire them?!

Two thick rings didn't do the job for me, it was still to coarse. I tried three thick rings, but it didn't grind anymore with that setup. Eventually I got two thick ones and one thin one in and now it grinds pretty amazing fine coffee, but the funny thing is, it does this on the 20 setting haha. Looks weird, but I only need fine grinds, so doesn't really matter I guess.

How many washer did you put;

There are also two plastic rings in the packaging and I don’t understand what they are for

Here is an unasked oppinion. Great video. MIght wanna clean the grinder before filming next time. Looks kinda yucky. Otherwise seriously good vid man.

These are the models that was made by Chinese manufacture called WMP, and it bought multiple brands and made same models in different name of brands, not very good in value that I would say, for the people that lives outside of China, find yourself a used Eureka Zenith e65 would be better choice, stock burr was uniformity burr set and with little bit of mod, 64mm SSP is able to be install on it, I got two of Zenith E65 and multiple heycafe 600s(modded).

stopped watching this when i saw the mess on the counter

Langsam wird’s langweilig. Zeig mal was neues.