The Ceado Life positions itself as an all-round grinder in a growing market. Who wouldn't want a coffee grinder at home that works well as both an espresso and filter coffee grinder, and even comes with a bean hopper for single dosing?
It sounds almost too good to be true. Unfortunately, our test shows that the grinder's good ideas are only partially convincing in their execution.
We test all espresso grinders on the market. A summary of our tests and an overview can be found here.
Buy the Ceado Life
The following specialty shops sell the Ceado Life, and we can recommend purchasing from these companies. All of them offer the option to readjust the machine's offset.
Germany:
We are searching for specialty partners for you whom we know provide good work and good service, and we are in close contact with the aforementioned retailers. These links are so-called affiliate links. If you order via one of these links, you won't pay a cent more – however, we receive a small commission, which we invest directly into new test equipment.
We are still looking for competent partners in the DACH region for you.
Does the espresso and filter coffee taste good?
Good espresso and good filter coffee bring joy, so we start with the grinder's strengths. The Ceado Life delivers good coffee. Both the espresso and the filter coffee convinced us during the test. In this regard, the grinder performs the most important task quite convincingly. Many espresso grinders fail to function well as filter coffee grinders due to the high proportion of small fine particles. Many filter coffee grinders, on the other hand, do not grind fine enough, or not with enough precision in the fine range to be adjusted accurately for espresso.
The particle distribution of the Ceado Life also reflects what we were able to perceive in terms of taste. At this point, we would like to thank the ZHAW in Wädenswil and the research team at the Coffee Excellence Center once again for their support with the laboratory measurements.
The grind size can be set relatively precisely. With lighter roasts, we were in the range of grind setting 1 and had little room to go finer. Nevertheless, adjusting and resetting also worked relatively well.
You can get the grinder here from one of our recommended specialty retailers: Lücke Technik*
Grinder in development – That's good! But…
In autumn 2022, we received the first turquoise Ceado Life. It took some time for us to finish the lab measurements. Since then, various testers have put the grinder under the microscope, and the market has also collected feedback.
Let's put it this way: there was (and still is) a lot to optimize. When starting the grinder, the base was not grippy enough and the grinder would shift out of place. This was improved with better feet. The grind adjustment was revised, and the manufacturer has assured us that they are staying on top of the grinder – and that is a good thing. The entire single-dosing construction still leaves a lot to be desired to this day. The portafilter holder has a few weaknesses, and the consistency of the grinder is also problematic.
The Ceado Life seems to be an espresso grinder that was pushed onto the market before its time. It feels as if marketing took the lead and the development department wasn't given enough time to finish the grinder. In doing so, Ceado joins the ranks of well-known manufacturers like Mahlkönig (x54), Eureka (Libra), and Ascaso (Baby T). We find this approach problematic, as not all necessary improvements can simply be provided retroactively for existing buyers. But one step at a time.
Small, compact, and stylish - but with plastic components
Visually, the Ceado Life looks great. It is small and compact (width 15 cm x depth 20 cm x 36 cm), yet it has a decent weight of 7 kg and appears quite high-quality in its basic construction. The aluminum shell makes a better impression than the plastic on the front. Like many grinders in this price segment, the bean hopper is made of plastic but still makes a good impression.
The 50 mm burrs grind 17.7 grams in 10 seconds. This puts the Ceado at the top of the slow field in terms of grinding speed and is comparable to a G-Iota.
Plastic can look cheap, but if it is well processed, has a certain strength, and fits cleanly, it doesn't have to be that way. That is how I feel about the plastic back panel of the grinder and also the bean hopper.
The portafilter hanger, on the other hand, tells a different story. It seems unstable and somewhat cheap, but it works well with many portafilters. However, the adjustment range is limited, which is why portafilters with thicker walls cannot be clamped in. A Lelit portafilter worked well, a La Marzocco portafilter with a trick - but Sage, Rocket, and Rancilio portafilters did not hold in the hanger.
Regarding material quality, the single-dosing setup falls behind. The most suitable comparisons that come to mind are toys from gumball machines or the contents of New Year's Eve table crackers. Everything is made for the moment, but not to accompany a high-quality grinder in the long run.
Basically consistent, but a bottleneck for jamming
When checking the consistency of a grinder, we test how regularly the grinder dispenses the same amount of coffee in a row. With the Ceado Life, there is a significant fluctuation here of +/- 0.4. In some cases, the fluctuation was even 2 grams!
While the output fluctuation improves somewhat with broken-in burrs, the coarse fluctuation remains. This is because the beans block each other in the relatively narrow shaft between the bean hopper and the burrs. If no beans fall through, the grinder logically dispenses too little coffee.
Here, a conceptual strength of the grinder is turned into a disadvantage. The relatively small space between the bean hopper and the burrs is only 6.2 grams. That is a top value in our grinder test. This allows for quick changes between different coffee types without having to grind through a lot and waste coffee. However, the resulting bottleneck is a risk for consistency. Shaking the grinder can counteract this.
While we observed jamming in the shaft between the bean hopper and the burrs up to every 10th grind depending on the bean size, this phenomenon occurred even more frequently when using the single-dosing attachment.
Single Dosing: Practical, but the Ceado Life attachment disappoints
Single dosing is becoming increasingly popular among home baristas who appreciate exact dosing and quick changes between different types of coffee. Naturally, Ceado also wants to offer this function with its Life grinder and includes an attachment with a tunnel and plunger to prevent popcorn effect and to blow out the retention of the grinder.
However, the design of the single-dosing attachment turns out to be disappointing. When I put the tunnel on and fill in 18 grams of coffee - a common amount for a double espresso or 300 ml of filter coffee - the tunnel is filled to the top. I have to hold the plunger in my hand until I have ground half of the beans, to then be able to place the plunger on top.
Working without the plunger is not recommended, as otherwise the popcorn effect will throw the coffee out of the grinder.
Other aspects that are negative:
- The coffee dosing cup does not sit firmly on the portafilter rest and has to be held.
- Furthermore, the plunger often leads to blockages in the narrow channel with larger beans.
- When I then finish the grind with a bellows trigger, the ground coffee spreads onto the work surface.
Why didn't Ceado put a bellows on the hopper, as is common with the Eureka Single Dose? Perhaps patents are the reason. But for me personally, the single-dosing setup is a failure in execution, with significant potential for frustration. The cup does not fit on a portafilter and the channel between the bean hopper and the burrs is too narrow and prone to clogging.
This diminishes the actually good single-dosing performance. When everything goes right, a maximum of 0.1 grams remains in the grinder. A good result!
Low retention - that's good!
The design of the single-dosing construction should not distract from the fact that the grinder has a low retention of 1.9 grams. This is a very good value within the more than 30 espresso grinders we have tested.
The noise level is in the higher range at 85.7 decibels. But loud is not always the same as loud. The grinding sounds quite clean and fluid - unlike other cheaper espresso grinders. There, the grinding often sounds like a last stand.
What is noticeable is the relatively high base temperature of the grounds, which we measured at an average of 37.9 degrees over 6 grinds. The compact design and low ventilation are likely responsible for this. 38 degrees should not yet have a sensory impact. However, the grinder should probably not be used for high frequencies under load, i.e., in a catering context.
Conclusion Ceado Life - Potential as an espresso grinder for home
The Ceado Life is a small, compact grinder that is promising in its layout. It provides the prerequisites for good coffee for both filter and espresso and long coffees. Features such as retention, grind adjustment, and precision also score well.
However, the grinder has weaknesses in the implementation of the single dosing and all the components for it. Much of it does not seem mature and will likely require a revision.
Particularly frustrating for us was the clogging of the shaft with the bean hopper and single-dosing attachment. The included cup serves no specific function within the context of the grinder and cannot, for example, be fixed to the portafilter holder. The workflow during single dosing is not fluid because the plunger cannot be placed on from the beginning. The portafilter holder also only works with some portafilters.
Except for the narrow shaft opening in the grinder, these weaknesses are all external and can presumably still be changed. However, it appears to us to be a problematic development in the market that more and more manufacturers are launching machines that do not yet appear finished.
We will continue to observe the grinder and report back. We think: the grinder has more potential than it currently brings to the table. Let's see what else happens.
Where do I buy the Ceado Life grinder?
You can get the grinder here from one of our recommended specialty retailers: Lücke Technik*
*We are searching for specialty partners for you whom we know provide good work and good service. We are in close contact with the retailers. These are affiliate links. If you order via this link, it costs you nothing more, but we get a small commission, which we put into new test equipment.
