The Ceado Life positions itself as an all-round grinder in a growing market. Who wouldn't want a coffee grinder at home that performs well as both an espresso grinder and a filter coffee grinder, and also comes as a single-dosage grinder with a bean hopper?
That sounds almost too good to be true. Unfortunately, our test shows that the mill's good ideas are only partially convincing in their implementation.
We test all espresso grinders on the market. You can find a summary of our tests and an overview here.
Buy Ceado Life
The following specialist retailers sell the Ceado Life, and we recommend purchasing it from them. All offer the option of adjusting the machine's offset.
Germany:
We search for specialist partners for you who we know offer good work and excellent service, and we maintain close contact with the retailers mentioned. The links are so-called commission links. If you order through one of these links, you won't pay a cent more – however, we receive a small commission, which we invest directly in new test equipment.
We are still looking for competent partners for you in the DACH region.
Does the espresso and filter coffee taste good?
Good espresso and good filter coffee bring joy, so we'll start with the grinder's strengths. The Ceado Life delivers good coffee. Both the espresso and filter coffee impressed us in our tests. The grinder therefore fulfills its most important requirements 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, don't grind finely enough, or don't grind at a fine enough setting, to allow for precise espresso preparation.
The particle distribution of the Ceado Life also reflects what we perceived in terms of taste. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the ZHAW University of Applied Sciences in Wädenswil and the research team at the Coffee Excellence Center for their support in the laboratory measurements.
The grind setting can be adjusted relatively precisely. With lighter roasts, we found ourselves around grind setting 1, with little downward movement. Nevertheless, adjusting and resetting the grind setting worked relatively well.
You can get the grinder from one of our recommended retailers: Lücke Technik *
Mill in development – good! But…
We received the first turquoise Ceado Life in the fall of 2022. It took some time to complete the lab measurements. Since then, various testers have examined the grinder, and the market has also gathered feedback.
Let's put it this way: There was (and still is) a lot to be optimized. When starting the grinder, the base wasn't grippy enough, and the grinder was out of alignment. This was improved with better feet. The grind setting has been revised, and the manufacturer assured us that they'll stick with the grinder—and that's a good thing. The entire single-dosing design still leaves a lot to be desired. The portafilter holder has some weaknesses, and the grinder's consistency is also problematic.
The Ceado Life appears to be an espresso grinder that was rushed onto the market before its time. It feels as if marketing took over, leaving the development department insufficient time to complete the grinder. This puts Ceado in the spotlight alongside renowned manufacturers such as Mahlkönig ( x54 ), Eureka ( Libra ), and Ascaso ( Baby T ). We find this approach problematic, as not all necessary improvements can simply be made available to existing customers retroactively. But first things first.
Small, compact and stylish - but with plastic components
Visually, the Ceado Life is quite impressive. It's small and compact (15 cm wide x 20 cm deep x 36 cm), yet weighs a hefty 7 kg and feels quite high-quality in its basic construction. The aluminum casing makes a better impression than the plastic on the front. The bean hopper, like many grinders in this price range, is made of plastic, but it still makes a good impression.
The 50 mm grinding discs grind 17.7 grams in 10 seconds. This puts the Ceado at the top of the slower field in terms of grinding speed and is comparable to a G-Iota.
Plastic can look cheap, but if it's well-made, has a certain strength, and fits neatly, it doesn't have to be. That's how I feel about the plastic back of the grinder and the bean hopper.
The portafilter mount, however, is a different story. It seems unstable and somewhat cheap, but works well with many portafilters. However, the adjustment options are limited, which is why portafilters with thicker walls cannot be clamped. A Lelit portafilter worked well, as did a La Marzocco portafilter with a trick. A Sage, Rocket, and even a Rancilio portafilter didn't stay in the mount.
In terms of material quality, the single-dosing design falls short. The most apt comparisons to gumball machines or the contents of New Year's Eve party pops come to mind. Everything is designed for the moment, but not to accompany a high-quality grinder in the long run.
Basically constant, but a bottleneck to jam
When testing a grinder's consistency, we test how consistently the grinder dispenses the same amount of coffee in a row. The Ceado Life exhibits a significant variation of +/- 0.4 grams. In some cases, the variation was even as high as 2 grams!
While the initial fluctuation improves somewhat when the burrs are retracted, the coarse fluctuation remains. This is due to the beans becoming blocked in the relatively narrow chute between the bean hopper and the burrs. If no beans fall in, the grinder logically produces too little coffee.
This turns a design strength of the grinder into a disadvantage. The relatively small space between the bean hopper and the grinding discs measures just 6.2 grams. This is a top value in our grinder test. This allows you to quickly switch between different coffee varieties without spending a long time grinding and wasting coffee. However, the resulting bottleneck poses a risk to the consistency. This can be counteracted by shaking the grinder.
While we observed jamming in the shaft between the bean container and the grinding disc up to every 10th grinding, 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 value precise dosing and the ability to quickly switch between different coffee varieties. Naturally, Ceado also aims to offer this feature with its Life grinder, providing an attachment with a tunnel and plunger to prevent popcorning and clear the grinder's dead space.
However, the design of the single-dosing attachment turns out to be disappointing. When I attach the tunnel and fill it with 18 grams of coffee—a common amount for a double espresso or 300 ml of filter coffee—the tunnel fills to the top. I have to hold the plunger in my hand until I've ground half the beans before I can attach the plunger.
It is not recommended to work without a tamper, as popcorning will cause the coffee to be thrown out of the grinder.
Other negative aspects:
- The coffee grinder cup does not sit firmly on the portafilter support and must be held.
- In addition, the tamper often leads to blockages in the narrow channel when using larger beans.
- When I then stop the grinding by releasing the bellows, the ground coffee spreads out over the work surface.
Why didn't Ceado install bellows on the hopper, as is standard with the Eureka Single Dose? Perhaps patents are the reason. But for me personally, the Single Dose design is a failure in its implementation, with considerable potential for frustration. The cup doesn't fit on a portafilter, and the channel between the bean hopper and the burrs is too narrow and prone to clogging.
This diminishes the otherwise excellent single-dose performance. If everything goes well, a maximum of 0.1 grams remains in the grinder. A good result!
Low dead space - good!
The single-dosing design shouldn't distract from the fact that the grinder has a low dead space of 1.9 grams. This is a very good value among the more than 30 espresso grinders we tested.
The noise level is on the higher end at 85.7 decibels. But loud doesn't always mean loud. The grinding sounds quite clean and smooth – unlike other cheaper espresso grinders, where the grinding often sounds like the final battle.
What's striking is the relatively high base temperature of the ground material, which we measured at an average of 37.9 degrees Celsius over six grinding cycles. The compact design and limited ventilation are likely responsible for this. 38 degrees Celsius shouldn't have any sensory impact. However, the grinder is unlikely to be used for high frequencies under load, such as in a catering context.
Conclusion Ceado Life - Potential as an espresso grinder for home
The Ceado Life is a small, compact grinder that offers a promising performance in its own right. It delivers the ingredients for good coffee, whether filter coffee, espresso, or long coffees. Features such as dead space, grind adjustability, and precision also perform well.
However, the grinder has weaknesses in its implementation of single dosing and all of its components. Many aspects seem immature and will likely require revision.
We found the chute with the bean hopper and single-dosing attachment particularly frustrating when it clogged. The included cup doesn't serve a specific function within the grinder and, for example, can't be attached to the portafilter holder. The single-dosing workflow isn't smooth because the plunger can't be attached from the start. The portafilter holder also only works with some portafilters.
With the exception of the narrow shaft opening, these weaknesses of the mill are all external and can probably still be corrected. However, we consider it a problematic development in the market that more and more manufacturers are launching machines that appear to be unfinished.
We'll continue to monitor the mill and report back. We think the mill has more potential than it currently offers. Let's see what else is possible.
Where can I buy the Ceado Life grinder?
You can get the grinder from one of our recommended retailers: Lücke Technik*
*We search for specialist partners for you who we know offer good work and excellent service. We maintain close contact with the dealers. These are commission links. If you order through these links, it doesn't cost you any more, but we receive a small commission, which we invest in new test equipment.
