Quamar M80 espresso grinder tested – a great entry-level tip for the restaurant industry!

The Quamar is available in various versions and with different names. Internally, however, the Quamar M80E, the Quamar M80 Touch, and the Quamar M80 Touch Plus are identical. The grinders differ primarily in their controls. Grinding discs, particle distribution, and other performance characteristics are not significantly different. In our test, we took a look at the Quamar M80 E Touch Plus. We purchased it from Pro Kaffeemaschinen in Basel.

In Germany and Austria, we've seen the Quamar M80 Touch Plus for around €700. In Switzerland, the top model is available starting at CHF800. The cheaper model is available for just €100 or CHF150 less. That's exciting!

This grinder test is part of our series of over 24 espresso grinders for home use. However, the Quamar M80 Touch Plus is more of a good entry-level grinder for the hospitality industry. We explore the reasons for this in this review.

Weight and strength - Gastropower

The Quamar M80 E has many of the features a professional grinder needs. It grinds 33.6 grams in 10 seconds, making it one of the fastest espresso grinders. Even under load, the burrs barely heat up, remaining at an average temperature of 30.5 degrees Celsius. This doesn't compromise the grinding consistency, which is often the case with fast espresso grinders. From one shot to the next, the Quamar's grinding fluctuates within a good tolerance range. The 63 mm burrs perform well.

The grinder's noise level is equally powerful. 88.8 decibels is quite a statement! However, this is again a volume that's rather pleasant. Cheaper grinders reach similar volumes, but they sound like they're in the final stages of a battle. The Quamar is loud, but it doesn't feel cheap. The grinding discs work powerfully and reliably.

The 56 cm high, 29 cm deep, and 17.5 cm wide espresso grinder weighs 11 kilograms. If the height isn't right for you, smaller bean containers are also available for this heavy grinder. But this also reflects the fact that this grinder is actually meant to make small cafes happy. Accordingly, the Quamar is also designed for a daily coffee load of up to 3.5 kilograms.

Dead space and single dosing

At the bottom of the table is the Quamar M80 with its dead space volume. 10.9 grams remain in the absolute dead space during regular use of the grinder. This refers to the sum of permanent and temporary dead space. This shortcoming can be ironed out if the grinder's strengths are exploited. In a frequently used café, the dead space is regularly ground out and is not as significant. If you only make one espresso a day, you should use the Quamar in single dosing.

In fact, the performance as a single-dosing grinder is good. Despite the large dead space, the grinder grinds almost to 0.2 grams of ground coffee after running for 30 seconds. For this purpose, the grinder is used without loading the bean hopper. Instead, the coffee beans are weighed and poured into the grinder in the desired quantity. For a double espresso, for example, 18 grams of coffee beans are added. A good single-dosing grinder dispenses the entered 18 grams. This delivers good performance here.

A truly good single-dosing grinder, however, must deliver on a second level. Another interesting aspect of single-dosing is the ability to switch from coffee to coffee, from recipe to recipe. The Quamar M80 falls short in this area. It's not easy to switch precisely from grind size to grind size. For example, if we brew an espresso with a grind size of 8, set the grinder to 7.6 for an espresso, and then want to return to grind size 8, the resulting grind will not be identical to the particle distribution of the first shot.

How does the espresso taste?

The Quamar M80 Touch Plus delivered really good espresso. We were almost a little surprised. Let's back up a bit. We tested the grinder and tasted a few espressos, which were also good. But then the machine suddenly clogged right in front of the flapper every time we made a shot.

It requires the assistance of a technician to replace the flapper to get the machine running again. This took several days, and thus the test was delayed. We're unclear how the flapper malfunction occurred, so we won't dwell on it any further. If you also have the Quamar M80 in a model and have experienced a similar problem, please share it in the comments.

When we tried again with the new flapper, we were able to adjust the grind level without any problems and brew good espresso.

A glance at the particle distribution reveals a medium main peak and a medium fines content. Not too many fines, nor too broad a main peak. However, the curves actually fluctuated somewhat and deviated from one sample to the next, as already discussed in the single dosing section.

Differences between the Quamar M80 models

The Quamar M80 models differ primarily in their operation. The Quamar M80 E features a centering funnel instead of the angled coffee dispensing system. On this model, the controls are located on the lid of the centering funnel.

The Quamar M80 Touch has a digital display with buttons underneath. As with all other Quamar versions, two doses can be programmed. The Quamar M80 Touch Plus has a color touch display and no external buttons. This makes it easy to program the doses, although the display seems a bit slower in this age of super-fast smartphone displays. The coffee quality of the two grinders is no different. Therefore, it's a question of whether the added value of the color display justifies the additional investment.

Conclusion Quamar M80 Touch Plus and co.

The Quamar M80 is more suited to professional use as a grinder than to home use. This allows the grinder to fully exploit its strengths, such as speed and low temperatures, while also compensating for the weakness of its large dead space.

The grinder is available for a relatively low price, making it a real insider tip for the restaurant industry. The Quamar M80 Touch, in particular, is very attractive, with a price starting at €529 (as seen at Espresso Perfetto ).

Those using the grinder at home will be able to compensate for the problems of the large dead space with the single dosing function. However, for optimal use as a single dosing grinder, the Quamar M80 is not precise enough in terms of grind adjustment.