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1ZPresso K-MAX Hand Grinder & Timemore Black Mirror Nano Scale & The Wonders Of Stirling Kenya Coffee (An SWCT Review)

Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker

Likes a fat handle in his hand
Hello everyone, its been awhile since I posted in this forum, and since I got a couple new coffee toys to play with, I figured I'd let you all know what I thought about them.

As some of you know, I own the Cuisinart DB-8 electric grinder, that I bought back in December of last year.

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Its a nice entry level grinder, but I got 3 nit picks about it, over my use of it for several months now.

(1) Its super loud, forget using it if somebody is sleeping, or you will wake them, up and put them in a bad mood.
(2) Because it uses an electric motor with a ceramic burr, it heats up, and generates lots of static.
(3) Because it uses a ceramic burr, it doesn't really provide the most uniform grind in the world.


So, with that said, that is what led me to purchase the 1ZPresso K-MAX grinder.

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When you look up hand grinders, you learn real quickly, that there are a lot of choices available. Wanting to save a buck, I was looking at the cheapest grinders on Amazon at first. But with help from a friend, and reading reviews, I learned all those grinders are cheap garbage that I should stay away from. Believe it or not, hand grinders really need to be made to super tight tolerances, as any noticeable wobble in the shaft or burr, will cause a non-uniform grind.

With a lower budget provided to my friend, he recommended the the Timemore C2 grinder.

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The Timemore C2 grinder is most certainly a higher quality grinder, then the super cheap garbage that I was looking at before. Having said that however, I decided that if I was going to pay a lot of money for a grinder, I wanted a grinder that used all metal construction. While the Timemore C2 uses all metal aluminum shell for its outside casing, it uses plastic for the shaft and burr structural supports. Drawing on previous knowledge, for which I lost a pepper grinder, due to the plastic structural support snapping, there by securing its entry into pepper grinder heaven, I decided to just take a giant leap up in quality.

I was looking for all metal construction, and I was looking for a large 48mm stainless steel burr. I was also looking for at least dual shaft bearings, a permanent burr integrated to the shaft, and a nice wooden handle knob. I realized that I could get all these things with 1ZPresso, now the choice only became, what model to purchase, as they have many themselves! Since I don't do espresso, and I wanted high capacity, the logical choice, was the K-MAX grinder.

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The K-MAX with case and all included accessories, weighs 2 pounds and 2.8 ounces. The K-MAX by itself, weighs 1 pound and 9.1 ounces. While the case allows you to be able to travel with this, this may not be the best grinder for travel, based on its size, and its weight. This is more of a, stay at home in your kitchen grinder.

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The K-MAX uses a heavy grade aluminum casing, you'd be surprised at the solid weight you feel from it in the hand. The area where the logo is found, is made out of a silicone material, to help aid in hand grip. However, if additional grip is required, they include a thick silicone ring you can attach.

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The K-MAX grinders use a magnetic catch up, which allows you to attach this to the bottom of the grinder, without the need for threads. The benefit to this is, you won't get coffee grinds in the threads, which can lock it up, or make it difficult to put on or remove. Magnets are just the way of the future people, slap it on and say goodnight. Additionally, these have a silicone rubber bottom, so that you can use this on a smooth table surface, without worrying about the grinder slipping and moving around. Catch cup has a MAX capacity of 35g to 40g of coffee grounds.

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At the top of the grinder, you will find the adjustment ring, which is a super intuitive design, and an improvement over the traditional bottom dial adjustment, or the top dial adjustment, that requires taking off the catch up, or the handle, in order to adjust. Simply rotate the adjustment ring, which makes a very satisfying tactile click sound, until the "RED" dot, is on your desired setting. Your Turkish settings are 1 to 3, Espresso 3 to 4, Aeropress & Moka Pot & Drip 5 to 7, Pour Over 8 to 9, & finally French Press 9 to 10.

Additional information regarding adjustment. The adjustment ring has 9 numbers. There are an available 90-clicks per rotation, 10-clicks per number, and uses 0.022mm-per click. With this information said, this may not be the best grinder for dialing in espresso shots, however the grinder can technically do espresso, you just might have troubles dialing it in. If your somebody who only drinks espresso, you may want to consider purchasing the 1ZPresso JX-PRO instead, as it has a far greater range of adjustment.

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The K-MAX comes with a nice long handle, which provides excellent leverage, and the handle knob, is made out of wood. Both the looks of the knob are excellent, and the shape formation, allows for an easy grip hold with my hand. The top half, which I call the hopper, holds the coffee beans. I was able to put 20 grams of beans in there easily without issue, there was definitely room for more beans, if you need to do more then that. The picture shows the excellent construction inside, aluminum supports, stainless steel shaft and burr.

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There is not a whole lot to look at, on the bottom of the grinder. You can see the metal receiving magnets for the catch cup, there is a bit of a flange, and you can see the bottom of the burr inside. The burr, shaft, bearings, washers, are removable, if you want to do a deep cleaning. Please note however, if your take the grinder completely apart and put it back together, you will be required to re-calibrate your grinder. Go to 1ZPresso's website, go to their blog page, as they discuss how to calibrate and adjust the grinder.

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My experience post using this grinder will come in my next post, and the review for the scale will be last.​
 

Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker

Likes a fat handle in his hand
I hope you folks don't mind me breaking this up, but there is just a lot to cover here, that I felt it best to do it like this. Some folks may not want a hand grinder, because they believe, that it would be just too much work to operate. And if I had bought cheap garbage on Amazon, that may indeed may have been my experience. But because I listened to an amazing friend who cares, I decided to raise my budget, and buy high end, cry once, and enjoy forever lol.

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Today I am going to be using Stirling Kenya Dark Roast Espresso, enter the SWEET & the BOLD, for this is not coffee for young boys, time to put your big boy pants on, cause this coffee is for men.

My standard procedure of operation or SOP for short, is to place the magnetic catch up on the scale, 0 out the tare weight, then use a coffee scooper, to place the amount of beans I want to put in the grinder, and scale out.
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Am I the only one who sees how magnificent this is? I just love it when a plan comes together folks. After I measured out the required amount of grams in beans I was going to need, I then dumped the beans from the catch cup, into the top of the grinder. I then swirled the grinder around to even out the beans inside, before putting the handle back on.

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Since I am making coffee for DRIP, I listened to the advice that I was given, that it was best to start out with setting 6 and not 5, which ended up being an excellent suggestion. As you will soon see, the grinds produced, were more on the finer side for DRIP, but still perfectly usable!

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I really enjoy the "RED" dot, as it makes it super easy to see, where you are on your adjustment. I guess on the 1ZPresso K-ULTRA, they switched to using a grey dot, which is a step backwards IMO. The strong tactile clicks, makes it super easy to set the adjustment where I need it to be, and I had no issues with it. Now lets get grinding!

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It took me roughly 30-seconds to grind 20-grams of beans, using a medium grind setting. Notice how uniform the grinds are? I don't really see any super fines, or course pieces in there. This is what a stainless steel burr can produce for you, its a real step up from a ceramic burr IMO. And, because its hand powered, I didn't really have any problems with static, very little retention, as I got 18-grams return in the output. I ended up grinding 8 more grams of coffee to round me out to 26-grams, for a strong cup of coffee.

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So here are the results and a re-cap of what I did...

(1) 26 grams of coffee grounds put in the filter basket

(2) I ran a 14-ounce brew cycle

(3) I got 426.2 grams of liquid out

(4) And brewing time took 3-minutes & 4-seconds


I wound up with 15-ounces of coffee, that's an estimated 89% extraction!

In conclusion: I had no troubles at all cranking the handle around. The handle is so long, it provides excellent leverage, and it didn't take as much muscle as I was expecting it too. Also, this grinder is far quieter then an electric Cuisinart DBM-8 grinder, I can actually hear myself think! And it was sort of a meditative experience as well, I really enjoyed it a lot. The durability of this grinder is insanely good, I got what I paid for and then some!

Stirling Kenya Dark Roast Espresso is already my most favorite coffee in the world. But this grinder, produced the best tasting version, of this coffee I ever had as well. I 100% recommend this coffee grinder, a real knock out of the park experience, totally blown away, and I couldn't be happier! But just one more thing, don't be so excited to use your new grinder, that you forget to re-attach the catch cup and start grinding like I did, or you will end up with coffee on the floor, wondering why it wasn't in the catch cup when you were done. OOPS what a mess!
 

Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker

Likes a fat handle in his hand
Now its time to talk about the scale. You folks saw my shipping scale above, which is really only good for pounds and ounces, its not accurate for grams scaling, which is really what you need for measuring coffee. Once again, I thought I'd cheap out on my grams scale purchase, and once again, my friend saved me from making a mistake. So, without further or do, I present to you, the Timemore Black Mirror Nano scale!

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Nice packaging don't you think? Timemore really does protect the scale, within a nice foam cushion from all sides, including bottom and top. They include a manual as you see, and trust me, you will want to read it, to become familiar with this fancy scale.

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As a quick guide however, Timemore provides the functions on a protective decal, which can be removed, once your familiar with the functions. And as you can see, the bottom has nice rubber feet to prevent slipping, as well as a hidden battery compartment, that contains the 900MAH rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery. And they also include the technical specs on the bottom as well. What you can't see it very well?
How about now?
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The the left side of the scale, you have the timer and flow rate buttons, which are touch sensitive.

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On the right side of the scale, you have the touch sensitive ON/OFF/TARE button. You also have the main ON/OFF toggle switch, as well as the USB C port, used for recharging the internal battery. While the manual states that you can use a fast charger, it also warns against this, and recommends you only do a 1-AMP charge. In laymens terms, charge it via the USB port on your computer instead.

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The front panel display is quite awesome IMO. From this single panel, you can get your timer and flow rates, your battery indication level, weather or not your alarm beeps are active or not, and lastly, your weight in grams. This scale has a MAX weight capacity of 2000 grams, and I gotta tell ya, thats a lot of grams! Which means, its very unlikely that you would be maxing out this scale, using it for the purpose in which it was intended.

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A quick PSA about what is happening here. Why would the same empty grinder, have two different weight readings, weather or not the scale, is on a non-flat surface, vs a flat surface? Due to the science on how scales work, they simply just work better, when placed on a flat surface, so its recommended that you do so.

This scale has functions for timing your espresso, pour over, or recording your flow rates for analysis. In espresso mode, it has the ability to auto tare when you place an object on the scale, then after a 3-second predetermined countdown, it will automatically start the timer for you, as soon as the scale detects weight from your liquid, entering your cup. Then if you remove the mug, the timer will stop counting.

This process seems to work well, except, I found it odd, that as soon as the scales timer stopped counting, it also auto cleared itself back to 0 without my input, I did not like this. And since I needed time to capture a picture for you all, I just decided that for my use case, I will just run the scale in manual operation instead, which worked out great for me.

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As you can see, my scale fits neatly under my Hamilton Beach 49987 The Scoop brewer. While the base is technically rounded in front, it still offered enough stability and flat surface, to use the scale accurately. This scale is designed to fit under many espresso machines as well, so you shouldn't have a problem with that either. I placed my Captains Choice 16OZ mug onto the scale. For those who are curious how much this mug weighs, have a look! I then hit the tare button on the right side to clear the reading.

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Once I had my coffee ready to brew, I hit the ON button, and waited till I saw the coffee flowing, then I hit the timer button once to start the timer. Please note, this scale is incredibly sensitive, the slightest change is recorded. So your gonna have fun watching those numbers just fly up lol. The first picture was taken during the first brew I made without timing it. The second picture was taken the second time I made a brew with this scale, and I actually timed out the brew, to help me dial in my percentage of extraction.

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So, let me begin with my negatives first and get those out of the way.

(1) Scale alarm beeps is enough to drive me insane, I had to discover how to shut that off in the manual!

(2) Because scale only has a couple buttons, it forces you to have to hit the timer button a bunch of times to access the different modes. IMO, there is plenty of room on the left side of the scale, that could have been utilized to use more buttons. Its not an intuitive design, and other's will not like it either.

(3) When in espresso mode, the scale not holding the timer reading when you remove the mug off the scale, is absolutely ridiculous, and should require me to hold the timer button for 3-seconds like it does in normal operation mode, to clear the reading.

(4) Because the scale is super sensitive, any movement in the floor, vibrations on the table, anything out of the norm, will manipulate your reading. The house, the surface the scale is on, everything needs to be steady, for your reading to be stable and accurate.


Now for the positives...

(1) For my use purpose, I find that running the scale in normal mode works perfectly.

(2) Scale is incredibly accurate, more then you might think, especially if your used to shipping scales!

(3) Alarm beeping can be turned off, thank goodness, for my sanity has been saved!

(4) Scale reading on display is very easy to see/read, weather in bright light, or an dark environment.

(5) Scale makes it easy to TARE.

(6) Scale surface is very nice when using the included silicone rubber mat they provide.

(7) Scales rechargeable lithium battery can last 24-hours on a single charge of use!

(8) USB-C charging, so long USB-A, nobody liked you anyway, and everybody hated you USB-B

(9) Scale fits neatly under my drip brewer, can't ask anything more then that.


In conclusion, if your looking for a high end scale, you could consider Timemore's flagship scale. However, if you prefer the absolute best that you could buy, I suppose you could go with an Acaia scale, but your gonna dish out some serious money to buy one of those, so the Timemore Black Mirror Nano scales, are a decent value for the money. While this scale does have some quirks that I do not like, it does the job I need it to do, and it does so quite well, so I am going to go ahead and recommend it.

1ZPresso Grinder 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Timemore Black Mirror Nano Scale 🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
 
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Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker

Likes a fat handle in his hand
(3) When in espresso mode, the scale not holding the timer reading when you remove the mug off the scale, is absolutely ridiculous, and should require me to hold the timer button for 3-seconds like it does in normal operation mode, to clear the reading.
FYI, the reason for this is in espresso workflow, you are moving your eyes between the timer and the caffeinated goo coming out of the machine. Once it hits the correct time, you stop the flow and remove the mug. You should know how many seconds, like 28 maybe, your shot was when you stopped it because you are basically staring at the time and the brew ends abruptly when commanded.

Now, fiddling with everything involved in a pour over, plus the drain down, you really don't have time to check that the time hit the right number until everything is done. So yeah, having it delete it wouldn't be good!
 
I hope you'll be happy with that grinder as I have the K-Pro version and have no complaints. It has the same number of adjustments in 22 micron increments. However mine has the threaded base vs the magnetic.

I have no problem with espresso grinds once I got the number dialed in initially... 3.2 - 3.4 for espresso and 4.8 for Aeropress puts me in the sweet spot.

Great review... enjoy!
 

Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker

Likes a fat handle in his hand
FYI, the reason for this is in espresso workflow, you are moving your eyes between the timer and the caffeinated goo coming out of the machine. Once it hits the correct time, you stop the flow and remove the mug. You should know how many seconds, like 28 maybe, your shot was when you stopped it because you are basically staring at the time and the brew ends abruptly when commanded.

Now, fiddling with everything involved in a pour over, plus the drain down, you really don't have time to check that the time hit the right number until everything is done. So yeah, having it delete it wouldn't be good!

Thank you for explaining why Timemore, chose the strange decision that they did for their ESP mode. Your a wealth of information as always.

I'm remembering a Star Trek Voyager episode, where the ship stores ran out of coffee. So Knelix, the self appointed moral officer, and ships cook, decided to make his supposedly Better Then Coffee substitute. You talk about coffee goo? His coffee looked like mallasis when he poured it into Captain Janeway's mug. 😂

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This is terrible!

I hope you'll be happy with that grinder as I have the K-Pro version and have no complaints. It has the same number of adjustments in 22 micron increments. However mine has the threaded base vs the magnetic.

I have no problem with espresso grinds once I got the number dialed in initially... 3.2 - 3.4 for espresso and 4.8 for Aeropress puts me in the sweet spot.

Great review... enjoy!

I'm very happy with my new grinder. You'd have to max the grinder out to do 4-grindings worth to make 120 grams to do 12-cup pots. But for single serve machines, 8oz or 14oz, these hand grinders are perfection!

That's so cool you have a K-PRO grinder. Yeah, I think that's the only difference, the threads for the catch cup. How you like yours? I'm glad you were able to dial yours in like the champ you are sir!

FANTASTIC REVIEW !!... Thank you for these well thought out and enjoyable reviews !

Thank you so much! I'm really glad you liked it!

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Bravo 👏 what great skill you have. A life with coffee ☕ is a life worth living. ☺️
 
hi all, sorry, but am just chiming in since the extraction percentage (89%) you listed is confusing. not sure where you got that figure, but i don’t think it’s what you think it is.

at most, home brewing folks are extracting 20-30% max of water soluble compounds from coffee beans. the only way to get more, up to a max of around 50% is if you happen to have access to a multi million dollar instant coffee manufacturing machine. and even at that it’s not all flavor bits, but also some filler compounds.

that aside, you cannot measure extraction percentage without a refractometer. it’s the percentage of bean compounds in the brewed water. they are available, but unless you’re a obsessive coffee nerd, and maybe you are but usually adjusting the grind or ratio of water to beans is enough to dial in a great cup via your taste buds :)

percentage extraction is usually helpful if you’re trying to dial in a brew method for a specific bean for consistency and preferred flavor profile. it gets real complicated real fast when you get to building an espresso brewing profile and a refractometer is one tool that can aid that process.
 
hi all, sorry, but am just chiming in since the extraction percentage (89%) you listed is confusing. not sure where you got that figure, but i don’t think it’s what you think it is.
This is my fault and I didn't want to over do it with precise definitions. We were talking about water in/water out. I was trying not to bring up extraction as it's not something the average person can measure. Again, this is entirely my fault and was not the correct terminology and that's 100% on me.
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
Chris / @Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker , I did end up ordering the same or similar Timemore scale. I have been using a kitchen scale and its resolution is 1 gram instead of .1 gram.

I did opt for the grinder I mentioned only because it was 25% of the price and I'm only doing coarse grinds. I'm sure your K-Max is a better grinder. I'm getting pretty consistent grinds which I think it the goal. I do like how silent it is vs. my Cuisinart DBM-8. Because of the static build up in the DBM-8, there isn't even a huge different in time spent. I have to scrap off the grounds/powder stuck to the sides of the plastic bin. With a hand grinder, no static of course and a simple brush cleaning does it.
 

Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker

Likes a fat handle in his hand
Chris / @Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker , I did end up ordering the same or similar Timemore scale. I have been using a kitchen scale and its resolution is 1 gram instead of .1 gram.

I did opt for the grinder I mentioned only because it was 25% of the price and I'm only doing coarse grinds. I'm sure your K-Max is a better grinder. I'm getting pretty consistent grinds which I think it the goal. I do like how silent it is vs. my Cuisinart DBM-8. Because of the static build up in the DBM-8, there isn't even a huge different in time spent. I have to scrap off the grounds/powder stuck to the sides of the plastic bin. With a hand grinder, no static of course and a simple brush cleaning does it.

Nice to see you around Kim, improving your coffee life, one step at a time. ;)

If you got the Timemore Black Mirror Nano scale, as seen in my pictures above, then you secured yourself one of the best coffee scales on the market. Just an FYI, keep the table surface that it is on stable, the scale is super sensitive due to its .1G abilities, and any external vibration or movement, can make the numbers jump up/down. I find it to be incredibly accurate, much more then your typical 1G kitchen scale. And shipping scales can't even compare at all! lol

To be perfectly honest Kim, I don't really think you made a bad choice personally, with the grinder you chose. It does appear to use a conical steel burr if I remember correctly. I mean, you did pay like what 126 dollars for that grinder, so its not like you bought cheap 10 to 20 dollar garbage. Sure, it won't measure up to the quality of a 1ZPresso K-MAX grinder, but what the real question we should be asking is, does the grinder you chose work for you?

From what I can tell from your post, the answer is yes, it does work for you. And you said its producing a consistent grind. Well guess what? With all that I have learned about quality coffee grinders is, a consistent grind is key, to producing a good tasty coffee, as the consistent grind, allows for proper coffee extraction. So you did good Kim, and you did good on your scale purchase too!

I too agree with everything you said about the Cuisinart DBM-8 grinder, which I also own. Those ceramic burr's get hot! And when a burr gets hot, it makes static, its a static generation in its own right lol. And Yes, the thing is very loud, you will wake up the undead to come knocking on your door, looking for a brain snack, BRAINS!

My experience using a stainless steel conical burr matches your own, in regards to static, their is practically none, and 0-grinds retention can be achieved, which makes me happy. Also, the finer you go with your grind, the more work it will be with a hand grinder, so yes, a course grind for French Press, will be very easy to produce, very little muscle power required.

Another thing I've experienced Kim, is that I find, that grinding a light roasted bean, requires more work to grind, as I believe its due to the fact the beans are tougher, from being roasted for less long. So, I certainly feel it, when I am grinding my Stirling Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans, using setting 6 on my K-MAX grinder, to produce a medium fine grind. Where as when I am grinding my Stirling Kenya dark roasted beans, using the same setting of 6, its far easier to grind those beans.

This coffee experience has been amazing for me, all be it my wallet getting more empty each time. Story of our lives right? HAHA! And, things are not going well for me at the moment, because my Hamilton Beach 49987 The Scoop single serve brewer, decided to tear its mesh filter, (Which I have since learned is a well reported occurrence with these units) and to get a replacement filter, I'd have to shell out 26 bucks directly to the company, because they don't make replacements available elsewhere, sad, cause the brewer is less then a year old.

Soooooo, I think I am going to be buying a new coffee brewer in a couple months. Of course, its gonna be much more expensive then what I paid for this Hamilton Beach unit. But as it is with all things, 99% of the time, you get what you pay for. I already have a model picked out, but its too early for me to divulge what I plan to get right now.
 
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