In terms of grinding espresso, I can't think of any better grinder for home use. I bought this unit to avoid upgrade fever, and there's hasn't been one moment i've even imagined doing so.
My purchase was a replacement for a Mr Coffee burr mill grinder. Mr Coffee didn't grind fine enough for espresso until i took him apart and removed the restrictor notch. Mr Coffee didn't grind quietly - he sounded like an airplane. Mr Coffee made lots of dust, 90% espresso or french press and 10% turkish coffee. Mr Coffee made a mess.
Well, Mr Mazzer is extremely quiet. With no beans grinding, the motor is barely audible. With beans grinding its loud, but not obnoxious like many other grinders.
Mazzer grinds reliably, no dust.
Mazzer grinds fine enough, and can grind finer.
Mazzer is great. For grinding.
The doser, however, is a hassle. Grinds come out unevenly, and spray like crazy on the countertop. The resting fork could be higher up to alleviate SOME of this, but honestly holding the PF right under the spout it still sprays.
Grinds build up in the doser like crazy. I know this is home use and grinds are supposed to collect in the doser till full -- aside from super high volume shops though, most places I know with Minis or Super Jollys grind to order and click the doser a dozen times. Same thing is at home, and I'm fine with that.
What I DONT like, is how randomly a lot of stray grinds get stuck in there. Some people brush it out, I don't really bother doing that. I am bothered though, by how poorly the dosing arm sweeps the chamber. I don't expect to see no grinds in there, but I dont expect to see as many.
A bit of grinds collect in the chute between the burrs and the doser. It would have been nice to have something to automagically clean that out, because in the morning those grinds often stand between my half-awake self having a full basket or clicking the grind button again. A spoon handle works well though.
It comes with a tamping attachment for the front of the unit. I took that off.
I didn't like the idea of the timer at first, now i kinda fancy it. I set it, leave, come back and either have to grind more or its all ready. Yay.
My main criticism though, is that this really is an espresso only grinder. I tried to grind for the french press once, it was a hassle rotating the color and dialing in. Going back to an espresso grind, i found the machine to operate slightly louder.
The stepless adjustment idea is great, but the tension on the collar is a bit too strong -- you need to build up a decent amount of pressure to nudge the machine, and once you do it kind of jumps. Its possible to make super-minute adjustments, but realisitically adjustments are about as fine as the little notches on the collar -- those could really have just been adjustment notches instead of simple markings. |
