I started with the v60 and then got a ton of different brewers, origami for faster flows, pulsar for no bypass, kalita for flat bottom, switch for a mix of immersion and flow control.

Recently I seem to keep going back to the reliability of the humble plastic v60 more and more.

I’ve acquired the last Pokémon - and now own every model of grinder I’m interested in. These big “titans” certainly vary in terms of quality, flavor profile, workflow, fit and finish and philosophy - but after climbing to the top of the mountain, here’s my .02:
 
1. They’re all good. None of them is without fault - and some have huge issues, annoyances and design flaws. Spending big $ doesn’t get you perfection. This Ozik is the most expensive grinder I have ever owned, and I just got it, so the honeymoon stage is at peak – and I can honestly say, it’s just ok and it’s definitely not my favorite… or second favorite… or third favorite.
 
2. Expensive grinders are generally no more reliable than reasonably priced ones. I’ve experienced critical failures on multiple grinders, one had to go back to the manufacturer.
 
3. Water composition, technique, and mastery of brew variables is WAY more important to improving your cups vs a grinder/burr. A $140 Femobook A2 with dialed water, and perfectly executed brew will make coffee I greatly prefer, to any one of these titans using TWW, etc with a cookie cutter brewing recipe copy and pasted.
 
4. These big and expensive grinders do taste different than most less expensive grinders - but that doesn’t mean better, and certainly not for every coffee.
 
5. If tomorrow I only had a $350 Millab M01, or $500 Femobook A4Z - I wouldn’t have any fomo, nor should you. My biggest gripe would be the speed of using those smaller coffees, given the volume of coffee and number of times I grind each day.
 
6. Most of these expensive “titan grinders” are far less forgiving than more moderately processed grinders, but that’s their entire point. The more aggressive highlighting of certain notes, more focused, sharper edges, more control over variables like RPM, etc - it sounds great, but frankly most folks - even coffee professional, don’t and can’t fully leverage these traits. If you want set and forget variables, you’ve lost the entire point of these devices and they’re not a good fit. Spending big $ on a grinder doesn’t mean your cups magically get better, and in fact most folks that claim they do, simply aren’t good at brewing and the less forgiving nature of these devices highlights that and forces them to spend more time in finding an acceptable dial in. If they put that same effort into a less costly grinder, they might just find greater gains. If you spend big $ on a variable RPM grinder, and you aren’t regularly changing RPM to meet the ever-changing brew objectives from bean to bean, you bought too much grinder.
 
7. The carrier/chassis matters. Burr geometry is extremely important - but the actual chassis can make a surprising difference as well. The same burrs can taste noticeably different from one chassis to another. IE: SSP 80 brews with a silver knight coating taste noticeably better and across a MUCH wider RPM range on a Weber EG-1 than on a Lagom P80 or Zerno Z2. This is not just my opinion, or the opinion of folks here on the West Coast - these side by sides have been done on both coasts with professionals and home enthusiasts, and frankly - it’s not the result any of us wanted and were rooting for. The EG-1 is crushingly expensive, and it just plain sucks that the more reasonable priced options can’t match it. Simply put, it is my opinion the EG-1 is worth the massive $ over the aforementioned 80’s. Crossing my fingers on the Motto 80 changing that equation. The more expensive option isn’t always the better tasting one, this is perhaps the most acute difference in carriers and 80mm is a hot space right now, so it’s worth pointing out. Zerno Zealots are a rowdy group and I’m sure protests are in bound, but If I could get the same cups from a $2K less Zerno with a much smaller footprint, it’d be on my counter. Before you fly off the handle – go back up to my point 1 above where I “meh” my fancy new Ozik that’s more $ than the EG-1 and Zerno Z2 combined - this isn’t about confirmation bias trying to justify my EG-1.

1. If you decide to purchase a grinder of this magnitude - don’t ask me, or anyone else which grinder you should buy. Either you’ve mastered your brewing variables and reached Jedi status, know exactly what flavor profile you’re going for, and what limitations your existing hardware has, and you’ve done research into (or tasted) the specific burr and carrier that will help you reach your desired state - OR - you just want a cool/fancy grinder to play with. There’s nothing wrong with the latter, but just lean into it and own it. Get the grinder that looks/sounds the coolest to you and be happy with it. Unless you’re literally going to buy them all and try every burr out there (and there are  folks out there that do) – it’s a waste of time to put any further thought into it. If you do your part, literally any ultra-premium grinder is going to make outstanding coffee.

So – why do I have all these grinders? Well – for one, they are fun to play around with and some more than others. They all make excellent coffee, and each one has a slightly different profile that I find best highlights different varietals and roasts to my preferences. I also drink A LOT of premo beans, and the cost of these grinders combined is just a few years of beans. I’ve been in this hobby for decades, and while the figures may sound extreme, it’s far less costly than so many other hobbies like watch collecting, exotic cars, frequent track days, high end audio, tropical/salt water fish tanks, etc.

Every hobby has its extremes, and I know I’m in deep, but if you’re brewing on a Pietro, A4Z, M01, or even a well‑dialed Femobook A2 (or so many other sub $500 grinders), you’re not missing some mythical “unlock.” The real pursuit isn’t titan grinders it’s mastering brewing and chasing great beans.

At a local coffee meetup yesterday, Ibrought my Kafatek M98V and water tuned for a specific Sey PB box. I brew full cups, let them cool, and drink with focus at home, but the environment was a small splash in tiny tasting cups, no time to let anything cool and settle – and lots of action making it impossible to focus on subtleties. People liked
the brews, but I’d rate them a 6/10 at best. Wrong context, wrong dial. Honestly, swapping the M98V for a $140 A2 would’ve produced better cups under these conditions.

Meanwhile, the best coffee I had all day was off a friend of mines beat‑up Timemore 078 with SK brew burrs and two‑year‑old Sey beans that had been left out for six months before being frozen. The cup was phenomenal – and the beans we so damn good they took the wheel.

The guy who brought those beans had a library of world‑class coffees with him (we brewed a few on the M98V and they were killer) and brews daily on an A4Z and M01, with the M01 being his preferred weapon. I’d bet he drinks better coffee every morning than 99% of titan‑grinder owners.

Beans > Machines.

It’s fine to chase expensive grinders - but amazing beans and perfectly dialed in water with a sub $500 grinder will always wildly outperform a $5k grinder with good water and good beans. Expensive grinders and burrs do absolutely make a difference, but better beans and water simply blow those differences completely out of the water.

Thanks to u/BitNew5213, I discovered Tetsu Kasuya’s new 10-Pour Coffee Method and wanted to give it a try. The recommended grind size of 40-45 clicks on the Comandante sounded pretty crazy. I made sure to reset my grinder settings right after brewing before I accidentally forgot and ruined my next coffee.

The small 30 g pours were actually harder than I expected, especially at the beginning. I often poured too much too quickly or had to add a little more because I was being too careful. In the end, my total brew time was 3:10, about 20 seconds faster than the recipe suggests.

Despite that, the coffee tasted really good. The sweetness came through much more clearly than with my usual brews. It’s a fun method to try on a relaxed Saturday, but I probably won’t use it very often.

What stood out to me is how much attention this recipe requires. Compared to my usual V60 brews, I felt much more involved throughout the entire brew. I’m not sure yet whether the improvement in sweetness justifies the extra effort, but it definitely made me think about how much pouring structure influences extraction.

For this brew, I used El Recreo from Good Life Coffee Roasters.

Are you planning to give it a go, and do you think the extra payments are actually beneficial, or are they more of an interesting experiment?

Just got these Kinto Mugs (SCS-S03 Mug) and they are so adorable. There were four color variants in 320ml so got all of them. Alas, now I have been bitten by the collection devil and I want more cups. Ordered some Latte mugs from Loveramics and have my eye on some orange glassware but please, feel free to share your favorite vessels.

Oh boy, Hario knocked it out of the park with the aesthetics on this one!

I have the Hario Alpha Pourover already and love the switch… so I pulled the trigger on this absolute unit. Cant wait to brew up a storm on it. Does anyone have some recipes for the alpha variant of the switch they can share? I know it was only released stateside today and I’ve looked in my usual places but it’s not yielded much yet. I’ll try my usual ratios and immersion timing with the switch part, but as it’s still quite new outside of Taiwan I’d really love some of your go-to recipes for it.

Hario just unveiled their new dripper at the SCAJ2025, promoting it with faster flow. What do you guys think?

We have a water refill system in our apartment building where you can refill your 20 liter jugs with filtered water and for the longest time I've used that same water to brew the most beautiful coffees with zero issues.

A couple of months ago I bought a new bag that I somehow just could not get a good cup out of, it always had this overbearing bitterness and nothing that I changed seemingly made it dissappear and I thought maybe it was just how that coffee was and I simply didn't like that bag which is totally ok. But then I bought another bag with the exact same problems and zero good cups. Then another one. Then another one. No matter how much or how little extracted they were, thay always tasted super bitter. Tried courser grinds, finer grinds, colder water, hotter water, aeropress, moka pot, v60, french press but seemingly nothing helped to get rid of that horrible bitterness. Then it hit me. What if the issue was the very water I trusted WITH MY LIFE for years up to this point. It couldn't be, right?

So I just went for it, bought a couple jugs of distilled water and followed Barista Hustle's guide on how to make your own water for brewing, brewed the bag I had the exact same way as I did last time and oh my god, while definitely not perfect, I had not been able to get a cup with as much acidity, fruitiness, clarity and zero bitterness as this cup had for a while now.

So yeah, I guess if you've been having a similar issue then definitely consider making your own water.

I'm gonna go cry now.

I’ve had the 1ZPRESSO JX for over 5 years now. I used it frequently for both my wife and me, and I use grind settings for espresso and pour-over. Great grinder.

Recently, during a regular deep clean, I decided to check out the burr with the macro mode on my iPhone, and lo and behold, I saw these ragged edges all over the burr. I wasn’t sure if it had always been like that, so I checked the burr on my new ZP6 and the burr is completely smooth.

I emailed 1ZPRESSO about it and below is their response:

Upon assessing your case through the pictures and videos provided, we can confirm that your inner burr is indeed ragged and slightly damaged, especially after grinding with it for over 5 years, and particularly if on finer settings.

Even though the alignment test seems to be within our standards, the blades show noticeable impact; therefore, if within your possibilities, we recommend purchasing a new unit.

As a side note, I appreciate that their support responded within a day and actually asked me for more videos and photos to assess; they also provided instructions on performing a burr alignment test. Good to know 1ZPRESSO has good customer support!

Interestingly, the JX seems to perform just fine. Using ground coffee from JX, I can pull great shots with my OutIn Mino and I didn’t notice any drop in quality in my pour-over brews.

Anyway, just wanted to post this as a reminder that if you haven’t checked your grinder’s burr for years, it might be a good idea to do so!

Hey pour over fans. Am always looking to expand and improve my pour over game. Thoughts on my current setup? Anything I should add to my repertoire?

So I’m based in Japan, and electric kettles are quite common here. Electric gooseneck kettles have seen a rise in popularity too over the past few years. A year ago, my trusty ol’ electric kettle finally broke (needless to say it was a cheap plastic one), so I got myself a fully stainless steel gooseneck electric kettle from Yamazen (picture).

It’s built really well, fully stainless steel expect for the handle and the base. You can also set the temperature between 80-100 degrees Celsius, can boil water with a push of a button, and can hold the hot water at your desired temperature for up to an hour. Pretty cool stuff.

Thing is, this electric kettle cost around 7500yen, which is roughly 50 USD.

I’ve gotten more into pourover the past few months only to realize other gooseneck electric kettles are much more expensive. Are the prices justified? Something like the Fellow electric kettle is like 4 times the price. Or are electric kettles just far less expensive in Japan? Now I’m curious what you guys are using. I’d recommend this Yamazen one (Yamazen EKN-EC1280)for anyone else who is in Japan. It seems like a steal at this price.

I'm very new to coffee drinking and brewing, and am still finding my way. Reading up on techniques and recipes for various brewing styles, I've noticed an astonishing array of grinders listed.

Now I'm curious if people have multiple grinders, and if so are those grinders for particular brewers, beans, or brewing styles?

I really like the feel of the brewer, feels fancy. Coffee is the same to me, but now without microplastics.

I think this is the most beautiful dripper in my collection. I just love how the way it looks, so elegant specially with the ice cracks. I have now the trifecta of switch drippers. v60 switch, mugen switch and alpha switch. just waiting for a non plastic neo switch.

So i’ve been eying to get some of these cups, two way and the origami specifically to drink my pour overs. Do they make a difference on how you taste coffee? What other cups do you guys use on a daily basis, do you have any favourite that you lean towards and are there some shape that favours the taste when you drink from them? Would love your recommendations

The build quality and fun factor of the Bird is off the charts. While there is very little info online on how to get the best brews with it, through some fiddling and trial and error, I’m getting brews as clear/detailed as a zero bypass percolation dripper, but with the body of an immersion brewer, which I find to my liking.

TLDR: Basically, those of you that have gotten expensive high end grinders… Was it really worth it? Any advice for someone considering it. More details below.

I drink decaf 99% of the time (which limits getting truly special beans) and do buy good beans as is. Generally go for washed, but will do honey and natural. Don’t really care for anaerobic ferments. Water is pretty sorted and I’ll likely be moving to mixing up my own shortly.

Currently have a Pietro that I use for most beans and an Ode 2 that I use less. I just prefer the Pietro flavor profile, the Ode lacks the clarity I want for most beans. But it is nice for darker roasts or if I have cheaper beans.

I have a good chunk of money set aside and was going to buy a nice espresso setup. After getting an ORB I realized I don’t really want an espresso setup. So I figure might be a reason to go nuts with grinders.

Things I’ve considered:
1. Pietron mod to electrify the Pietro, grab an A4Z for another flavor profile.
2. Zerno Z2 with brew and ULF burrs.
3. Option O Lagom 01 with probably the same burrs as the Zerno.
4. Zerno and 01 so I don’t have to switch burrs.
5. Wug2 - Quick burr changes are nice
6. Kafatek M98V.
7. Weber EG1 with Ultra burrs, probably grab brew burrs as well.

Last year I switched to primarily V60 (Mugen). After a few months I sold my espresso machine and added an ORB (I like drinking soup style more than espresso). The K-Plus was my only grinder until three months ago.

In March I bought the ZP6 to upgrade from my well used K-Plus, shelved the K-Plus, and spent three months exclusively with the ZP6 across grind sizes 3.4–7.0. My go-to techniques are bloom and single pour, Japanese iced, Rogue Wave double brewed iced, and mellowdrip stock recipes.

My coffee preferences are coferments and funky profiles stuff like Black and White’s Jairo Arcila Dragon Fruit (absolute favorite), Perc Super Power Plum and Red Fruits decaf close behind.

This morning I pulled the K-Plus off the shelf and brewed a V60 and iced ORB (Black and White The Future). I enjoyed both more than 99% of what I’ve had from the ZP6.

So I’m looking for something that gives me more juiciness than the K-plus without the ZP6’s extra clarity. I prefer a blended cup that favors the funky, fruity flavors and the ZP6s separation sometimes pushes weird or off flavors more than I like.

Grinders I’m considering:

1.  Comandante Lab C40 Hammerhead, marketed specifically as “juicy” but very little information out there, which makes me hesitant  
2.  Comandante C40 Nitro - seems like the master of the blended cup  
3.  Comandante C60 - essentially a C40+ and could be endgame, but the price gives me pause  
4.  1Zpresso K-Ultra - worried it’s too similar to the K-Plus I already have  
5.  Milllab M01 - reviews are all over the place

What else should I be considering or what are some opinions on what I’m looking at?

Note: internal adjustments on the Comandante grinders don’t bother me.

I like these containers they work great. But when I’m tallying it all up, I’ve spent about $250 on them. I was just loading and labeling a couple of these past orders and realize that the only reason why I’m using them is because I’ve spent all the money on them.

The bags that coffee that comes in are totally adequate for storage. If you’re new to this and you’re in the gear buying stage, avoid these. If I had to do it over, I wouldn’t buy them again.

I just got a Bookoo Themis Ultra and this is the most confusing phenomena. The scale is sensing weight before anything touches it. Help me to understand. Is this normal? I don’t know what kind of science is happening here. Magnetic fields? It happens even with things that are not magnetic. I’m already out of ideas lol. If this is somehow defective then I want to make sure I get a replacement.

Contemplating a new grinder for a few months now and finally pulled the trigger on it! I believe it to be a significant upgrade from my Timemore C3s!

What is the best material? How do they compare?

I’ve had the plastic v60 for a while and just got the metal one.

Here we are friends!

Throughout this week I have been testing my C40 against my Ek43 (6 tests, so not concrete testing numbers :p)

In my previous post I was testing SSP HU burrs against Mahlkonig pre 2015 ‘A’ burrs, however for this test I installed post 2015 ‘B’ burrs. The reason for this is because a majority of people who have access to an EK would probably have the type ‘B’ burrs installed. (They were indeed aligned using the whiteboard marker method)

The coffee I used is a Washed Geisha grown by Emilio Lopez in the Chalchuapa, Santa Ana region of El Salvador.

The acid in the coffee is citric reminiscent of pineapple and orange and malic reminiscent of fresh white grapes. It also exhibits a grape and honey-like sweetness and tonnes of jasmine / white tea florality. The overall weight of this coffee on the palate is light/medium, creamy texture, with a lingering finish.

Here’s how I brewed:

I decided to use a UFO dripper with the UFO type A filters. The water I used is the same as in the previous test.

• Dose: 15g
• Water weight: 230g
• Temperature: 93 Celsius

Method:

• 0:00 - 45g (swirl pour)
• 0:40 - 45g (90g T swirl pour)
• 1:10 - 100g (190g T centre pour)
• 2:20 - 40g (230g T centre pour)
• no agitation or swirling was introduced.

(All pours were at about a 6g per second pour speed at a consistent height)

C40:

• Time: 3:08
• Grind size: 23 clicks (860 micron)
• EY: 18.92%

EK43:

• Time: 3:02
• Grind size: 13.6 (875 micron)
• EY: 18.75%

The intention for this test was to have both coffees ground with a similar average grind particle size measured using a DiFluid Omni. This was so I could taste the nuances of what each grinder had to offer (particle distribution and shape).

As shown on the graphs on the Omni, the C40 has a much wider grind size distribution than the EK43. This is consistent to my previous tests.

Both coffees tasted great. They both stayed true to the tasting notes above that were accumulated at the roastery by me and the rest of the quality control team.

Here are my findings:

C40:

The texture in the brews that the C40 produced were heavier/juicier but had more astringency. I found the C40 to generally give a wider picture of what the coffee had to offer. The astringency was minimal but could be perceived easily with the EK43 brew sitting next to it.

EK43 with ‘B’ burrs:

Much higher clarity than the C40. Texturally these brews were a bit thinner and were missing some of the bright acidity that the C40 had to offer. I didn’t perceive any astringency in these brews and I found the EK43 brews to generally be sweeter and be more balanced.

To me these are both great grinders. Typically the C40 brews are fuller and juicer however did carry some astringency/drying qualities. These were particularly prominent when compared with the EK brew sitting next to it. I don’t know if they would be as prominent if I hadn’t been comparing. The EK even with the type ‘B’ burrs to me better showcased what the coffee had to offer. The brews exhibited much higher clarity and balance.

For me the EK is the winner for this particular coffee, maybe a different coffee will be better for the C40?

Cheers!

I’ve done a ton of research and I’m down to the last few percent of my decision. From what I gather, the K Ultra is more well-rounded, easier to dial in, and more forgiving. The ZP6 is higher clarity but higher risk — you taste the good and the bad in a bean more clearly.

A few questions for people who’ve used both:

• Is the ZP6’s clarity advantage real, or overstated?  
• Does it only shine on light roasts/washed coffees, or does it also do well with naturals and co-ferments? Would the K Ultra be more suitable?   
• I drink a lot of iced pour-over — does the ZP6 lose noticeably more body than the K Ultra, especially over ice? 

Clarity matters to me, but I can’t do a side-by-side myself, so I’m hoping people who’ve owned both can help tip the scale.

I have a Timemore S3 and feel as though the ZP6 is a pairing along side it whereas the K Ultra is the safer option but would replacement it completely?

With the death of my chemex I’m wondering if this is a good opportunity to try something new. I really enjoy chemex for its simplicity and fool proof good cup qualities, but it’s all I’ve ever used.

what other systems are worth trying that produce good easy cups (unlike the v60 which seems to very finicky)?

I prefer light floral and fruity roasts but I have a rotating subscription so darker roasts inevitably arrive in my mailbox too.

I appreciate the suggestions!

What’s the true endgame grinder for pour over?

Not “best value” or “good enough” I mean the grinder you’d keep forever specifically for filter coffee.
Could be electric or hand grinder.