HB wrote:I agree.... but the difference is vanishingly small....

in a forum of "fanatics" for the perfect cup, that bigger friendliness and small difference are worthy a consideration; it is the essence of "upgrading-tis" where you spend a lot more to get that little bit more ::: who said perfection is not available because the standard keeps going up ??
In what remains a very personal pleasure and placebo corrupts our judgement, it is still nice to think that you can do better, and have a good excuse for it.
But the case goes back to some guy asking for help in trying to understand why a lesser grinder gave him a better result and the answer remains that spending more will not necessarily give always a better result since variable M's keep increasing : Macchina (machine), Macinacaffe (grinder), Miscela (blend), Mano (hand), Manutenzione (servicing), and you have to keep them all in due consideration

acquavivaespresso wrote:It is still a fact that the conical burr does a better job (and then gives a good excuse to sell the grinder more expensive given the very close cost of conical burrs to cost of flat burrs)

You continue to miss the point of this thread: the odd behavior of the Mazzer Mini E, a top-end prosumer espresso grinder. Presumably you are not suggesting that this grinder, which Mark Prince once called "the ultimate in espresso grinders for the home", is incapable of grinding for espresso. If you want a discussion on the relative merits of small conical burr grinders, may I suggest that you consider starting another thread?

another_jim wrote:I don't care if the Mazzer is brand new out of the box; there's almost certainly something wrong with it. Unscrew the top burr, unscrew, reseat, and refasten the lower burr, and reassemble.

+1.

RapidCoffee wrote:You continue to miss the point of this thread...

I said in two previous posts (1): Non perfect alignment of burrs could result in uneven grinding and lead to the problem, but this has been discarded ... (2): More likely it could be that the bottom burr carrier is not machined perfectly and causes some misalignment with upper burr ...
If 1st-line who started the thread does rule out the possibility of mechanical problem, having sold both pieces of equipment, on the basis that the Mazzer can choke itself ..... leaves little room for arguing, rather than suggesting possible causes, which I did.
BUT A GOOD FLAT BURR GRINDER IS TOTALLY RIGHT FOR THE JOB OF GRINDING FOR ESPRESSO:if it does not, it has a mechanical problem
Fast brew, coffee quality and quantity factors being OK, can mean ONLY coarse or uneven coarseness grinding: coarse grinding you lock-adjust the burrs, uneven grinding means misalignment of burrs (I kind of ruled out faulty machining of upper carrier simply because being a "more important" component it normally gets handled carefully and any problem would/should be spotted by quality control)
That said if I was to make a grinder, it would be with conical burrs because of longer life of burrs, better quality of grinding in time because of bigger grinding surface and lower peripheral speed, but that, as you put it, is a different story

another_jim wrote:I don't care ... Unscrew the top burr, unscrew, reseat, and refasten the lower burr, and reassemble.

that is right : misalignment could be from metal debris-dirt under on burr and the very first step would be to check that everything is correct (it can happen although don't understand why) ........