I just got my first grinder a Mazzer Mini from Illy $375 super deal as I seen a used one sell for $385 @eBay the day before it arrived

But I am not so happy with it for home use as the doser is a pain IMHO...
I would be more happy with just a chute than a doser and the over 18" tall hopper...

Made me think what I can make to improve this model with out spending a ton of money..
The one thing remove the doser and it hit me that would work better for me on top dosing the whole beans into the grinder and or a teeter totter like simple scale under the chute to weight the ground beans than a expensive doser...

I dont see my self doing more than removing the doser....
I have seen the canning funnel mod with filter basket in center of stripped doser but looks like to much work to remove basket each time..

What ideas do you have???????

Doserless to doser and back again... the debate continues is a thread from the site's first year. As you've discovered, we're no closer to ending this debate.

Johnny Kleso wrote:Made me think what I can make to improve this model with out spending a ton of money.

Seeing that you've had the grinder for less than a week, I recommend using it as-is for awhile before modifying it extensively. There are a few tried-and-true near-zero cost modifications from this forum's FAQs and Favorites that are worth doing right off: Improving Mazzer doser efficiency and How to Tame a Messy Mazzer Doser. There's lots of doser-to-doserless conversion discussions, e.g., Mazzer 2-liter bottle doserless modification.

What don't you like about the doser? I find it works pretty well, especially after a couple of simple modifications. Many have been documented before, as Dan has alluded to.

One: Mess
Two: I would rather have the doser on top not below..

Whatever you do to the Mini apart from the basic mods that help it dose cleaner, resign yourself to the fact that it will perform worse.

It's a good design and like all good designs it's been designed as a whole.

If you find it messy, flick the doser slower. You don't have to treat it like a machine gun. The portafilter fork is also adjustable. Shift it to the left as far as it will go.

Enjoy your coffee

Cheers

Mike

First I worked several years as a prototype machinist for designers and a camera company so anything I do will make it better IMHO here is the place I was hire to set up the model shop http://www.designers.com

The doser exit port is lame..
The fork doesn't fit my 51mm PFH its too narrow a slot to fit the Breville PFH drip holes.. The two drip holes are wider than the fork slot...

Mazzer may be the top commercial grinder maker but they have their head in the sand for the home pro user IMHO.. If I owned a coffee shop the doser is fine but I dont want my left over morning grounds left in the doser.. If they dropped into the PFH basket it would be the best for a home pro.. Their other model looks great but its double the price.. Forget the digital scale and give me a mechanical scale and do it for the same price as the doser..

A scale of this type is $5 I dont need the $300-$400 scale of the Mazzer on the other Mini model..

http://www.gramscales.com/product_info....cts_id=357

Simple scale under a chute fills basket I empty into PFH..
No Mess, better dosing no left over grounds in doser...

If you didn't like a dosered grinder? Why didn't you buy a Vario for only a few dollars more? If you didn't know how a dosered grinder works, shame on you for not doing your research.

My advice if you don't like this grinder, you can probably sell it for what you payed, then you can go buy a grinder you are sure you like.

Certainly, many of us on Home Barista would love if Mazzer would design a grinder specifically for the home user; unfortunately, the vast majority of the market is the professional user. We may be a vocal minority... but a minority nonetheless.

The doser works fine when filled as designed. The leftover in the exit chute doesn't matter when churning out lots of shots. The fork fits a commercial portafilter with the more classic two-spout design fine. And the Mazzer Mini E uses a digital timing system with multiple presets to change dose, which makes that price tag more reasonable.

The Baratza Vario seems to cater to the home user's desires more, as chipman suggested.

Your scale system seems pretty interesting, though. Find a suitable doserless chute and then build something to support the scale underneath it. Simple, clean, nice.

Umm.... How are you using the doser....?

You're not filling it up with ground coffee are you?

IF not, then forgive the next bit..

..When you use a doser at home, you're still only grinding what you need, for ONE shot at a time. No more, no less.

Some people like to weigh out the beans for each shot(Im one of these people), add them to the grinder, and turn it on. As the beans are being ground, you "Thwack" the doser lever. This puts small amounts at a time into the filter basket, so you can get an even density of coffee. NO ONE who is after the highest quality cup, either at home or in a commercial setting, EVER fills up the doser with coffee.

Regardless of whether you keep the hopper entirely full of beans, or you add only a shots worth of beans to the grinder at a time, you are still only grinding for one shot at a time.

I often see people on CoffeeGeek say, "Well, I dont want a doser, because I dont make a lot of coffee". While I think the debate of doserless vs. doser'd has good arguments on both sides, the above comment is hogwash. Whether you make one shot a day, or 30 shots a day, it makes no difference, and shouldn't be the reason you choose between a doser'd or doserless grinder.

Here is a Link to a youtube video, showing what I mean. Note that the person in the video uses the hopper with an amount of beans in it. If you weighed/added per shot, you would do the same thing, and just let the grinder grind em all up.


If this is how you are already using the doser, forgive me. There is often confusion surrounding doser grinders and not "making a lot of coffee".

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As for Mod's to the Mazzer...

Ask anybody who owns a Mazzer grinder with a doser. Whether its a Mini, a Major, a Kony or a Robur, most all of them will tell you there are two mods which should be done immediately. Three if you bought it brand new.

If you bought it brand new... Remove the metal finger guard inside the doser, which blocks access to the exit chute. Youll need to be able to get at the exit chute to brush it out.

The two mods:
The "Sweeper" Mod, outlined Here
The Schectermatic Schnozzola, outlined Here.(This is the link to the thread... There is a link to the PDF file to print out the template in the first post)

You MIGHT find that the sweeper mod isn't 100% necessary. Ive read a few posts here and there, where some users didn't find it crucial. However, the "Schnoz" is a wonderful, WONDERFUL addition to the mazzer doser's. I wouldn't be caught without my schnoz installed, and another two sheets already printed out for backups. I used Card Stock to print out the PDF of the Schnoz's.

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Now, keep in mind, the Mini is on the slower side, when it comes to grind speed. The downside to that, is that its slow. The upside to that, is you can keep an amount of beans in the hopper, and you will have a much easier time only grinding what you need. On my Major, Its impossible for me to not grind way too much coffee, if Im dosing at the same time. That said, you might want to go check out the threads on single-shot dosing VS. Keeping a bean column(beans in the hopper). Good points on both sides.

JmanEspresso wrote:If this is how you are already using the doser, forgive me. There is often confusion surrounding doser grinders and not "making a lot of coffee".

Ok.

Certainly, I don't fill my doser up with more coffee than I'm going to put in my portafilter right then. I also have done all the mods to my super jolly that you mentioned. (...and have been following those two threads about bean columns closely)

For the enthusiast home user or pro user who grinds per shot and thwacks the doser repeatedly to break up clumps, the design has some issues. But still, I see a fair number of small cafes (not necessarily good ones) who fill up the doser and pull the lever once or twice to fill the portafilter. Inarguably, that's the method that Mazzer intended, since the height adjustment only matters with a doser full of grounds, and some grinders have sensors that refill the doser.

I was just trying to make a more general comment about the economics of grinder design. I don't know any numbers, but I still think that the home baristas and 3rd wave cafes don't account for much of the market. A lot of people are probably perfectly happy with the design. It's sold for years, hasn't it?