Tempuralt_Maki wrote:How would an Ode with SSP Brew burrs stack up with this list? I am thinking about getting that burr set for my Ode. Does anyone have experience with that?

I haven't tried the SSP burrs in the Ode just the original burrs and I think it's outstanding for brew coffee. I had an Apex before the Ode and I didn't notice much of a drop off between the two but I never had the chance to do a side by side test.

For the OP, if you don't mind hand grinding than check out the Apex if you don't want to hand grind, I'd highly recommend the Ode.

I ended up (maybe temporarily) purchasing a gently used OE Apex. Two taste tests in (comparing to my Monolith Max SLM) and while I think both produce slightly *different* cups, the Max seems a bit better at teasing out some flavor disparities. I'll know more after I've tasted some different beans. Without RDT...

Pros:

+ Light enough to move around easily, heavy enough that I haven't needed the hold it down (yet)
+ Straight-forward design
+ Incredibly consistent grinds

Cons:

- Feeding last remaining beans is a time waste and a chore, ends up leaving me 0.5 grams (or more) short
- Can be messy, grinds spilling, popcorning beans, etc.

I'm still interested to see if Ode's new burrs are a game-changer. The Vario+ is about to come out as well (albeit at a $550-$600 pricepoint). Honestly, the fact that my Max is able to produce such a good brew shocked me. Will be curious to see how the Key stacks up in a few weeks.

Auctor wrote: Cons:

- Feeding last remaining beans is a time waste and a chore, ends up leaving me 0.5 grams (or more) short
- Can be messy, grinds spilling, popcorning beans, etc.

Feeding it's a classic problem either leaving the last beans or open/switch to larger grind size so the last beans will drop and set back to original setting and continue grinding...yes it's anoying...

The messy and grind spilling you can use other smaller lips bottle
It wasn't a fancy ones


But less messy...


Popcorning beans?...I never had ones...it protects by the plastic hopper.

Hi Yan, I have a fuji royal r220 with the same burrs as your Apex (not sure tho still new and I don't like opening my grinders too) I'm finding the dark roasts taste almost identical to my hot americanos (using helor 106/ct2 combo - taste is creamy with heavy body) but the taste changes dramatically when I reach the last 1/3 of the cup. Does it need seasoning? Is it from the beans? Sidamo Vivace is what I typically brew with my blue bottle dripper. Other owners of these ghost teeth burrs .... HELP

Yan wrote:Feeding it's a classic problem either leaving the last beans or open/switch to larger grind size so the last beans will drop and set back to original setting and continue grinding...yes it's anoying...

Great feedback, thanks Yan. I will give this a try tomorrow.

Yan wrote: Popcorning beans?...I never had ones...it protects by the plastic hopper.

I think my funnel is slightly misshapen, so I end up with beans *underneath* the funnel, which then fail to feed into the burrs. So I use a brush to move the beans to the correct location, and grind slowly to crush them into smaller bits (which are then far more likely to grind properly). Trouble is, using the brush and grinding at the same time (with the lid off) invariably lead to popcorning out of the chamber.

Ad-85 wrote:Does it need seasoning? Is it from the beans? Sidamo Vivace is what I typically brew with my blue bottle dripper. Other owners of these ghost teeth burrs .... HELP

My experience with the Apex after around 6 months the taste in the cups not significantly change, yes it's getting better but not night and day, but from my previous hand grinder Lido 3 at that time it's significantly better. The retention is also getting better after passing 5-6 kg.

I'm curious about this too, especially for light roast v60 brews. I currently have a monolith flat max with shuriken burrs but ive a hard time justifying $3500 for a brew grinder, so I'm looking to sell the monolith and replace with something much cheaper without a huge variance in cup quality.

Day 2, so grain of salt, but Fuji Royal R-220 for the win. After some additional research, intl. wire delays, and a ridiculously fast ship time direct from Japan, my Fuji arrived a couple of days ago, and my transformer arrived yesterday. Seasoned with a pound of old coffee. Two cups in, and the last one compared once again to my Monolith Max SLM:

+ Very attractive, small, stable footprint grinder (aside from transformer)
+ Motor has a nice, smooth sound
+ Coffee is bright, clean, separated flavors, very nice
+ Grind done in <10 seconds, compared to ~ 1 minute for Max, or ~ 2 minutes w/ OE Apex

- Crazy amounts of static (I'm currently on an anti-RDT kick)
- When used as a single doser, lots of messy popcorning
- Not a fan of Fuji catch cup (I am using Kafatek cup now)
- Definitely some retention (I counted 0.3 grams in 11g dose)

All in all, dollar for dollar, this feels like a winner. In theory I'd want to compare to Vario + w/ steel burrs for a higher confidence level, but I'm very happy thus far.

Still curious to see how ghost burrs compare to SSP brew and Shuriken brew, but that said, I really struggle with the concept that I'm going to taste a $2-3k difference.