Mazzer Major with SSP Red Speed (high uniformity) burrs vs. Monolith Flat vs. Monolith Flat Max

September 14th, 2021, 2:51 pm

QUESTION:
Any home-barista.com members who have owned Monolith Flat and/or Monolith Flat Max AND Mazzer Major with SSP Red Speed burr (or other SSP burr such as low uniformity burr)?

If so please comment with your in-the-cup opinions/thoughts for medium roast and light roast espresso beans? And please comment with your thoughts on light-roast brew beans between these two grinder manufacturers?

BACKGROUND to question:
I am aware the answer has been partially answered (for espresso roast) in this thread Performance Question - Kafatek Monolith Flat vs Mazzer Major with SSP
I am curious if there are others experience.

I am looking for replacement from my current Mazzer Super Jolly (OEM doser) with SSP Red Speed burr and aligned by fellow HB member. The modified and aligned Super Jolly grinder has been gifted to my Son who moves out shortly. I do use the OEM doser when I play barista twice a year; making 12-20 cappuccinos per day on those family get-togethers days. My usual daily-driver grinder Helor 106 (with Mazzer 0186c conical burrs) for these get together is not practical for this volume. The more I read 64mm vs. 83mm flat burrs, the more the latter has piqued my interest. And at least once every three months, I like to get light-roasted brew coffee. The rest goes to my wife. My current brew grinder is Helor 101 with conventional burrs. Wife drinks regular brew coffee daily. She refuses to hand grind so it's the original electric grinder: Rancilo Rocky Doserless. Currently modded Super Jolly set to espresso as Son hates hand grinders. I think I can convince wife to use proposed Mazzer Major with SSP as grind speed will be quicker than current Rocky doserless.

I am hoping to get a used Mazzer Major and refurbish/refinish it. And would sell the Rocky doserless.

I do realize for single dosing the Monolith Flat and Flat Max are far preferred. I have used Monolith Flat at one Chicago-Milwaukee get togethers I loved its workflow. But I would trade it for ability to have doser like I had with my soon-to-be former aligned Mazzer Super Jolly SSP Red Speed.

My espresso consumption is range two to four double espressos per day. At present Helor 106 is ok for this.

Thanks in advance for replies.

#2: Post by **emradguy** » September 14th, 2021, 10:46 pm

I never chimed in on the other thread, but I've got a Major with SSP Red Speed burrs collecting dust in my pantry, while my Monolith Flat is in daily service on the bar (along side an MC4). When I got the Flat (April 2020), it had SSP Red Speed burrs in it, and while the difference in the cup wasn't super noticeable for medium roasts (which I was drinking exclusively at the time) the workflow and noise were much better with the Monolith. My Major's hopper is cut down to the black collar, which optimizes preloading it for 2 single doses, and I modded the doser sweeper to work more efficiently. When the Shuriken burrs became available for the Flat, I was able to buy the light mediums (SLM) in the first sale and they have been a game changer. I no longer have any desire to run a side by side taste comparison against the Major. I now like light roasts too, which I really never did with another other burr set I've used. So, I'm not really saying the Major SSP combo is bad. In fact, it's quite good and imho better than a stock Major by far. It's just the the Flat w/ SLM burrs is in another class. And yeah, too add...the Major with SSP RS burrs is extremely fast!

#3: Post by **caeffe** » September 15th, 2021, 12:47 am

I too have a Mazzer Major and have always wondered why the Monolith Flat had 75mm burrs vs the Majors 83mm burrs. Was under the impression that the bigger burr in general would perform better. Ben's post Bigger burrs fact or myth? (in the cup) which is in the linked post from OP helped me understand. Monolith's 75mm burrs have smaller ID (38mm) than Majors 83mm ID of 49mm hence the surface area difference is not that large considering the large outer dia. - just 5.6% more; would it be 6% better tasting?

edit: I'm actually not sure what the Monolith Titan Flat ID is; I'm assuming its the same as that for the Mythos.

I've had other grinders (smaller) but at a time when i wasn't attuned to the taste of the espresso made with it - just that it can make espresso in the ~30 second time frame with the appropriate volume. I'd be very interested as I'm sure others would be as to the qualitative differences between the Major and a Monolith Flat.