EK "New" Coffee vs. SSP HU vs. SSP Cast Burrs

Coffee preparation techniques besides espresso like pourover.
TheCastanza
Posts: 50
Joined: 8 years ago

#1: Post by TheCastanza »

Hi all. I recently purchased a set of the cast burrs from SSP. There was not a lot of info online about these burrs out there so I thought I would contribute. I have used both the stock "new" coffee burrs, SSP high uniformity (red speed), and the SSP cast burrs (silver knight) in my EK over the past month or so. This comparison is focused on pour over performance. I am by no means a tasting expert so take this as it is, one lay person's opinion. I drink mainly medium light/light coffees (Onyx, Metric, and Sey for this last month or so). I really love a good fruity Ethiopian and primarily use a v60. I have the Titus burr carrier in my EK.

Stock EK Burrs
The sweetest of the three burr sets. Almost every pour over was super sweet and pretty much everything tasted great. The draw back to me is that this sweetness would almost overpower some of the more delicate flavors, particularly fruit flavors. The fruit would still really come through on that perfect post-roast couple of days but then would sort of be overwhelmed by this sweetness. After a week or so, and a few different coffees, the coffees blended together with a primarily super sweet taste and I was having trouble with the different origins coming through.

SSP High Uniformity
I had these burrs in my EK for about a year. I enjoyed them but I felt like the brews were more easily hit or miss. When the brew was just right with the right coffee, you could taste every flavor with a lot of separation. However, it seemed like the technique was more critical and/or the coffee had to match the burrs. I had the feeling that every few brews would be a "wow" brew, but it was hard to nail it several in a row (user error always a possibility). Astringency was a feature more common than I would like. I think ultimately I would agree with most of the HB reports that the SSP HUs are not great for pour over.

SSP Cast Burrs
These are my newest burrs, so it is possible that I am still in the honey moon phase, but I think these are really in the goldilocks zone for sweetness and flavor separation. Still getting that awesome sweetness and juiciness, but the fruit flavors are still coming through bright and clear. I note that I was totally prepared to think these burrs would not be"worth it" over the stock burrs but I must say they have convinced me otherwise, pretty much all brews have had that wow factor. In all, if getting SSP burrs for pour over, my recommendation would be the SSP cast burrs hands down over the HU.

On a side note, I have also used the Low Uniformity (LU) SSP burrs for pour over in my monolith Max many times when I had the HU in my EK. I didn't really notice a ton of difference between these two burr sets for pour over. Not really significant enough to tell if burr or different grind settings or some other variable. I ultimately concluded that it was not worth it to mess with Max setting for pour over and just used that for espresso and EK SSP HU for pour over.

Eiern
Posts: 627
Joined: 9 years ago

#2: Post by Eiern »

Thanks for that!

I have long thought about buying the SSP cast for my EK for brew, well I did actually but SSP was all out so I was offered another set for the same price and now I have a set of the Ultra Low Fines waiting for me at home.

I briefly tried a set of EK burrs recut by SSP which should be similar-ish to their Cast, and it was more clear than the stock set. I find the stock set goot but a little muddy and need to push extractions fairly high to be satisfied but avoiding dryness, thin line with some beans.

I still want to get SSP cast if I don't fall in love with the ULF, and it also feels more «right» to have EK geometry in an EK. Even better if someone made exact pre 2015 clones. With filter I want to taste the beans flavors clearly, but not too analytical and one dimensional either (like SSP 64mm Brew or 98mm HU was).

Eiern
Posts: 627
Joined: 9 years ago

#3: Post by Eiern »

So I've had my 98mm Ultra Low Fines for three weeks now and they've had at least 7kg beans through them. I've made 1:3 espressos with it mostly as it's my only capable grinder for that until I get my P100 (scheduled delivery today actually).

Today I decided to do another V60 with it, and was pleasantly surprised. Very good cup! Juicy, sweet, clean enough but not boringly analytical, not too thin body either, nice mouthfeel. High extraction (24,32% maybe a little too high by slight bitterness, these beans extract high very easily compared to others). Just a little report. Hope to taste Low Uniformiy and new EK burrs recut to pre 15 by SSP in a while side by side as a friend has those.

Ad-85
Posts: 548
Joined: 4 years ago

#4: Post by Ad-85 »

Congrats guys on the new grinders and burrs!
Have you guys tried the blue bottle dripper with their filters yet? I use them exclusively and I'd like to invest in a high end grinder that works well with this brewing method. I know that almost all people on this forum love v60 but I don't like that brewer and haven't had a decent cup with it. BBD is fool-proof and works for me :roll: would be great if you try it with the new SSP cast burrs @thecostanza. Thanks
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RyanJE
Posts: 1519
Joined: 9 years ago

#5: Post by RyanJE »

Thank you for the post and information! I have been debating buying the cast burr or low fines over my stock EK burr.

Would you say the cast burr is actually worth the money? I know its hard to justify that statement, so just your opinion.
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