I acquired a Bunn G9-2 a few months back. The burrs set is dated May 1991, and I do not know the usage history of the grinder.

I've been debating whether to buy a new Bunn burr set (~$200) or Ditting Lab Sweet burrs (~$400?). I primarily do pour over, and espresso once a week, so I'm most interested in limiting fines at coarser settings.

Has anyone had experience with both the Bunn burrs and Ditting Lab Sweet burrs? The reason I inquire is because the burr sets have a similar design -- I'm wondering if there is a significant difference that would justify a 2X cost multiplier.

Lab Sweet:


Bunn:

As with all coffee gear when you get to this level, the question is not whether or not there's a difference (the answer is almost always yes), it's whether or not that difference is worth the cost increase and if you can even take advantage of the difference. Keep in mind that when dealing with large flat burrs the #1 factor by an order of magnitude is alignment. If you pay up for nicer burrs be prepared to spend extra time (and possibly money) on aligning your new setup to get the full potential out of it.

I was able to demo a Lab SWEET (the full grinder, not just the burrs) a while back and thought the results were excellent. There is a very good reason it's commonly used in high level lab and QC settings. Further, the lab sweet burrs are much more durable, which should help with the cost. All that said, the difference is definitely slight. Don't expect another step increase like the one you got when you initially got the Bunn (assuming you didn't come from a titan class grinder previously). If you enjoy delicate, light roasted coffees and have a quality espresso machine you will probably enjoy the heightened clarity and sweetness. If you stick with medium roasts and blends, or have a less consistent espresso machine the difference will be slim to none.

You should also check out the SSP Bunnzilla replacement burr. I don't have personal experience with it but have heard great things and the longevity/quality of SSP burrs is unmatched in the industry right now. They will be slightly easier to align as well (tighter tolerances). Should be about the same price as the Lab SWEET burrs.

I got the SSP burrs and I run them at a (variable) low rpm and they are crazy clean. For a comparison, I use a baratza vario w/ steel burrs (considered pretty good for drip) at our roastery for cupping and V60s take about 30-40 seconds to draw down at the end of the pour with that grinder. the SSPs drawdown is about 20 seconds, so they have to be producing significantly less fines than the baratza w/ steel burrs.

However, I'm not sure what's due to the RPM reduction vs the burrs. Because when I run the SSP burrs fast they produce visible fines. Maybe they just like being run slow? Or maybe any burrs like being run slow? not sure.

Thanks for the inputs all -- will definitely give the SSP burrs consideration.
How do you like the SSP burrs compared to the stock Bunn burrs?

I've also considered adjusting the motor speed, but it seems like a huge pain to get a variable frequency drive (motor control is not my area of expertise either). You can also hear the "centrifugal" switch close as the motor is slowing down -- there's probably a lower speed limit before the switch is improperly closed during normal operation. It may be easier to actually remove the burr housing and mount it to a DC motor!

I've used the bunn burrs side by side with the ssp version, and I thought ssp blew the stock burrs away. Did some side by side tests with a kalita and felt the ssp burrs had more clarity, sweetness, and balance. The bunn burrs tasted unbalanced and muddled in comparison. This was using lightly roasted coffee. I agree that at a darker roast, the difference would probably be far less noticeable.