# Grinder burrs... Ti vs. steel



## teejay41 (Mar 9, 2015)

Does anyone have any thoughts on titanium nitride coated burrs versus steel ones, in the cup, as it were? I know longevity is a massive factor in favour of TiN, but how about flavour? I'm assuming that all other variables are unchanged... just the burrs.

Tony.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

You are referring to mazzer ti burrs here...not mythos for instance.

Duration wise steel or ti should out last you easily...

In the cup..it has been suggested some ti burrs may increased extraction yields. I really am not sure if this applied to old school mazzer to burrs though


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

@DaveC

DaveC after reviewing the Zenith 65e reccomended to BB that they ship all new 75e grinders with the Ti burrs, because of in the cup performance... So there is most certainly a school of thought that suggests that.

Sorry if I misquoted you Dave. Think that was about right.


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Dylan said:


> @DaveC
> 
> DaveC after reviewing the Zenith 65e reccomended to BB that they ship all new 75e grinders with the Ti burrs, because of in the cup performance... So there is most certainly a school of thought that suggests that.
> 
> Sorry if I misquoted you Dave. Think that was about right.


There was no mention of in the cup performance in his review.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Again its mazzer ti burrs v other brand ti burrs. I know that there has been chatter that ti coated could potentially deliver higher extraction yields.

I am unsure on the following tho...

All are ti coatings the same ( mazzer , ns etc ) .

If not can said in the cup attributes be applied across all burrs

Not all flat burr geometry and design is the same ( ns, sitting mazzer ) . so will any effects of a ti coating be felt across the different burss manufacturers.


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## Thecatlinux (Mar 10, 2014)

Ti coating on burrs is surely for longevity ?

Having an effect in the cup NO ! (This opinion is based on no real time analysis, trials or in fact experience or experiment with different burrs with different coatings but a common sense approach nay opinion , and I reserve the right to change my mind and opinion at any Time based upon which way the wind blows or faced with any scientific data or results )


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## Jon (Dec 3, 2010)

Not titanium.

TiN! Titanium nitride. A coating.

Just saying.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Mrboots2u said:


> In the cup..it has been suggested some ti burrs may increased extraction yields. I really am not sure if this applied to old school mazzer to burrs though


Can't see how this could be scientifically proven even if you could control all the other variables.


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

The Systemic Kid said:


> Can't see how this could be scientifically proven even if you could control all the other variables.


Nuova Simonelli and Colin Harmon said it, and thus it is gospel


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

jeebsy said:


> There was no mention of in the cup performance in his review.


Post was from memory, and you can see why thats how I remembered it... In the review he says everything is better but doesn't specifically mention if it translates into the cup.



> As you can see, I was not disappointed, MYTHOS
> 
> on the side and the tell tale gold colouration. After a
> 
> ...


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## Xpenno (Nov 12, 2012)

I replaced my old Ti burrs (which which were still very sharp) with new steel burrs and preferred the steel burrs by a country mile. There could be something on the Ti burrs and how they wear down over time or it could be that they are kinder to the beans and give less fines or something...


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## Mr O (Jan 14, 2015)

Interesting stuff indeed.

My 'in cup taste' improved quite noticeably when I went from SJ - steel to Royal - Ti

hmm... Now should I be testing some steel ones. Probably not as I've not got 10kg + of beans to season them with...


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Mr O said:


> Interesting stuff indeed.
> 
> My 'in cup taste' improved quite noticeably when I went from SJ - steel to Royal - Ti
> 
> hmm... Now should I be testing some steel ones. Probably not as I've not got 10kg + of beans to season them with...


That is more than likely down to burr size and geometry of burrs than steel v ti


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Dylan said:


> @DaveC
> 
> DaveC after reviewing the Zenith 65e reccomended to BB that they ship all new 75e grinders with the Ti burrs, because of in the cup performance... So there is most certainly a school of thought that suggests that.
> 
> Sorry if I misquoted you Dave. Think that was about right.


I said it was better, but this could be to a slight difference in burr geometry over the standard burr, certainly the grind settings were different, the grinding was faster....To my mind if they could be supplied and the grinders sold at the same price as standard burrs, were the same burrs as used in the mythos, then the reassurance was they had to be decent burrs. *Also it seemed better for the end consumer*, as the burrs will retain peak performance for twice as long as standard burrs. Note I mean, "peak" performance not max burr life....two very different things.

I guess people have to read my review and decide if the grinder is for them or not....I liked it and for the price thought it was a good deal. It's also super easy to clean and a clean grinder produces much nicer coffee than one that is such a PITA to open, that you never clean it. However, I understand there are a few people on here who dislike the fact I review with a choice comment always available. I'm independent and review as I find, purely to benefit the community. I have no hidden agenda and if people want to buy the grinder great, if they don't, fine. If they think standard burrs are as good and can find the grinder a little cheaper....then that's their choice.


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## CamV6 (Feb 7, 2012)

I've had two mazzer majors, one with titanium burrs and one with standard

All I can say is I generally preferred the shots I made with the standard burrs. Seemed to be to produce a slightly softer and more rounded flavour in the cup with less brightness and more subtlety


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

No need to defend yourself Dave, I know you have had to in the past but just calling up your experience in this particular case.

So I guess the takeaway is that these Burrs seemed better to you, but that is not necessarily due to the Ti coating, and may not apply to other Ti burrs.


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## Terranova (Feb 15, 2014)

Comparing the output between TiN coated burrs vs not coated burrs makes only sense on exactly the same grinder.

Other error sources have a much bigger impact i.e alignment parallelism.

If there is a difference of some hundreds of a mm in parallelism, then it would be like comparing apples with oranges.


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## Mr O (Jan 14, 2015)

Mrboots2u said:


> That is more than likely down to burr size and geometry of burrs than steel v ti


Thats what I always thought. But after chatting to Tony yesterday, I realised there might be a difference in the cup between Ti and standard steel...


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Mr O said:


> Thats what I always thought. But after chatting to Tony yesterday, I realised there might be a difference in the cup between Ti and standard steel...


Different burrs

Different Geometry

Different Grinder

Barista variance

Impossible to tell...







and all the above will have more day to day impact than the coating of the burrs...


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## dr.chris (Nov 13, 2014)

Have to think what TI is actually going to do for you. Its a lot harder surface than the steel. It is also probably a lot more inert although I dont think that should be an issue.

What does this mean? The blades may be sharper. It might allow a different design of blades and its going to wear differently. I don't know how easy it is to differentiate between what otherwise identical TiN coated blades are going to do for you against just a new vanilla steel set


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## evoman (May 13, 2014)

HG One have a table comparing the three types of burrs they offer or have offered (some 'arftermarket' TiN variety and the TiN versus regular Mazzer ones)

http://hg-one.com/the-hg-one-grinder/burr-sets/

and it certainly looks like there is no clear reason not to go with TiN to me. My ten year old saw that table today and said something like 'why would anyone not get the titanium - they must be more expensive' (they are not in the case of HG One).


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