Owning the Mazzer Mini Espresso Grinder
The Mazzer Mini is compactly designed with small spaces in mind. Limited counter space should never decide the quality of your grind, and, by extension, your espresso. It’s surprisingly quiet, high-performance motor won’t get bogged down from high use in a cafe setting, but the short hopper is specially crafted for home. We find the Mazzer impressive and simple to use with its single electronic control being a timer dial that can be twisted to grind up to sixty seconds worth of espresso. The grounds are deposited into the doser, which can be adjusted to dispense anywhere from 5.5 to 9 grams into the portafilter with a pull of the dosing lever. Those grounds can then be easily tamped with the doser’s built-in tamper. Both the doser and its built-in tamper are designed with high speed scenarios in mind, where you want to be able to quickly grind and tamp for several drinks in a row. We love it around the office for this fact alone, and think it would be excellent in an entertainer’s home.
The Mazzer Mini’s 58mm stainless steel burrs are stepless, meaning they can essentially be adjusted infinitely by turning the collar in small amounts. Now, the Mini is capable of producing coarse or fine grinds, though, in the case of stepless grinders, we recommend commiting to espresso or other fine grinds in order to avoid serious dialing in before every use. The burrs are easy to access for cleaning, and calibrating them afterward is simple, too. If you like the Mazzer Mini, but need a polished finish to match your espresso machine, the Mini P is a good bet; or, if you want to drop the doser and gain some programmability, take a look at the Type A or B.
![Infinite Grind Settings]()
Infinite Grind Settings
The Mazzer Mini is a stepless grinder, meaning you can make adjustments in increments of your choosing, rather than a limited, factory-designated amount. This is ideal for dialing in your grind for better tasting shots of espresso on any prosumer machine it’s paired with. The Mini can grind for coarse brew methods, too, though we recommend using a separate grinder for those.
![Heavy Duty Motor]()
Heavy Duty Motor
The Mini was designed to handle a commercial load; the direct drive motor draws 250 watts and operates at 1600 RPM. It’s so quiet that when operating without beans you can barely hear the motor. As a safety feature, the Mazzer Mini has an overload switch that turns the machine off to prevent any damage due to foreign objects getting stuck in the burrs.
![Time-Based Grinding]()
Time-Based Grinding
The Mini is manual, and, as such, it’s a breeze to use. Turn the timer dial for up to sixty seconds of continuous grinding into the doser, which then dispenses a pre-portioned amount from 5.5 to 9 grams into your portafilter with the pull of the lever. This functionality is simple and easy to master in no time at all.
![Short Hopper Design]()
Short Hopper Design
The Mazzer Mini comes with a short bean hopper to provide more room to fit underneath your kitchen cabinets. The shorter design gives the hopper a height of just 4 inches when in place, but it still has a hefty capacity of 1 lb. The bean hopper is made of durable clear plastic, and can be removed while the beans are still in it to make it easy to swap them out.
