Mazzer Philos (2024)
Introduction
Mazzer is a world famous commercial coffee grinder company synonymous with tall hoppers and high throughput. The Mazzer Philos, however, is a step in the opposite direction. Moving with the trend of smaller prosumer-oriented single-dosers, the new Philos is Mazzers most recent addition to their grinder line up.
In this grinder spotlight, we'll take a first look at the Mazzer Philos, touch on its design, features, and few misses ahead of its commercial release.
Let's get grinding!
Table of Contents
Philos Overview
Long Traditon, New Waves
Founded in 1948, Mazzer is known for speciality coffee grinding equipment, and is revered as the de-factor option for cafe's around the world. With famous models such as the Mazzer Super Jolly, the brand is synonymous with large-footprint, high volume machines.
Enter the Philos. Announced at Host Milano in 2023, the Philos is the newest entry to the Mazzer single dose line up and is designed specifically for prosumer home baristas in mind. Contrary to the traditional tower hopper design, the Philos sports a horizontal cylindrical body, and a single dose hopper.
Single Dose
The Philos steps in line with similar single dose grinders with a small yet capable 60-gram single serve bean hopper. With an integrated locking slide that stops beans from entering the grind chamber, the Philos can be pre-loaded into the hopper, or even used safely without the hopper
64mm Flat Burrs
The centerpiece of the Mazzer Philos is a pair of vertically mounted 64mm flat burrs. 64mm flat burrs have become extremely popular in recent years, and vertically mounted flats have started to pop up with models like the Timemore 064S and the Zerno Z1.
Vertically mounted flat burrs help reduce retention - that is the ground coffee that gets stuck and remains in the grind chamber. Each Philos model is manually tested prior to shipping, and the alignment of the burrs is caliper-calibrated to ensure proper grinding and minimal retention.
Full Stepped Grind Range
The Mazzer Philos is capable of grinding for a full range of brew methods, from pour-over to espresso. With a stepped adjustment mechanism, the Philos aleviates the often confusing "where am I?" problem when dialing in a new coffee or brew method.
The Philos' adjustment wheel makes steps in 6 micron increments, and has a total of 145 steps. This means that the Philos has a grind range of 870 microns for support the various grind ranges.
The Philos can also be converted to stepless if desired, but requires a fair deal of tinkering to change the internal adjustment mechanism.
What makes the Philos Special?
Premium Build & Design
Of course the biggest draw to the Philos is the world renowned Mazzer brand. As their first flagship single-doser, the Mazzer Philos is inspired by the designs of the Mazzer ZM.
Built out of stainless steel and anodized aluminum, the Philos weighs in at 12.5kg (~27lbs), giving it a premium feel without becoming overbearing.
Elegant Touches
The premium build quality extends to a collection of elegant touches including an integrated dosing cup that magnetically locks to a catch arm, a knocker to release any caught grounds, and even a 'Dose Finisher'.
The Dose Finisher helps remove any and all excess grounds in the grinder. Inserting the finisher into an integrated chute and rotating it helps dislodge any remaining coffee, perfect for ensuring a fresh grinder for high end single origins.
Low Retention
As a result of the vertically mounted flat burrs, integrated knocker, and finisher, the Philos touts extremely low retention - less than a tenth (< .1) of a gram.
While many single dosers today tout the ability to be 'zero retention' the Philos does everything it can achieve that status.
Swappable Burrs
The Philos prototypes have been shipped with 2 64mm burrs - the 189.D burr and the pre-installed 200 burr.
Mazzer has spent a lot of energy in the recent year(s) designing and manufacturing their own 64mm flat burrs. This investment helps move Mazzer and similar products off the renowned but expensive Sung Sim Precision (SSP) burrs.
Spinning at 1600 RPM (1400 in EU), either burr will work for all brew methods. The 189.D burr is a bimodal burr with two types of cuts that produce more fines, and therefore more texture. The 200 burrs are unimodal with one type of cut, and product a much more clear and hopefully sweet flavor.
Aggressive Prebreaker
Prior to entering the grind chamber, the beans dosed in the Mazzer Philos run into an extremely aggressive single-blade auger.
Augers (or Prebreakers) are relatively new to home espresso. In essence, they look to break open the whole coffee bean prior to entering the grind chamber. This process helps control feed rate and lead to a more consistent grind.
The Philos comes with a single blade prebreaker that spins rapidly and functionally acts as a super-coarse burr. Whole beans are crushed into smaller pieces before entering the grind chamber. The Philos' auger is said to help feed the beans at the exact output rate, but that has yet to be confirmed.
Downsides of the Philos
Lidless Popcorning
The Mazzer Philos has some anti-popcorning at the top of the feed chamber. However, given the aggressiveness of the prebreaker, some coffee has still been reported to pop back out if the lid is not used.
Easy answer to this - just grind with the lid!
Vibrations
Early reports from the community point that public prototypes experienced some level of vibration. Mazzer has publicly noted this, and has stated that this will be resolved by production
Clunky Rear Adjustment
As elegant as the stepped adjustment mechanism is, there is one downside. A rear mounted adjustment dial makes the Philos difficult to adjust with one hand, and often means you are doing a semi-awkward reach-over-to-adjust motion. Nothing dealbreaking here, but perhaps a strange design choice.
Where To Buy
In April 2024, the Mazzer Philos has yet to be released to the general public. Although a few coffee reviewers have gotten their hands on the public prototypes, the Philos is not expected to be widely available any sooner than Summer 2024.
With an expected MSRP around $1200, the Mazzer Philos will stand next to similar premium 64mm grinders including the Lagom P64 and the Zerno Z1.
The Final Sip
Mazzer is an old dog that has proven time and time again that it can learn new tricks. It's latest strick is the Philos, a premium single doser grinder with vertically mounted 64mm flat burrs, and a lot to write home about.
If you are looking for your next upgrade and want to go with a brand that is know for quality and history, the Philos is a model to keep your eye on.
