Mazzer Super Jolly

The Mazzer Super Jolly is probably the most used grinder in coffee outlets. Either as a main grinder or a back-up grinder for high output locations. I liken it to the mid-point of the coffee grinder solar system, its what everything else is judged by. When evaluating a different grinder people will ask 'How does it compare to the Super Jolly?'. Mainly because everyone has seen or used a Super Jolly.

And for good reason. It really is a a workhorse of a grinder. It wont let you down. Parts are easy to come by and every coffee technician worth his salt has good knowledge of a Super Jolly.

First thing we noticed is how well Mazzer pack the grinder and hopper in its box. The hopper cracking is the biggest complaint when shipping grinders. We've never had a Mazzer hopper crack on us, no matter hard couriers throw the box around..!

As for setting up the Super Jolly it really is Plug & Play. Set the grinder up next to your machine near a standard 13 Amp plug and plug it in.

The default grind setting is pretty accurate too. We set it to the default arrow and got good results straight away. We ended up turning about 1 minute finer and that was perfect, just turn the lock-in screw and it wont budge. As the room warmed up and and we noticed, especially if your near cooking kitchens, you will need to turn it about 2-3 minutes finer to compensate for the increased humidity.

The movements to adjust are very small but they make a noticeable difference. When we set it up in 'ideal' conditions, low humidity and about 19c it was extracting perfectly (55ml in 25seconds). As the humidity rose we adjusted the grind finer to compensate, then next morning with the grinding setting still in the 'humid' position, the extraction time blow out to 50 seconds and that was only a 2 minute turn of the grind setting.

The Super Jolly looks and feels well made and solid. The doser handle feels solid to use, although it does occasionally seem pull air then catches the dosing mechanism again. The ground coffee look nice and fine with only the smallest amount of clumping.

The one complaint I would make of the Super Jolly and is true of all the Mazzers is the doser. When you pull coffee from the doser it tends to throw the coffee very noticeably to the left. You can compensate this by putting a slight angle on your portafilter and moving it as far left as the forks will allow but really this shouldn't be necessary on a grinder of the quality. I estimate for every 18g of coffee you dose into the portafilter you waste about 2g, about 10%. Which is great for coffee roasters but not so good for commercial business. To illustrate if you go through 10kg a week I estimate you will waste about 1kg of coffee.

Of course the solution is to sweep up the spilt grounds and throw them back in the doser. But if you have any pride in your coffee and coffee making this doesn't cut it. What if you sweep up some foreign objects and they go into your coffee! Not too mention the staling process may have begun on the coffee.

But overall I highly recommend the Mazzer Super Jolly. If you were looking for alternatives to the Mazzer I would also highly recommend the Anfim Caimano. A fantastic grinder with a superior dosing mechanism. But that's for another Blog time.

To view and buy the Mazzer Super Jolly visit CoffeeHit.co.uk