I tested the revered Mazzer Philos, and it’s the ‘last grinder you’ll ever buy’
The Mazzer Philos is, hands down, one of the best coffee grinders you can buy. Heck, I’d even go so far as to say it’s the best coffee grinder I’ve ever used.
However, it’s also mighty expensive. At almost $1,500, the Philos is the grinder for serious coffee enthusiasts, and I’m not sure who else. If I could keep one grinder in my kitchen for the rest of eternity, it’d be the Philos. Even so, I don’t have $1,500 to spend on a coffee grinder, and I don’t really know anyone who does.
If money isn’t a problem for you, then you won’t be disappointed by the Philos. It offers beautiful Italian craftsmanship, premium materials, and vertical 64mm stainless steel Mazzer I200D burrs. What’s not to love? If you want all the details, read this Mazzer Philos review.
Mazzer Philos review: Cheat sheet
- Who is it for? Serious coffee lovers with money to burn
- What does it do well? It’s the ‘be-all, end-all’ of grinders
- What does it cost? Look away: $1,495 / RRP of €995, converts to around £900
- What are its weaknesses? I know premium products come with premium price tags, but this price is just unrealistic for 99% of the population
Mazzer Philos review: Specs
Mazzer Philos review: Price & availability
If you couldn’t tell from the photos, the Mazzer Philos is a premium grinder, with a premium price tag to boot.
You’re looking at an eye-watering $1,495 from Mazzer U.S. or €995 (converts to around £900) from Mazzer in the U.K.
This makes the Philos the most expensive grinder I’ve ever tested — but it’s also the best (electric) grinder I’ve ever tested. If money is no object and you want to buy your last-ever grinder, I wholeheartedly recommend the Philos.
However, most casual coffee drinkers might want to check out alternatives. $1,500 for a coffee grinder is simply out of reach for most people. In that case, I’d recommend checking out the Baratza Encore ESP ($199), Varia VS3 ($299), Eureka Mignon Specialita ($699), or the Comandante C40 MK4 hand grinder ($329).
Mazzer Philos review: Design
The Mazzer Philos is truly a work of art. It looks somewhat reminiscent of the Acaia Orion ($950) and the Acaia Orbit (which I haven’t technically ‘reviewed’, but I have used thoroughly). These are compliments of the highest degree, as Acaia gear is beautiful enough to be exhibited in a museum.
The Philos is no different. It’s beautiful, with high-quality craftsmanship and groundbreaking design. No stone has been left unturned here: it’s got a brushed black metal or silver metal exterior, with a polished silver hopper and a magnetic silver catch canister. Hearing the canister click into place every time I used the grinder was so satisfying.
The stepped grind adjustment dial is smooth and a delight to use. You don’t have to use any manpower to get it down to the finest grind setting, and it’s not tight at all.
After you grind your beans, you can use something called a “Dose Finisher”, which is basically just a cylindrical poker that you put inside the chute post-grind to remove all leftover granules.
I genuinely have nothing negative to say about the Philos’ design: this is a marvellous piece of tech that will look perfect on any home coffee setup. It’s surprisingly compact — just six inches wide — and you can remove the hopper if you need to slot it under low-lying cabinets.
Mazzer Philos review: Grind adjustment
Although the Philos is a stepped grinder out of the box, you can easily switch it into a stepless grinder. For beginners or those who prioritize convenience over precision, I’d recommend keeping it at its standard stepped design.
Using the Philos with a stepped grind adjustment is the simplest way; you literally just twist the dial to whichever ‘click’ suits your brewing method, and you’re good to go.
If you have a solely stepless grinder, like the Eureka Mignon Specialita, it’s sometimes difficult to alter the grind between markedly different brew types without wasting a fair amount of coffee in the process. If your household has varying brewing methods — for example, if one person prefers espresso and the other drinks only French press — it can be really frustrating to have to dial in your beans after each use. With a stepped design, you can just readjust to the previous click number.
To switch to a stepless design — which will give you more fine control over your grind — simply remove the pins at the back of the grind adjustment dial. As I’ve already said, this is a really straightforward and non-permanent process, so don’t feel pressured to stick to one design. Most premium coffee enthusiast grinders have similar functionality, so although this design is expected on a $1,500 grinder, it’s also nice to see.
Mazzer Philos review: Performance
The Mazzer Philos is an excellent-looking grinder with equally excellent performance. There’s no beating around the bush here: if you want to get your last-ever grinder, it’s got to be the Philos. On top of being easy to use, it has enviable uniformity, very little retention, and minimal static.
Ease of use
As you might’ve guessed from the ‘Grind adjustment’ section above, the Philos is beyond easy to use. Some prosumer stepless grinders can be quite frustrating to use if you regularly switch between brewing methods or beans. As the Philos can be stepped or stepless, this issue is nonexistent, but you get similar performance.
All you have to do is weigh your beans — ideally, using one of the best coffee scales — and put them in the hopper. Then, you press the on switch, and your beans are ground. It’s really that easy.
Static & clumping
There was a little clumping when testing the Philos, but nothing extreme or that a WDT tool wouldn’t be able to fix.
Here’s a photo of clumping when grinding espresso-fine.
As you can see, there are a few small clumps to the left of the image, but, for the most part, this is a clean grind that’ll produce an excellent coffee.
Static was also minimal: take a look at this photo of the catch canister after grinding.
You can see a small rim of grounds clinging to the side of the canister, but other than that, the static was mostly nonexistent. When I was grinding for my uniformity and retention tests, I was pleasantly surprised by how clean my hands were.
Uniformity
As with all grinders I test, I put the Philos through a series of uniformity challenges. I ground medium-roasted beans to espresso-fine, fine, and so forth, all the way to French press-coarse. Then, I sieved the grounds using my Kruve coffee sifters, $89 on Amazon.
You want to see large jumps: 0% to 100% is the optimal metric here. If you see, for example, 5%-30%-50%-80%-100%, that’s a non-uniform grinder and will result in a poor coffee. Espresso and pour-over require particularly uniform grinds, so the water doesn’t get clogged or pour too quickly.
|
Grind size |
300μm |
500μm |
800μm |
1100μm |
1400μm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Super fine – 0 |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
|
Fine – 20 |
5% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
|
Medium fine – 40 |
0% |
10% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
|
Medium – 50 |
0% |
0% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
|
Medium coarse – 65 |
0% |
0% |
30% |
100% |
100% |
|
Coarse – 80 |
0% |
0% |
0% |
90% |
100% |
As you can see, the Philos has enviable levels of uniformity. The jump from 0% to 100% at click 50 is ideal, meaning that this grind will produce a technically perfect pour-over. Similarly, the 5% to 100% jump for espresso will create a gorgeous, balanced espresso with no burned or weak notes.
I can’t fault the Philos: Mazzer’s burrs are famous for a reason, and the reason is right here.
Retention
I also put the Philos through a series of retention tests. I weighed out 20g of coffee beans with my MHW-3BOMBER Cube 2.0 coffee scale, then ground them to espresso-fine. After, I used the chute knocker to remove any grinds stuck in the chute.
For the last test, I used the ‘Dose Finisher’ accessory, just to show you how well it works. As you can see, the Dose Finisher resulted in literally zero retention.
|
Weight before grinding |
Weight after grinding |
Retention |
Average retention |
|---|---|---|---|
|
20g |
19.6g |
2% |
– |
|
20g |
19.9g |
0.5% |
– |
|
20g |
20g |
0% |
0.8% |
This is the lowest-retention grinder I’ve ever tested (Baratza Encore ESP: 1.6%, Breville Dose Control Pro: 2.1%, Comandante C40 MK4 2.7%), and I recommend it completely if you want to get every last granule out of your burrs.
Mazzer Philos review: Storage & maintenance
As I said in the ‘Design’ section, the Philos is surprisingly compact. It’s just six inches wide, and while, yes, it’s 14 inches deep and 14 inches tall, you can remove the hopper to fit under low-lying cabinetry.
Cleaning is straightforward, too: like other grinders, just don’t get it wet. You can use a cleaning brush to clean the grounds off the body. The only annoyance I have is that sometimes ultra-small grounds can get trapped between the magnetic silver panel and the metal body, but this is just a nit-pick. You can easily look past this.
If you want to clean the burrs, Mazzer recommends removing the magnetic back plate and taking out the burr carrier. Clean with a brush, reassemble, and you’re done.
Surprisingly, Mazzer only offers a 12-month warranty on its grinders, which is markedly less than Comandante’s lifetime warranty on its Martensitic steel burrs.
Mazzer Philos review: Verdict
As I’ve said many times throughout this review, the Mazzer Philos is for serious coffee lovers. This is your “last grinder” — in that once you have it, you won’t want to buy another one again, because this one is so perfect.
Or it’s your “last grinder” because once you’ve bought it you won’t have enough money left to even think about getting another one. $1,495 is a hefty price tag for any piece of tech, especially for one that only does one thing. I’m so conflicted, though, as the Philos truly is worth it for some serious coffee enthusiasts. This is a premium grinder, in every sense of the word.
The Mazzer Philos is what it is, and it’s not ashamed of it: the grinder to end all grinders. I’m not sure who else might be able to drop $1.5k on a grinder, but for serious enthusiasts, this is the ultimate piece of coffee tech.
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