So having been watching too many of James', Lance' and Kyle's videos whilst laid up with covid I got taken with this one from Lance. https://youtu.be/xoM93jK5BCE I have been aware of the Alicorn hyper alignment mod for the Vario for a few years, and even tried it myself on my 10 year old machine a few months ago with the now old ceramic burrs. I think its made an improvement, but I was still thinking about an upgrade, but to get similar quality, for both espresso and pour over it would be well over £500 especially as I don't have much room and like to single dose, so that rules out some of the ebay options. In reality it came down to the Niche. However the full upgrade to metal parts and burrs, in effect giving me a Forte (albeit with a 10 year old motor) for £100 seemed like a more cost effective way to upgrade (not quite removed the Niche itch, but my wife won't notice the new internals to the grinder, but would a complete new one!) I know that Lance pitches at the more affordable end of products compared to James, he promotes the Breville's a lot, but he does sound genuinely impressed. I single dose already with it and with the flapper mod and BDT I get consistently

@"simonc"#p12825 At least it won’t look like this when I open it up next week . this was first time open after 10 years! [URL=https://i.imgur.com/jkRSbxG.jpg][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/jkRSbxG.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

@"DavecUK"#p12837 on the Breville side yes agree. He’s clear on that.

@"simonc"#p12841 I think Breville own Baratza don't they?

Vario "Fortification" journey

simonc

At least it won’t look like this when I open it up next week . this was first time open after 10 years!

DavecUK

simonc I know that Lance pitches at the more affordable end of products compared to James, he promotes the Breville’s a lot, but he does sound genuinely impressed.

This is not really that surprising……………………!

simonc

DavecUK not surprising he promotes cheaper gear; promotes Breville, or is impressed with performance of single dosing the Vario vs the EK47? 😀

DavecUK

I believe the business connections run deep……

simonc

DavecUK on the Breville side yes agree. He’s clear on that.

Rob1

The alicorn hyper alignment stuff is a load of nonsense. It’ll get knocked out of alignment so quickly you’ll have to redo it every day, if it even manages to get through a single dose without drifting.

DavecUK

simonc I think Breville own Baratza don’t they?

simonc

DavecUK that I didn’t know. Ok that would explain it.

https://dailycoffeenews.com/2020/10/02/breville-acquires-us-grinder-maker-baratza-for-60-million/

Still interested to see if as would make sense an all metal internals holds alignment better than plastic and if alicorn or shims is best way to get best alignment. Either way it’s cheaper than a £600 niche. Time to experiment.

DavecUK

simonc that I didn’t know. Ok that would explain it.

it was a friend who pointed out that he always has “certain” product in the background of his videos…ultimately all these guys are there to make money, it’s their living/job. Which is fair enough…just nice to be aware o who pays the piper.

simonc

DavecUK agreed. He does say he gets paid by Breville for training in other videos but for Baratza says he was not paid. However who’s to say he isn’t pitching for more business in future.

However there are plenty of other happy people who have upgraded and see benefits and it makes sense there should be so I’ll see. I’m not expecting it to be totally transformative but should be an improvement on a what is already pretty good.

DavecUK

simonc Sounds like it’s worth trying, as long as it’s not too expensive.

simonc

DavecUK cheers. At the very least it’s got to increase the resale value 😀

simonc

Given some of the past feelings I’ve seen about the Vario, was in 2 minds about our posting but..

Wow. Now I know there are views on the naming of the adjustments and even if it works. Maybe I’m lucky and the Mahlkonig version had finer tolerances than later versions but fitting the new metal components and there was zero wiggle which meant zero need or possibility for aligning the lower burr carrier.

The upper burr screws in and again appears to be great accurate tolerance and I got clean wipe so I’m happy. I’ll check again and shim if necessary but the metal appears to be a great upgrade.

The steel burrs once aligned to touch point chucked out Turkish grinds they were so fine to the point I’ve backed off a 20 plus settings. Even then the first shot choked. A couple more (dialing in is quicker now) and it’s close.

They appear nice and even and I’ll update on the taste as I dial in.

But wow it’s slow. 18 seconds to 40 for 20g but hopefully it’s worth it.