Transcript

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from my time on youtube i have seen a
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ton of people buy into the benefits of
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single dosing even on grinders that
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aren't necessarily meant for it luckily
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because of that uptick in popularity
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there's now a few new single dosing
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grinders coming onto the market at more
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reasonable consumer level price points
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today we'll be looking at one that goes
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by several different names and on paper
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it appears to provide undeniable bang
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for your buck
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[Music]
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[Music]
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the turin df-64 also known as the gio to
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64 is a chinese manufactured single
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dosing grinder
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this one is the turin df64 so that's how
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i'll be referring to it for the
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remainder of this video now because
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these grinders are manufactured in china
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the process of getting one here in north
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america can be a little bit long and
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difficult
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luckily there are actually several state
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side distributors that are stalking
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these grinders which makes the buying
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process not only quicker but also more
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confidence inspiring
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one of those distributors is espresso
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outlet and they were the ones who are
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actually nice enough to send us this
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unit for review so if you want to check
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these out i will leave a link to their
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storefront down in the description below
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starting off with build quality the
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df-64 has a surprising heft coming in at
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15 pounds this grinder isn't going to be
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rattling or sliding around your counter
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anytime soon
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the core of this machine is all metal
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giving it a good sturdy frame the motor
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is quiet and powerful and the grind
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adjustment felt nice and smooth through
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the large stepless adjustment ring
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the designers were clearly quite
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deliberate in investing the money where
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it mattered most and this machine has a
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good foundation because of it
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areas that clearly didn't receive a
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large chunk of the budget are the design
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itself cough cough
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the plastic dosing cup
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the portafilter forks and the vinyl wrap
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and branding that covers the whole
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machine as you can see i've lost a part
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of my turin logo in transit
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the decision to wrap these grinders
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allowed them to offer it in a variety of
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colors and likely also save them some
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money over brushing or powder coating if
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you don't like the look i've seen lots
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of people re-wrap it in a color of their
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choice or actually just completely
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remove the wrap and leave it as a bare
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metal appearance in terms of user
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experience i was left feeling as though
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the df-64 got me about 80 percent of the
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way there and they expected me to make
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up that final 20
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on my own through further modifications
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to the machine
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for example the large grind dial is
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great but there is no way to accurately
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see exactly what grind setting you're at
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which is an issue if you often switch
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between espresso and other brew styles
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there are some good designs for grind
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indicators out there but it's up to you
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to put one on
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i opted to use the included dosing cup
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with this grinder not just because
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that's my preferred workflow but also
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because these forks did a very poor job
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of holding a heavy portafilter in place
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even with the light plastic cup the fit
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was still not very confidence inspiring
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adding to the awkwardness of the forks
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is the fact that the power button is
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located directly below them making it
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tricky to press while trying to not
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knock down your dosing cup
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again someone with some modification
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prowess could probably design a better
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portafilter holder for themselves but
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the ones that come stock leave a lot to
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be desired
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other than those small quirks the df-64
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was actually pretty enjoyable to live
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with it's nice and quiet when in use
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grinds relatively quickly thanks to the
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64 millimeter burs
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is pretty clean if you use some rdt
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the available grind sizes easily cover
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from french press to espresso fine and
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it was able to keep retention under 0.2
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grams through the use of the bellows one
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difference between this grinder and
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other single dosers is that you're not
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going to be able to pour beans in with
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the burrs already spinning
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the df-64 has a lot of popcorning which
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necessitates the use of a permanent cap
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over the bellow's opening forget to put
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this on and you'll have a kitchen full
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of sharp bean bits
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you'll also want to give the bellows and
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shoot a regular cleaning as they tend to
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get quite dirty because of this
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moving on to the actual grinding
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performance the df-64 surprised me in
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one negative way and one positive way
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starting with the negative when i first
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started using this grinder there was a
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shocking amount of fines in my grounds
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now initially i chalked this up to
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either misaligned burrs or just plain
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crappy burs but after quite literally
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digging a bit deeper into the issue i
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discovered the source of the problem
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the silicone clump crusher at the top of
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the chute is far too stiff effectively
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creating a complete seal under anything
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less than full flow
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this is not only bad because it traps
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some grinds back but also because a
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large enough buildup of grinds will
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result in some of them re-entering the
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burrs and getting ground even further
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as you can see the grounds coming out
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with the last two pumps of the bellows
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was almost like icing sugar
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so i simply cut those fins so they were
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less obtrusive to the flow of grinds now
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i'm hearing that on newer versions of
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these machines that issue has been
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slightly resolved but not completely
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regardless after that small modification
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i was pleasantly surprised by the
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quality of grinds i was getting for the
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price this grinder was making some
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really good cups of coffee
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i opted to just spec the standard burrs
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out of curiosity and for the price point
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of that combination it's definitely
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punching above its weight class now of
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course you could opt to spec some more
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specialized ssp burs in this setup at
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the time of purchase or even further
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down the road because of how easy it is
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to actually get into this machine
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but that would start to push it up into
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a price point with some pretty serious
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competitors the beauty of the df-64 is
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it gives you a really solid foundation
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and leaves you with a choice as to what
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you want to do from a workflow and a
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burst perspective now this can be either
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a positive thing or a negative thing if
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you just want the most easy to use
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grinder straight out of the box then the
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df-64 might not be for you the port
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filter holder barely works the power
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button is awkward there's no grind
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indication and there really are some
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internal tweaks that should be made to
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have it perform its best
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but if you're someone who's not afraid
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to flex your creative muscle and get
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your hands a little bit dirty then
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you'll find yourself with a grinder that
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performs well above the price that you
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paid for it the df-64 offers a very
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sturdy foundation for you to then
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potentially modify and tweak to your
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liking and there are already tons of
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online communities based around doing
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exactly that offering solutions for the
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dial indicator portafilter holders clump
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crushers even anti-popcorn devices you
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just have to go and find them
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if you want to check out this grinder
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again i will have it linked down in the
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description below if you've enjoyed this
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video please leave us a like and even
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consider subscribing if you want to see
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some more like it in the future thanks
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for watching and i will see you in the
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next one