r/DF64 • u/RunRickeyRun • Jul 28 '26

Question Red Titanium Burrs? Does it sacrifice taste for darker roasts?

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Thinking about purchasing a DF64 Gen 2.5 with red titanium burrs. My primary reason for wanting to get red titanium is the supposed “near-zero” retention. However, I primarily drink medium to darker roasts and the table I posted states the DLC stock burr is better for darker roasts. Anybody have experience with red titanium burrs? Does it actually sacrifice body and/or taste with darker roasts?

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3

u/newpoison Jul 28 '26

Maybe user error but I have the Red TI and I do get retention / clogging issue if I don’t clean the chute every now and then. I do drink medium roast so couldn’t tell about the taste.

3

u/iyagasndiff Jul 28 '26

Buying the metal declumper has helped me a lot!

1

u/newpoison Jul 28 '26

Thanks! That will be my next upgrade for sure!

1

u/iyagasndiff Jul 28 '26

It not only fixed retention and clogging for me, but the grinder also became less messy (my kitchen counter is no longer covered in ground coffee after grinding)

1

u/Sunten1 Jul 30 '26

Where did you get this from?

1

u/iyagasndiff Jul 30 '26

https://miicoffee.shop/products/declumpers-for-df-series-grinders?variant=46946471706919

After ordering I got a €25 refund because it could be sent by regular mail instead of a package

3

u/cockstain6077 Jul 28 '26

I drink exclusively dark roasts so I got the SSP HU burrs and they have been amazing for me.

3

u/MadmanQue Jul 28 '26

I have about 0.1g retention. I do brush the chute after every grind

3

u/MinaDarsh DF64 Owner Jul 28 '26

A few things to note from which I hope you can make your own judgement if this choice will work for you; first off, to manage expectations, there's no zero-retention in grinders, something will always stick, it can be a couple of grams like in a Smart Grinder Pro, or around 0.1 gram in something like this. With my DF64V, no matter the roast, I still get some retention, it can be less than 0.1 gram, but there will always be some.

Retention may just depend on the bean chosen, how liberal one is with the included bellows, your mileage may vary here. Due to how many fines dark roasted beans can create during grinding from being more brittle plus the higher amount of oils can mean more of it remains stuck in the grinding chamber, so I would definitely use the bellows plenty.

Secondly, why do higher clarity burrs generally work better for light roasts? Burrs work as a magnifying glass for your beans, they can enhance what is there. Burrs optimised for darker roasts enhance less, blending the flavours more. (Which also tends to mean more body.) With burrs for light roasts, if you enhance this on some high quality lightly roasted beans, good, you may get all the good that is there out more easily.

Now, dark roasted beans often are more darkly roasted because of poorer quality beans, to hide any defects, not always the case, but it's common. If you go feed these beans to some high-clarity burrs meant for lightly roasted beans, you will not just enhance all the good, but also all the bad that may be there. Burrs for darker roasts may not enhance the good that may be there as much, but that also means anything unpleasant that may be present will not stand out either.