Preferred flavor profile: Sey, September, h&s, hydrangea

Usage: Pour over only usually ufo or colum with this grinder

Great flavor separation taste for a hand grinder. Great clarity at the sacrifice of some body

Preferred flavor profile: Rounded sweet fruit notes (Melon and Lychee for example) and florals are usually my preference for lighter washed coffees otherwise I really enjoy interesting stuff like co-ferments from Hydrangea, B&W and Dak.

Usage: V60 with Abaca filter for pourover with either water straight from my RO setup with a remineralization stage at the end or a Perfect Water packet. ZP6 is also used for sprovers with a Uniterra Nomad.

Fairly "soft" and light flavor and body profile. I find myself calling ZP6 cups as similar to tea. I don't personally taste as much clarity or separation as other people do from this burr. 

A big strength of the ZP6 is being able to constantly grind finer without hitting that wall of astringency as early as many other burrs. After a hundred uses or so it is pretty easy to tell when you're close to a wide window to hit as much sweetness and acidity as you can before you start introducing those tannic notes.

This is usually my go to when I have some interesting washed coffees I would like to push or to use when I want to mute some beans that are a bit too overwhelming in funk or acidity. Even though I prefer something like the K-Plus burrs to the ZP6 I will always reserve about 15-30 grams of beans per bag for this grinder

Preferred flavor profile: I prefer floral and fruity coffees with a good amount of flavor separation. Am not against some flavors that can be considered "funky" or fermented, but do not enjoy it in larger amounts.

Usage: I find that once you get it in the right grind size(this of course is with my water), its much easier to adjust other variables such as bloom time, temperature or brew ratio. Most of the time when it is dialed in, I find that more often than not its very balanced and quite layered.

Preferred flavor profile: Prefer intense coffees with interesting acidity (Hydrangea El Velo, CGLE SL34)

Usage: Pourover w/Colum or Sworks. Slow feed and blind shaker, sometimes with melodrip lift. Using empirical water glacial mix.

Typically look for flavor intensity and separation first with interesting acidity. When leaning into sweeter coffees will use the Lebrew + Sworks, for more acidity use the ZP6 + Colum. Lebrew/sworks tends to be more forgiving but I find the cups are usually not as interesting / does not produce as clear of separation.

Preferred flavor profile: In my filter coffee, i look for cleanliness, acid, florals, sweetness, and balance. as such, my preferences on are on the light side of the roast level spectrum. there aren't specific tasting notes i chase, rather my favorite coffees are either excellent examples of their profile (region, process, varietal) or unique coffees with minimal off-flavors. terroir-focused processing methods are where most of my love lies, but process-forward expressions are fun as a treat and are enjoyed on occasion. some roasters i enjoy: datura, the picky chemist, substance, botz, glitch

Usage: 99% of my brewing experience is pourover (in the early stages of exploring espresso). i primarily brew on conical drippers such as the hario v60 (plastic + ceramic), alpha, and switch using abaca filter papers. water recipe changes, but is on the softer side of things (think holy water or aviary). my brewing ratio is typically 1:17-18 with 12g of input to 200g-215g of output. my primary recipes are 1. a 5x equal pours on a standard conical dripper (high flow rate, 30 seconds in between pours, targetting a 2:30-3:00 total brew time) and 2. a 50/50 hybrid recipe on the switch (switch open: 50% of water weight. at 0:45, close switch and add rest of water. at 1:45, open switch. targetting a 2:45 brew time). one thing to note is that my first brew of any coffee i receive is a full immersion brew (close switch, pour entire water weight, at 2:00 open switch). this serves as a calibration brew of sorts similar to cupping, but more drinkable as regular beverage.

These are medium-high clarity burrs with quite a forgiving nature. extractions can be pushed quite hard without introducing astringency to a large degree. at the same time, i have found the sweet spot of the grinder often be on the coarser side of the usable grind range (4-5 according to 1zpresso, i have found success at 3-5.5). what this means is the hit rate is relatively high on this grinder. this forgivingness comes with a downside: it can be difficult to dial in. within the usable grind range, most of the brews are going to be pretty good and it can be hard to figure out which direction to go. if flavors feel hollow or muted, go coarser. if acid dominates and the finish is super short, go finer. 4.5 seems to be a good starting place on my copy (borrowed from rasami).

Brews are high clarity while exhibiting the balance and harmony conical burrs are often associated with. what i mean by this is there is a good degree of flavor separation without an intense emphasis on acid or other characteristics; flavor notes are very clear, but not searingly so. this makes this burr very unique as the highest clarity conical burr i have experienced so far. brews are very enjoyable for those that enjoy high clarity, tea-like body, and balanced flavor presentations. this is not the final word on clarity and there certainly are flat burrs that push even further, but the trade off of the last 5-10% of clarity for a larger grind size sweet spot and harmonious flavor presentation is a reasonable one in my opinion.

One special thing to note is that this burr takes noticeably less effort to manually grind with in comparison to other handgrinder burrs.

Burr details: 1ZPresso ZP6 Special, bought on 02. November 2022

Preferred flavor profile: I value fruit and floral notes and especially complexity. I like if a coffee is multidimensional, so not just one single note but as you sip it evolves into different notes. Regardless I don't mind chocolate or spicy notes if they work well with the others. But I dislike any clearly burnt or ashy taste even in low amounts. I'm not that sensitive to astringency: I can taste it, but in small amounts it won't ruin the brew for me. I value clarity but ready to sacrifice some of it for additional complexity. I generally like more "traditional" coffees like washed and natural, but I also enjoy more processed ones occasionally.

Usage: I only brew manual pour-overs (plus Aromaboy, but that's just travel brewer). I'm mixing my own water for years now from 0 TDS water with added minerals. I usually on the lower end of water comp, I regularly change them, but it's somewhere in the 20 GH / 10 KH - 60 GH / 25 KH range. For grinding I usually hold the grinder in a roughly 30-45° angle.
My main recipes are Lance Hedrick's 2m bloom + 1 high agitation pour, and 4-5 multi-pour recipes. For Pulsar it's PocketScienceCoffee's recipe.

I think the general opinion about this grinder is roughly correct. It shines with light roasted beans and it has high clarity among hand grinders. It will highlight any off notes in the beans, be that fermentation or decaf process or darker roast. On some highly processed coffees I had really hard time to dial out the strong "processed note" (I like to use "horseradish" other people call it acetone). But generally the grinder aligns with my taste preference and for those beans it is fantastic. In some way it is cheat mode for acidity: it will ramp up the "gain" on it. It's like "bass boost" for acidity. Which makes a good beginner grinder for light roasts as you cannot really have a bad brew with it if you expect some bright, high acidity brew. It is not the best grinder if you would expect your brews low on acidity. It will find acidity even in "sweeter" beans. Also when comparing with other grinders this elevated acidity feels harsh many times. It is not clear when this your only grinder and/or if your other grinder is lower clarity. But when comparing to things like Kinu POB or Pietro Pro Brew the acidity presentation is just not that pleasant. And I was not able to dial out this without making the brew too watery. This won't make the grinder bad per se, but it is a limitation.

So I generally like it for light roasted beans. I don't think it's only good for washed, it play nicely with funky notes too. But I think it works better with "not artificial" notes. So washed and natural or even regular anaerobic play nice. But when you going into heavy ferment and infused it starts to get problematic. Also you have to be careful to not push decafs too much. In both case usually it helps to go down with ratio and lessen agitation.

Dialing in is easy in the sense that is has a wide "good" range. It's not easy in the sense that as with most high clarity grinder you won't really get into a "bitter" range when going finer. Instead at some point it will just taste muted. Which makes things hard if you start from the already muted point. While when going coarse you need to really go up to get really watery brews. So generally it's best to go coarser than expected and go finer there. I calibrated mine to have 0 at burr lock, and with that I mainly lives around 4.5-5.0 range for 10g doses, and 6.0-6.5 range for 20g doses for the recipes I mentioned above.

Burr details:48mm 1Zpresso ZP6 - purchased September 2023

Preferred flavor profile: I chase acidity, citrus and berry notes. I really enjoy florals as well. I find a lot of these notes in lightly roasted washed coffees. I avoid funk like the plague. 

Main roasters: Sey, September, Hydrangea, and now H&S.

Usage: I brew mostly pourover at this point. 18g in, 300 out in ~ 3 min. 

Water - basically Boston tap, which is quite soft.

The zp6 burr is fantastic burr for a very distinct style of pour over. It offers decent sweetness, nice acidity, and good flavor separation. 

Light roast is focus - it will pull out a bitterness in the roast if there is some

Washed coffee - able to highlight those nice notes that are subtler than the flavor bombs that naturals and other processing methods may have. If you brew non-washed, there's a good chance you're going to get a "funk" note. I'd describe this as boozy in a sense, like I've tasted some that remind me of when an IPA feels too boozy if that makes sense.

Burr details: 48mm 1Zpresso ZP6 Special (conical) (1 Nov. 2022)
Preferred flavor profile: Looking for: high clarity for the purposes of roast defects detection.

Prefer ("qualities"): high acidity throughout. Low / non-existent aftertaste, but if present, slight sweetness. No (low) body. No bitterness at the finish. Some funk, with a strong preference for that to be non-existent by the finish.

Prefer (tasting notes): lemons, limes, unripe green apples. 

Perceptive to: burnt marshmallow finish (i.e., roast - hurts my teeth). Papery taste.

Less perceptive to: peanuts / nutty qualities (quakers). Green / grassy / hay notes.


Usage: Ceramic v60-02, 30g dose to 500g / 510g water (1:16.6 - 17). Soft, filtered tap water (good water area). Cafec ABACA (orange) filters. 95 degree (Celsius) bloom, then downwards from there.

Slightly longer (1 minute) bloom. Mix between two pour (bloom + 2) and 3284, both with high physical agitation of the brewer. Fast pour (start brew with Bonavita at max capacity).

Despite the fact that I would recommend the ZP6 for most people, I fucking hate this grinder and the brews it makes. 

My critical issue comes with the fact that after brewing with it for so long, a consistent theme (across a range of green (i.e., processing method, origin, varietal)) was that the ZP6 would present an incredibly distracting papery note that was super prominent during the middle of a sip. I thought that this may have just been an issue with my grinder and my grinder alone (perhaps due to overuse / burr dulling), only to see the same issue present when others brewed with their ZP6.

The general presentation with the ZP6 I think is pretty much what everyone says it is: high acidity, low body, high "clarity". I don't think that the high clarity is actually as prominent as people say it is, it's definitely a jump up from a C-tier grinder, but it's not so intense that you're saying shit like "damn, this tastes like a cosmopolitan with a side of orange chocolate chip ice cream", but it's there. 

I think that the acidity presentation might actually be a bit challenging for some. People really like sweet coffee (for obvious reasons), and throughout its time as a daily driver, I never thought that sweetness was a quality that jumped out. It's all about the acid hit here, and for individuals who want that, it works.

I disagree with the general sentiment that "ZP6 good for washy and bad for natties". This is fine regardless of the beans you use. I think that in general, you're not going to get obvious indications if you fucked up, primarily because it's actually just easy to brew with. Think it's super forgiving with grind size, I found that anywhere between two numbers is actually a fully playable region.

It's easy to use, grinding is a bit slow, but with the grip and its overall lightness, it's easy to hold and easy to turn. Cleaning is also relatively straight forward - good reminder that the dial and bottom burr screw in the opposite direction to the catch-cup. I don't think there's a need to slow feed by turning this on the side - I tried with no noticeable change in brew quality.

A final point (which I think is relatively unnoted) is that the ZP6 gives you a really good idea about what you want next. You try it out and realise that you want something more blendy, Q2, Kinu, whatver. You want more clarity / acid presentation, Pietro. You want something sharper, SSP unimodal or whatever. You're happy with where your brews are at, don't buy nothing. It's a really nice piece of kit to direct yourself, and I think that's actually pretty valuable.

This is a pretty strong contender for BIS first grinder:

• Compelling price point.

• Reasonable presentation aligned with my interests / the interests for lots of home pourover enthusiasts (low body, up front acidity).

• Easy to use / maintain.

• Gives you good direction for the next addition to your gear.

I will never use the ZP6 again, hate this piece of shit.

Burr details: ZP6 

Preferred flavor profile: I always strive for juicy acidity and nuanced florals as my top 2 priorities in filter coffee, the more clarity the better.

Usage: V60 01 with abacas or Hario tabbed, 4 equal pours 12:200, 1/3 strength TWW at 92c. Faster flow rate, around 6-8ml/s and close to the bed for higher churn. After a 30s bloom, each pour begins as the water level reaches 1/4" or 1cm above the bed. Usually on settings 4.5-5.0 depending on roast level. 

No rdt or anything like that, but I do tilt the zp6 at a very slight angle.

The zp6 does a great job with delivering a lot of flavor intensity, good acidity, and quite a lot of clarity for its price point. It's most direct comparison would be SSP 64MPV2, but the zp6 generally has a slightly better body and the flavors are less "clinical." 

Most of my brews tend to live in the 18-20% range and 1.35-1.5tds. I tend to find this to be the best balance between flavor intensity and clarity, where higher tds "pushed" brews can sometimes lack a little nuance. 

While it can do espresso, I definitely wouldn't recommend attempting a traditionally timed "boomer" shot, and you may even struggle to achieve turbo timings of 13-17s. It does however produce really good soup shots, and I often enjoy UL coffees around settings 0.7-1.3 with an 18g dose and a ratio of around 1:4. 

The biggest thing that irks me about these burrs is also it's greatest strength. That laser focused clarity often makes naturals/honeys/anything even slightly process-y very generic and pulpy tasting. It's very quick to bring out "bin juice" in coffees that otherwise would be huge fruit bombs on a slightly more blendy burr. It's also very transparent on any sort of roast/ashiness, made me enjoy a lot of roasters a lot less after getting it, but for ultralight and some American light coffees, it does a wonderful job and I'm very happy with it. It functions as Shoebox Coffee's main QC grinder due to how easily it showcases roast defects, doesn't let us get away with anything sloppy. 

Burr details: 1ZPresso ZP6 S - Model: FGZ1P2-3402

Grinder(s) used: Mazzer Major

Preferred flavor profile: Sweet: Vanilla, Honey, Cream

Fruit: Peach, Lemon, Lime, Orange, White Grape, Pineapple, 

Other: Floral, Tea

I like my coffee fruity-sweet nestled in a bed of flowers. I don’t really like coffees that are heavy in florality without any other notes accompanying them. It is no surprise that my current favorite are Mejorados from the Putushio lot in Ecuador. The combination between the fruitiness of Finca San Pedro and the Florality of Finca Surya makes the Putushio lot an easy Top 10 in my books. 

As for my preference towards how these flavors are shown in the cup, I like them cascading. Like an orchestra where each group can shine at one point, while having harmony once they are all combined..

Usage:
<Pourover>

Fast Conicals: Timemore Turbo, Hario Alpha, CT62

Filter: Cafec T-90

Water: Pre/Post-min with 60ppm Aquacode or APAX Concenrates (Minimum of 6 drops, shared between the 3 concentrates. Ratio is coffee dependent)

Recipe: (I named it “60:40”)

12.5g : 200ml @92C

ZP6: +-4.5

37.5ml-> 120ml-> 200ml

Tbt: +-2:15

-> 1:3 bloom, duration depends on coffee, its age, and vibes (Yeet pour)

-> Second pour, pouring to 60% total brew water

(Slow spiral pours until water level is 1-2cm above coffee bed, which then I transition into pouring heavily, focusing on a small circle in the middle to agitate the bed)

->Third pour, pouring the remaining 40% brew water

(Same pouring structure as the 2nd, pour, but much gentler)

Other notes:

-> I tilt-grind almost at a flat angle (10-20 degrees if you guys want the measurement). Very slow process. 

-> (Optional) I then transfer the grounds onto a blind shaker, shake without the lid first to blow away any chaff, then I put the lid on to shake as usual once all chaff has been removed.

Flavor, in general:

It is very honest on its presentation, both towards the coffee and your brewing skill. It WILL tell you if the coffee was roasted or brewed badly. It is a double-edged sword that I find worth wielding.

I personally like to have this type of grinder as it reflects my general preferences. For example, in the audio hobby, I like to use “Boring” headphones like the Philips SHP9500 and IEMS like Truthear Hexa.

As I’ve said, it is Boring, but leaves a lot of room for you to tweak other parameters, much like the audio stuff I meantioned earlier, which I can EQ to fit my desired outcome.

For those that do want to have a more “blendy” profile, I did a side-by-side cupping and brewing where I ground at 5.0 and 2.0 with varying ratios (1:1, 1:2, 1:3, etc). I found the best ratio to be between 20-30% fine (2.0) grind and 70-80% usual (5.0) grind. It brought forth more intensity in the notes, while still maintaining its clarity.

Burr details: 1zpresso ZP6 (purchased 2024)

Grinder(s) used: Mazzer Major

Preferred flavor profile: Filter: I like sweet and balanced, especially with a smooth mouthfeel. I enjoy flavor separation, weird tasting notes, and interplay of different flavors and textures. I dislike bracing acidity, too much funk, astringency, and bitterness.

Espresso: Rich and traditional. Happy to have either pungent and strong or smooth caramel and nuts, as long as it's balanced. Light roast espresso usually tastes bad to me, but I enjoy soup especially diluted a bit.

Usage:
Pourover or soup. Diluted mineral water (1:3 or 1:4 with soft filtered tap water) that is mostly calcium carbonate with trace magnesium, probably 30-50 GH/KH after diluting. Usually grind on an angle to slow feed but it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference.

Good flavor separation but with a tendency to emphasize acidity and can bring out off flavors like woody or funky that need to be dialed out in other ways. Not sure it has more clarity than other good-quality conical filter grinders like the Casa 65CL, which are more forgiving with regard to the off flavors. Works best for "clean" coffees and outperforms other conical grinders on those coffees. Note that I do not have enough experience with high-end flat burr grinders to draw a comparison.

Burr details: ZP6 Special purchases 4/20/2025

Preferred flavor profile: Generally prefer fruit forward, sweet complex coffees. I enjoy a clean-ish cup with defined flavors but struggled with washed coffees which is partly why I bought the ZP6

Usage:
Daily Pourovers 95% of the time using:

- Timemore Crystal Eye Turbo with Cafe Abacas filters

- Timemore B75 with Kalita 155 filters

- Hario Switch with Cafec TH-3 filters

- Picopresso for SOUP

- Occasionally use Aeropress, Cafec Deep27, Greycano and Pulsar

Initially bought the ZP6 because I seemed to experience a distinct lack of enjoyment when it came to washed coffees.

I believed that the solution lay with higher extractions and pushing washed coffees more.

I felt the ZP6 would be able to do better than my K-Plus due to higher grind uniformity allowing me to grind finer and thus achieve higher extractions without astringency.

So my initial intention with the ZP6 was purely for very light washed coffees, while I would keep using the K-Plus for more processed or developed coffees

My actually experience was very different to what I expected.

The ZP6 provides a truly delightful level of flavor separation that I indeed did not experience with my K-Plus. This applied to all processes and for even fairly developed Omni/medium roasts.

I found myself using the ZP6 for everything with generally pretty good results. I found that the body, while indeed lighter and more tea-like, was still very enjoyable and could produce very juicy, silky smooth cups if I adjusted my brewing style.

What I also found what was that it did not at all solve my problem with washed coffees. I still struggled to enjoy most washed coffees even when pushed really hard with high EYs.

Most of them still tasted boring until I started buying better washed coffees and discovered which varietals I enjoyed most as washed coffees - such as Geisha and Wush Wush.

Those great washed coffee taste great on both my K-Plus and ZP6, so what I learnt from my ZP6 experiment is the importance of bean quality, roasting style and origin/varietal.

I still use my ZP6 when I want to really highlight the notes of a very special coffee, or to push certain coffees hard. But I equally use it for very funky Omni coffees while aiming for low EYs to again highlight certain qualities I like with those specific coffees.

Don't buy the ZP6 assuming it will solve another grinder's problems, and don't dismiss it because you don't want 'tea-like' brews. This grinder can really do everything pourover related as long as you have high quality coffee.

I dislike the catch cup and the slim base which makes it topple over VERY easily, but otherwise I'm a huge fan and use it for almost every coffee I buy.