The Mazzer Super Jolly V Pro – an iconic grinder used for decades by baristas all over the world, including former World Barista Champion Pete Licata – has been completely re-engineered to fit the needs of modern coffee community.
With a unique style, distribution in 90 countries, and more than 70 years in the coffee business, many experienced baristas around the world can name a Mazzer grinder when they see one.
But the Italian grinder manufacturer is not one to rest on its grinders’ iconography and longevity. Over the past few years, Mazzer has rolled out a suite of new functions and technologies to bring its classic models into the modern era.
“Mazzer has built its success in offering grinders that behave flawlessly under any condition, year after year,” says Silvia Marcato, Product Manager at Mazzer.
“Reliability is not a fancy feature that adds a special touch on a product: it’s the promise of excellent, consistent, and safe working conditions from Mazzer to its committed baristas.”
The most recent grinder from Mazzer to be redesigned, may be, according to Silvia, the one closest to the heart of many baristas: the Super Jolly V Pro.
The new Super Jolly V Pro is a premium grinder for demanding small to medium sized cafés looking for top quality, reliability, best materials and impeccable design. Ninety-three per cent of the grinder weight comes from premium materials like stainless steel, aluminium, brass, and copper, to make it not only durable but also easy to recycle and eco-friendly.
“The Super Jolly V Pro is a tile of a mosaic that composes the Mazzer coffee grinding offering to the sector. But it’s also the most iconic grinder, and the barista community associates its shape with the high performance of Mazzer grinders,” Silvia says.
“The new design of the Super Jolly V Pro has brought this iconicity into the new decade, adapting to the everchanging requests of the sector. With the launch of this new model, after 50 years from the release of the first Jolly grinder, Mazzer reaches a new milestone.”
The Super Jolly V Pro embraces many of the updates seen in Mazzer’s top of the range models Major V, Robur S, Kold S, and Kony S, and combines them with a few other innovations in a condensed package.
The grinder has a recommended output of two to three kilograms per day, with peaks of one kilogram in an hour. Silvia says the cost-effective, low-to-medium-range grinder is often paired with its “bigger brothers Robur S or Major V” for a secondary coffee offering.
“The strength of Mazzer grinders is not only the fact they look great next each other, but they also feature the same seamless and simple user experience through the appliances,” she says.
“The new model is simple to use and beginner-proof. Anyone who’s starting a business in coffee will find a reliable friend in the Super Jolly V Pro.”
One of the new features in the Super Jolly V Pro is the Mazzer Grind Flow Control (GFC) system. The removable outlet insert, equipped with a steel wire damper, sits in the chute below the burrs to maintain consistent dose weight, reduce the electrostatic charge of grinds, and prevent clumping.
“As always, but even more in the last few years, Mazzer is devoted to enabling baristas to offer consistently excellent coffee beverages and improve the performances of their businesses,” Silvia says.
“Super Jolly V Pro is pointing at this scope, as it facilitates, for instance, the cleaning procedures with the opening of the chamber without loss of the regulation.”
She adds that Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity features – available on request with the grinder – even provide a chance for the operator to study the working flow of the café and the customer’s perception of the coffee.
“Moreover, the burrs were redesigned to speed up the dosing time and the grinder is structured to keep the grounds fresher and preserve the aromatic compounds. Super Jolly V Pro has a double cooling fan system, as for Mazzer, respecting the aroma and flavour of the coffee, as the roaster conceived it, is a dogma,” Silvia says.
“The Super Jolly V Pro is the world’s coffee grinder, with which any barista has come to work in their life, sooner or later.”
One such barista is Pete Licata, 2013 World Barista Champion and R&D Coffee Consultant for the Nomad Coffee Group. Pete tells BeanScene the original Super Jolly was the first grinder he used when he started working in the coffee industry at a Kansas café in 2003.
“It’s always been rugged, durable, and made pretty good coffee. It’s been around 50 years now and back then, we didn’t expect grinders to do as much as we do now,” Pete says.
“Mazzer has taken the approach of taking their classic line of grinders and updating them for the modern expectations of a grinder, while keeping the exact imagery of Mazzer intact.”
Pete has used many Mazzer grinders throughout his career, however, he did not work directly with the manufacturer until after publishing a review of the Robur S in 2019. Afterwards, Mazzer reached out to him for feedback on its line of grinders, including the Super Jolly.
“It’s the best grinder I’ve seen in that price/volume category and blows almost any other grinder rated for two kilos out of the water,” Pete says. “It’s an ideal grinder for decaf or single origins.”
He says nearly all of the doses he tested were within 0.2 grams of the target, “which is as accurate as you can expect to get on a regular basis”.
Once baristas have determined their preferred grind setting, they can easily track and set their own references with the adjustable Memory Track grinding collar. The Memory Track’s bottom ring adjusts grind size while the top ring displays numbers and markings for the barista to track.
“Typically, you’d have the numbers line up to random settings based on where the grinder’s tightened to. With this system, I found where the grind was great for my coffee and reset that as zero, so I know my starting point,” Pete says.
Another small but pivotal improvement is the ability to adjust the depth as well as height of portafilter holder, ensuring coffee grounds are centred in the basket.
The grinder can be set to automatically activate when the portafilter is inserted, or baristas can use the buttons on the control panel for one of three pre-set doses. Pete says the control panel is intuitive to use and navigate. It also tracks statistics and gives maintenance alerts, which thanks to its IoT connectivity, can be collated and analysed.
Alongside these improvements to functionality, Pete says Mazzer maintains a focus on preserving the flavour and aroma of coffee the grinder is putting out.
“I had some excellent tasting coffee off this Super Jolly. The acidity is much more vibrant and the clarity of flavour is very high. I was shocked by just how clean and clear the flavours are,” Pete says.
“It’s clear Mazzer has put a high degree of attention to detail and engineering precision into the design of the Super Jolly V Pro, as well as the rest of its updated line-up.”
This is seen not only in the news functions and features but internal design. For instance, Mazzer has drastically minimised grind retention by reducing the extra space for grounds to build up. He found as little as five grams from the top burr through the grinds chute.
“The tolerances are tighter, construction is more precise, and there are other tiny details you wouldn’t notice unless you’ve used these grinders. It’s becoming better and better with each new model Mazzer brings to the market,” Pete says.
“Mazzer clearly has a vision for what they want to put out, but they’re also listening and paying attention to what baristas want and are getting that hands-on perspective from people using the grinder in the field.”
The Mazzer Super Jolly V Pro will be distributed in Australia through Coffee Works Express.
For more information, visit www.mazzer.com or www.cwe.com.au
This article appears in the April 2021 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.