What it is
Seasoning means running coffee through new burrs until their behaviour settles. Fresh flat burrs are razor-sharp and shatter beans, which creates excess fines. Use dulls the edges to a durable sharpness and improves the distribution 1:33.
Evidence Lance Hedrick cites
- Lance Hedrick cites Dr Mark Al-Shemmeri's EK43 data. The first 5 kg brought a drastic drop in fines and moved the median particle coarser at the same setting, with smaller changes at 10 and 15 kg, minor by 20 kg and flat after that 3:36 3:04.
- In the same data set, Mazzer Super Jolly burrs fitted to a Fellow Ode Gen 1 also changed most around 5 kg 6:39.
How much coffee it takes (as reported)
| Grinder / burr | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Modded Baratza Vario (Ditting steel) | about 12 kg before shots improved | 18:22 |
| Turin DF83 stock burrs | kept improving for about five months, then plateaued | 12:30 |
| LeBrew (78 mm) | stopped improving after about 5 kg | 15:02 |
| SSP multi-purpose (78 mm) | kept improving to about 7 kg, and one set took about 15 lb to settle | 15:02 |
| Mahlkönig X64 SD | 5 to 10 kg, maybe 10 to 12 to stop making so many fines | 7:10 |
| SSP Brew v2 (102 mm) | about 27 to 28 kg to reach their best | 24:25 |
| Ditting steel 54 mm in a DF54 | quite a lot, then very good | 14:31 |
| Bentwood 63 | touch point moved from 70 to 60 µm with seasoning | 3:02 |
Rules of thumb
- Bigger, sharper burrs need more seasoning. An 83 mm set needs far more than a 55 mm one, and small cone grinders such as an Encore may need little or none 10:48.
- Tight-peak, low-fines burrs, the ones sold on clarity and intense acidity, tend to need more seasoning 10:15 6:09.
- Because the grind drifts coarser at any given number as burrs season, expect to re-dial a new large flat-burr grinder from session to session until it settles 8:45.
- It only helps if the grinder is also clean and aligned 10:16.
How to season
Use cheap, dark, low-density coffee at a medium setting rather than very fine. Spread it over days so you don't exceed the motor's duty cycle, and ventilate the room. Lance Hedrick doesn't recommend rice because it can harm the motor 10:16. Dense, under-developed coffees at several RPMs also double as a stall test 14:13. Fitting a hand-grinder burr into an electric grinder's collar speeds up seasoning 5:01.
Pre-seasoned burrs
Manufacturers could pre-season by tumbling or sandblasting but usually leave it to the customer 2:04. Pre-seasoned burrs (Zerno, Kafatek) are a convenience 16:21, but even those benefited from further use to reduce static and open up the cup 28:56.
Limits
An Etzinger burr still made lots of fines after roughly ten pounds through it, so seasoning isn't a cure-all 50:38.
Timeline
Lance Hedrick's early reviews, from 2021 to 2023, mention seasoning as a practical step. In March 2024 he made a full case that seasoning is real and no myth, using the particle data above 1:33.
James Hoffmann's view
New burrs cut less efficiently, and James Hoffmann noticed cup quality improve over time even on partly pre-seasoned burrs 2:04. Before testing the original Fellow Ode he ran 1.5 kg through at the finest setting and then re-zeroed 11:53. Inconsistent early flow on a new hand grinder may be the burrs still seasoning 20:05.
Daddy Got Coffee's view
Daddy Got Coffee seasons with a couple of kilos before testing 5:10 5:39. His Timemore 078S needed about 5 kg, as 2 kg wasn't enough. The Pietro took 3 to 5 kg and was muddy and astringent until then. SSP Brew burrs took a lot, SSP Cast V3 settings moved markedly finer after 1 to 2 kg, and a Weber Key improved over about 5 kg 5:12 14:57 14:22 10:11 12:19. When a new clarity grinder seems muddy, the cause is usually burrs that haven't seasoned yet 10:46.
Kyle Rowsell's view
Seasoning wears down burr imperfections as coffee passes through, so it depends on throughput. Someone who only brews filter needs far longer than an espresso drinker 9:12 7:03. Kyle Rowsell's uncoated Italmill set in a DF64 needed 10 to 15 lb 9:12. Forte BG burrs in a Vario+ took about 10 lb before shots settled 11:57, and Timemore Sculptor 078S burrs gave astringency and channelling until about 10 kg (two hours of grinding) went through 13:51. These sit in the same range as Lance Hedrick's figures.
The Coffee Chronicler's view
Careful alignment, with the burrs barely touching at zero, and seasoning together improved a set of LeBrew burrs a great deal 8:11.
Sprometheus's view
Sprometheus is the most sceptical of the creators. People define seasoning differently (oiling the chamber or wearing sharp edges) and claim anything from 1 lb to over 30 lb 0:00. In his 2022 test, seasoned and new burrs extracted within 0.14% of each other for filter, the new burrs came out roughly 0.5% higher for espresso, and the sieve results were almost the same 2:05 4:38. The seasoned set made slightly more ultra-fines, perhaps because worn edges crush where new ones cut 6:10. New burrs did grind coarser at the same number, so he went about four notches finer 3:05. After about 6 lb through a Lagom P64, shot times and yields became very consistent and extraction rose by more than half a percent, yet the taste barely moved 5:41. He agrees with Lance Hedrick that new burrs grind differently, but gives seasoning less weight in the cup.
European Coffee Trip's view
Barista Alan says fresh, sharp burrs extract less and suggests about 3 kg to season 6:12. About 2 kg was enough for new burrs in a Victoria Arduino Mythos MYG75 6:11, and a café's Mahlkönig E80W was considered fully seasoned after thousands of shots 7:47. That is close to Daddy Got Coffee's couple of kilos.
Brian Quan's view
Denis Basaric of Kafatek explains that a fresh PVD coating is slightly rough and makes more fines until it smooths over a few pounds. Once it has, the same shot needs a finer setting 12:49. That fits Lance Hedrick's note that the grind drifts as burrs season.
For Notchbook
During the first few kilograms on a new grinder or new burr set, pinned settings will drift coarser. A note or a "new burrs" flag would explain why a setting that worked last week now runs fast.
Summarised in our own words from the creators' videos, with every point linked to the moment it comes from. Notchbook isn't affiliated with or endorsed by any of these creators, so please watch the originals for full context. Sources
Keep reading
- Burr alignment
- Astringency
- Conical vs flat, and burr geometry
- Grind size and extraction
- Particle size distribution and fines
- Retention, static and RDT
- Slow feeding and RPM
- Zero point and grinder scales
- Grinder workflow: single dosing, WDT, RDT, purging and storing beans
- Troubleshooting: what to change when a cup tastes wrong
Want new Notchbook builds first? Join the beta on iPhone or Android.
Notchbook is a free app that remembers the grind setting that worked for each coffee, grinder, brew method and filter paper, and keeps a journal of every brew. Get it free on Google Play. The iPhone app is coming soon. More about Notchbook.