DF83 Grinder – The DF64 Killer? 

The DF83 grinder is … well surprisingly pretty amazing. 

This long-anticipated elder brother to the DF64 is everything customers have been looking for. It feels far more premium, is ridiculously fast due to the 83mm burrs, needs next to no modding, and doesn’t require you to 3D print a bunch of stuff for optimal performance. 

The DF83 is definitive proof that this Chinese company listens to the feedback of its customers and is dedicated to designing the coffee grinder that its audience is looking for. 

To be completely honest up front, I was never much of a fan of the Turin DF64. While it took the coffee world by storm in 2021 as the ‘Niche Killer,’ it just looked too cheap to me. It had none of the elegance of the Niche, seemed to require a fair bit of modification for optimal performance, and was never even vaguely tempting for me.  

The DF83 coffee grinder however is another story altogether. This is a seriously impressive grinder at an incredible price. 

“Best grinder under $1000. Period.”

Lance Hedrick

DF83 Grinder

The DF83 is a serious piece of business. Its 83mm burrs make for a lightning-quick grind speed with great consistency, it is powered by a tank of a 550W motor, it is close to zero retention, and is best used as a single dosing grinder. It looks far more aesthetically pleasing than its predecessor and fixes many of the bugs and quirks that DF64 users found. 

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DF83 Grinder Review

Specs

DF83 Overview

Most coffee enthusiasts interested in the DF83 will be familiar with its younger brother the Turin DF64. The DF64 came out in 2021 and had massive appeal as a cheaper alternative to the Niche Zero with flat burrs that could easily be interchanged. Like the Niche, the DF64 was single dosing, claimed to be close to zero retention, and certainly prosumer. 

However, users of the DF64 found various quirks and issues. While it could be a truly great grinder (particularly with the SSP unimodal or multipurpose burrs), it often required some modification for top performance. In addition, a whole industry of 3D printed parts and accessories popped up on Etsy which were needed again for top performance. 

The DF83 coffee grinder is the answer of the Chinese company Turin to the many questions and concerns of their customers. 

In short, the DF83 is superior in every possible way to its predecessor. It looks and feels premium, is far less messy to use and seems to require next to no modification. The only constraining factor at present is the lack of alternative 83mm burrs on the market. However, it seems that this will be remedied shortly. 

Aesthetics of the Turin DF83

One of the first things many have observed about the DF83 is that it just looks and feels miles ahead of the DF64. In fact, even the box it comes in looks far more premium and in line with other prosumer coffee products. 

The DF83 grinder has an aluminum body with an anodized paint finish. At present, it is available in black and white. It still shares the basic DNA of the DF64 design but has far more elegance and class. Some of these aspects include a nice wooden top that goes on top of the bellows, a far nicer power button on the side, a longer grinds chute, the removal of the plastic panel in the middle of the DF64, and a nicer-looking grind adjustment. 

To put it simply if bluntly, the DF64 looked and felt cheap, and the DF83 looks and feels premium. While the Niche Zero grinder looks elegant like a kitchen appliance, the Turin DF83 looks premium in an industrial sort of way similar to a La Marzocco.​​ This is the sort of grinder that wouldn’t look out of place next to your Fellow Stagg or Linea Micra. 

Burrs of the DF83 Coffee Grinder

The DF83 of course gains its name from the impressive 83mm burrs housed within it. At present this grinder can be purchased with either the standard Italmill burrs or SSP High Uniformity Burrs (for a higher price). 

The first thing to note off the bat here is that 83mm burrs plus a 550W motor equals a remarkably quick grind. This is simply an exceptionally fast grinder as any of the videos show. 

Now the burrs themselves are nothing to write home about. As any owner of the DF64 will tell you, the strength of the Turin grinders is the ability to easily change out burr sets. So many owners of the DF64 ended up with SSP burrs which produced a far nicer brew than the standard Italmill 64mm. 

At present, the options for 83mm burrs are fairly restricted. On purchase you can choose the SSP HU burrs for some $350 more, however, many users would prefer an SSP MP option. Mazzer has also produced a set of burrs that fit the DF83 grinder but these too are not quite what many users and committed hobbyists are really looking for. 

So at present, we recommend simply opting for the standard Italmill Burr set. They are still a reasonable burr set and in the next 6-12 months the Korean company SSP will likely release a unimodal multipurpose 83mm burr set. There is certainly already demand for more options, so I am fairly confident that better alternatives are on their way. 

Because of the interchangeability of the burrs, it is hard to comment on the grind consistency and the effect on extraction. The size of the burr does help with better grind particle consistency and overall its grinding ability seems to be superb. Similarly, although some dislike the declumping of the DF83, many others find it to be a significant improvement from the DF64 grinder.  

DF83 vs DF64

Basically, the DF83 coffee grinder is superior in every possible way to its predecessor. In addition to the above changes, the DF83 also has newly designed bellows for less popcorning, and a redesigned longer grinds chute for less mess (a common complaint with the DF64 coffee grinder). The hideous bean dial indicator of the 64 has been removed. The DF83 is also considerably bigger than its younger brother and just feels more premium overall. 

While we wouldn’t necessarily recommend upgrading from the DF64 to the DF83 grinder, if you are deciding between them then it should be a no-brainer. True there are better burrs available for the Turin DF64, but that seems likely to change in the near future. 

The DF83 is simply a powerful, ergonomic, superb grinder. It demonstrates a company that listens to its customers and that is concerned with excellence. 

DF83 Grinder- In Summary

In summary, the DF83 grinder has excelled my expectations in almost every way. Although I wasn’t a fan of the DF64, the DF83 is simply a far superior grinder, a grinder worthy of the name prosumer. 

This is a great flat burr grinder with good build quality, exceptionally fast grinding, and good customer service, all at a price that is unheard of for an 83mm burr grinder. If you like the DF64 you will love the DF83 coffee grinder. If you didn’t like the DF64 then the DF83 is still worthy of your consideration as a vastly superior model.

So overall very impressed with the Turin DF83, in looks, performance, price, and quality, this is a grinder that the home specialty coffee market needs.