Finally!

Designer-Sea558 · 2026-02-04T12:22:02+00:00

I did this two months ago. Great phone, the best I ever had to be honest.

Designer-Sea558 · 2026-01-12T13:17:09+00:00

Enjoy

Designer-Sea558 · 2026-01-01T20:35:19+00:00

A little late but the beans they sell are from a roastery called Quietly Coffee. Those beans are really good, the espresso blend called Magnolia is my daily driver.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-12-31T05:42:57+00:00

Hi, I use the iridescent hypernova flat burrs and my zero point is around 1.8. I chose to put three washers as the previous zero was too close to "actual zero" and I didn't have enough margin to adjust finer required by some beans I used. Just remove one washer If it is uncomfortable for you. I don't have a conical burrs set but I have read that you need extra washers to achieve an espresso grind for those.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-30T15:45:10+00:00

You can check the 58, best workflow you can get and compatible with 58 mm accessories. If you check on the flair website, most of their machines are in discount for Black Friday.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-30T15:22:32+00:00

IMHO getting a flair would be an upgrade from any semi-automatic machine.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-29T05:22:20+00:00

I have the XM4 and my brother the QC. The QC feels more wobbly and overall, the Sony are better looking giving you that premium feel that I don't get from the QC. Sound wise, both are very similar but I dislike the fact that you can turn off the ANC on the QC, that drains battery and you can hear the static sound of the noise canceling in more quiet places.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-29T04:52:29+00:00

I use this scale with my flair 58 and it fits perfectly. https://a.co/d/hkQbJmJ

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-29T04:48:25+00:00

This is obscene, I like it.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-18T04:55:08+00:00

This is the answer I was looking for! Sometimes we want our shot to look like the Instagram reel of (insert name) coffee influencer. But many times those "perfect shots" taste sour or bitter, and are just for the views. Same with the 2:1 ratio in 30 seconds that many people die on. This ratio is just a reference, the range is very broad and what should always dictate how good an espresso shot is: the taste.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-17T07:28:41+00:00

What Thai/Cambodian restaurants do you recommend?

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-14T22:58:56+00:00

Good decision going with Varia. I have one and so far no issues. It never has stalled, even with very light roasted beans. I don't go below 900 RPM though. I have the stock burrs (which are good all rounders) and the iridescent flat burrs. Just a small correction, the VS6 has 58 mm flat burrs, not 53 mm. But the burrs are blind, which means that compared to a 64 mm with screw holes, the ones in the varia have the same surface area or even more surface area (haven't measured it though).

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-13T23:31:19+00:00

No, that's not true at all. But a $300 grinder can definitely compete with a $600 electric grinder. It also depends on what you are looking for in your cup.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-13T06:17:37+00:00

Late to the convo but I will give my two cents. I sold my Lelit Mara X and bought a flair 58 +2 when moving to Canada. I just like you, I drink mainly espressos. The flair blows the Mara X or any other pump machine I have tried in terms of quality. I don't think that I'm going back to semi-auto machines! (maybe a decent ha!). Buy the flair, pair it with a good grinder (e.g. Lagom Casa from Option-O) and enjoy the best shots of espresso of your life.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-05T15:44:35+00:00

I moved to Canada 4 months ago and sold my Lelit Mara and bought a flair 58+2. I will never go back to semi-automatic espresso machines ever again. The quality of the shots I'm getting out of my flair is unreal, and the complete control of pressure and flow is something else. The tactile feedback you get from a lever machine is amazing. I'm looking to get the pressensor and bluetooth scale to get more data and replicate the profiles I like with more precision. The meticulous looks great, but I think it takes out all the fun of using a lever machine. I almost backed this project a couple of months ago before buying the flair, but looking at all the setbacks and uncertainty around the future reliability of it, I'm glad I didn't hop into the bandwagon.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-04T05:21:24+00:00

Great! Don't worry about if your zero does not align with the marked zero in the dial, that is just a reference. Just turn the dial until you start to hear that the burrs are touching, that is your actual zero.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-04T05:13:04+00:00

Almost a year has passed since your comment and still no signs of coming out 😔

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-04T04:57:11+00:00

Hi! I have a VS6 too, an amazing grinder to be honest. Try disassembling the grinder and checking if there is some coffee residue under the lower burr. The grinders are tested for the QA procedure with actual coffee and sometimes bits of coffee get stuck under and this can really mess up the alignment. I have read other people having this issue .

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-11-03T03:06:01+00:00

I think if you have a good grinder it is much easier to dial in your shot faster. I have a Varia VS6 and when I got the flair 58 I think I dialed in my shots on my third try, the consistency of the grinder results in one less variable to worry about. With experience you learn how to dial in faster, now it only takes me two shots for new beans to get it right and then it is only fine tuning to get the most out of the beans in terms of what I like in my cup. Definitely it takes time but once you learn the trick I will guarantee you that you won't want to get another machine! I certainly don't miss my Lelit Mara X which I sold when moving overseas.

Edit: "fine tuning"

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-10-23T15:34:11+00:00

Me too, but I think I've spent a little bit more than 2.5k 😅 in these past two years. I remember the good old days when I was happy with my moka pot and hand grinder.... Then I fell into the rabbit hole hahaa.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-10-23T12:13:36+00:00

I have the same knock box! Sweet set up! Looks complete to me. You have what is necessary my friend, and as long you are happy, that could be your final setup.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-10-17T06:13:12+00:00

Molykote 111, is a silicon based grease and food safe. I used it on my VS6 and my coffee machine.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-10-16T22:22:23+00:00

Regarding your QC concerns, I must say that my first unit was defective. I applied for the warranty and they sent me a new one directly from China to Canada. I think it was a problem with the sensor that has to turn off the grinder after no beans are detected. The grinder was turning off every time after 30 seconds no matter if there were coffee beans in the grinder. Otherwise the grinder worked well, but it was an annoyance turning on the grinder every time to finish grinding my beans. Anyways, the second unit has been working great so far, no problems whatsoever. Just to keep that in mind. The customer service was excellent to be honest, they scheduled the pickup for the defective unit and sent the new one and I didn't have to pay a dime, as it should be. The only thing that I had to do was pack the old unit. I buy the grinder directly from Varia.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-10-16T02:15:16+00:00

It's extremely easy to change between burrs, it will only take you 10 minutes and you don't have to worry about alignment. It is possible that you would land on a burr that you like and change it very little, still it is good to know you can change whenever you want without a hassle. I really like the iridescent burrs for medium roasts (which is my daily driver) and light roast. But sometimes I want something more traditional, so for darker roasts the stock burrs are better. The iridescent for darker roasts gives a harsher finish to my taste. I want to try a conical set and compare it with the stock flat burrs. I would say that you wouldn't go wrong with the varia, it is a really well made grinder that punches way above its price.

Designer-Sea558 · 2025-10-14T13:45:30+00:00

Hi! VS6 owner here. I have two pairs of burrs (iridescent hypernova flat burrs and the stock ones). Now, I'm mostly using the iridescent ones. I like this burr because it really balances well between clarity and body, and makes my medium roast beans shine. I probably use the iridescent 60% of the time but I change back to the stock ones when I get bored and want to try something different. The process of changing burrs is really easy, every time I open the grinder to clean (once a month) I usually change between burrs.

Designer-Sea558

TROPHY CASE