Smoothness First or Sweetness First?

How to Choose, Brew, and Dial In the BOOKOO Omni and BOOKOO SweetCore Burrs for the Motto80

When we open a new bag of coffee, we usually hope for several things at once: expressive aromatics, lively acidity, satisfying sweetness, and enough intensity to hold the cup together.

Those qualities rarely arrive all at once.

Some coffees reveal themselves gradually, with a clean first sip, brightness that leads the palate, and new flavors emerging as the cup cools. Others feel complete from the beginning, where sweetness and texture establish the foundation while acidity provides shape rather than taking center stage.

That difference is exactly what separates the two final production burr sets for the BOOKOO Motto80.

BOOKOO Omni favors a cup that unfolds. BOOKOO SweetCore favors a cup that feels anchored from the first sip.

Neither is inherently better, and neither is defined by a single trait. BOOKOO Omni still produces sweetness and texture. BOOKOO SweetCore still preserves brightness and flavor separation. The difference is simply which qualities become easiest to access during everyday brewing.

Start with Your Daily Routine

The simplest way to choose between the two burr sets is to think about what you brew most often.

If filter coffee is your daily ritual and espresso is something you enjoy alongside it, BOOKOO Omni is the more natural starting point.

For filter brewing, it tends to produce cups that feel smooth, juicy, and well integrated, while still allowing individual flavors to emerge as the cup develops. In espresso, it continues to preserve distinctions between coffees, making differences in origin, processing, and roast easier to recognize.

BOOKOO SweetCore takes a different approach.

It is better suited to people who primarily brew espresso and want sweetness and texture to establish themselves earlier in the cup. Brightness remains present, but instead of leading, it works alongside sweetness to give the espresso structure and energy.

BOOKOO SweetCore is equally capable of producing excellent filter coffee. It simply rewards a more deliberate approach to grind size, water temperature, and brew structure than BOOKOO Omni.

If filter and espresso matter equally, BOOKOO Omni remains our primary recommendation. If espresso is your priority and you enjoy refining the occasional filter recipe, BOOKOO SweetCore is an equally valid path.

Understanding the Burr Gap Display

Before getting into recipes, one number deserves clarification.

The displayed μm value represents the grinder’s burr gap, the distance between the burrs. It is not the average size of the resulting coffee particles.

Because BOOKOO Omni and BOOKOO SweetCore produce different particle distributions, the same displayed burr gap will not produce equivalent extraction behavior or cup results. Treat each burr set as its own starting point rather than carrying over previous settings.

This naturally leads to an important question: what do the particle size measurements actually tell us?

What the Particle Size Chart Shows

To better understand how the two burr sets behave, we conducted an internal comparison across:

• Two final production burr sets
• Two burr gap settings
• Three RPM settings
• Three bean feed rates

This produced 36 test conditions, with one particle size measurement recorded for each condition.

The important takeaway is not that one distribution is inherently better. It is that BOOKOO Omni and BOOKOO SweetCore produce measurably different particle distributions even when the displayed burr gap is identical.

At the 650 μm coarse grinding test point, BOOKOO Omni produced a tighter distribution and a lower proportion of particles below the fixed 100 μm threshold.

That helps explain why recipes do not transfer directly between burr sets. By itself, however, it should not be interpreted as proof of sensory performance or extraction quality.

The 120 μm setting shown in the chart is a controlled measurement point, not a recommended brewing recipe.

BOOKOO Omni Filter

More Immersion, Less Agitation

BOOKOO Omni does not require an elaborate pouring routine to perform well.

Current user feedback suggests that combining a short, low-agitation immersion phase with a gentle percolation finish is one of the easiest ways to bring out its smoothness, juiciness, and layered presentation.

Starting Point

Variable	Starting Point
Coffee	15 g
Water	240 g
Burr gap	650 μm
Water temperature	89 to 92°C
Total alkalinity	10 to 20 ppm

Brew Structure

Use one short immersion phase followed by one or two gentle percolation pours.

With an outflow-controlled dripper, fully wet the coffee, hold the valve closed briefly, then open it to begin percolation before finishing with one or two gentle pours.

With a standard dripper, pour from a lower height, reduce unnecessary agitation, and let contact time do more of the work.

The objective is not to prescribe a single technique. It is to encourage extraction through contact time rather than mechanical agitation.

Dialing In

BOOKOO Omni generally extracts readily, so hotter water does not need to be the default.

For many light roasts, 89 to 92°C provides a forgiving starting point. Higher temperatures combined with finer grinding or heavier agitation are more likely to introduce dryness or astringency.

Keep the brew structure constant while dialing in, then adjust grind size first.

• If the cup feels hollow, grind slightly finer or increase temperature modestly.
• If dryness appears, reduce temperature, agitation, or excessive fineness before extending brew time.

Water Chemistry

Start with 10 to 20 ppm total alkalinity.

Once extraction is stable, increase alkalinity in roughly 5 ppm steps if acidity still feels sharper than desired. If brightness begins to flatten, step back by a similar amount.

All ppm values in this guide refer to total alkalinity, not total hardness.

BOOKOO Omni Espresso

Build Structure Before Resistance

The easiest way to understand BOOKOO Omni in espresso is to establish puck structure before using grind size to create resistance.

Starting Point

Variable	Starting Point
Burr gap	150 to 160 μm
Brew ratio	1:2
Example dose	18 g in, 36 g out
Total alkalinity	40 to 100 ppm

Choose any RPM and bean feed rate you prefer, but keep both fixed while dialing in.

Avoid relying on an extremely fine grind as the only way to slow the shot. Instead, build a stable extraction with an appropriate dose, sufficient puck depth, and a basket that matches that dose. Aim to maximize puck depth for a given basket, provided the puck does not contact the shower screen.

A 1:2 brew ratio is the clearest place to begin.

Some coffees become more expressive around 1:2.5, where sweetness and aromatics have more room to unfold. As the ratio approaches or exceeds 1:3, the likelihood of over-extraction-related off-flavors generally increases.

BOOKOO Omni’s rounded presentation should not automatically be interpreted as under-extraction. If sweetness, mid-palate development, and finish already feel complete, there is little reason to extend the shot simply because the acidity is restrained.

Water Chemistry

Start with 40 to 100 ppm total alkalinity.

If acidity remains sharper than preferred after extraction is otherwise well dialed in, increase alkalinity gradually in 10 ppm increments.

BOOKOO SweetCore Espresso

Let Sweetness Take the Lead

Where BOOKOO Omni encourages a cup to unfold, BOOKOO SweetCore aims to establish sweetness and texture from the beginning.

Starting Point

Variable	Starting Point
Burr gap	170 μm
Suggested range	160 to 180 μm
Brew ratio	1:1.5
Main ratio range	1:1 to 1:2
Example dose	18 g in, 27 g out
Water temperature	Start toward the higher end
Pre-infusion	Consistent and repeatable
Shot flow	Moderate to slow
Total alkalinity	40 to 100 ppm
Bean feed rate	Start faster

BOOKOO SweetCore does not depend on a longer brew ratio to develop sweetness. It naturally favors shorter ratios, using relatively high brewing temperatures, consistent pre-infusion, and controlled flow to build a balanced, textured, and concentrated cup.

When properly dialed in, brightness can remain clear and individual flavor characteristics can still be recognizable. BOOKOO SweetCore does not remove those qualities. It simply changes their order of emphasis.

Sweetness arrives first, while acidity provides enough lift to keep the cup feeling complete.

We recommend exploring primarily within the 1:1.3 to 1:1.6 range. Extending the ratio does not necessarily produce more sweetness and can gradually increase over-extraction-related off-flavors.

Bean Feed Rate

Begin with a faster bean feed rate.

If sweetness is already established but the finish still carries some astringency, reduce the bean feed rate one step at a time while keeping RPM, burr gap, and the espresso recipe unchanged.

Here, bean feed rate refers to how quickly coffee enters the burrs, not the flow of water through the espresso puck. They are separate variables.

Water Chemistry

Start with 40 to 100 ppm total alkalinity.

For coffees with naturally high acidity, 60 to 80 ppm may soften the edges while preserving useful brightness.

We do not recommend 80 to 100 ppm as an everyday setting. Treat it as an edge-case experiment for relatively fast shots that still use a short brew ratio.

Water should also remain within your espresso machine manufacturer’s recommendations for scale prevention and corrosion protection.

BOOKOO SweetCore Filter

Possible, but Start Fresh

BOOKOO SweetCore is not limited to espresso.

With careful dialing in, it can also produce filter coffee with focused sweetness, satisfying body, integrated acidity, and clear flavor definition.

What should not be copied directly is BOOKOO Omni’s burr gap, water temperature, or brew structure. Because the two burr sets produce different particle distributions at the same displayed burr gap, each deserves its own starting point.

Begin with a simple, low-agitation brew structure, keep water temperature and pouring technique consistent, and adjust grind size gradually to find the balance between sweetness and acidity.

We have intentionally not included a universal BOOKOO SweetCore filter recipe. That is not because the burr set cannot produce excellent filter coffee, but because the outcome depends more heavily on the specific coffee and recipe.

For those who enjoy experimenting, it offers plenty of room to explore. For those switching regularly between espresso and filter, BOOKOO Omni generally reaches a satisfying cup with less effort.

RPM and Bean Feed Rate

Fix Them First, Explore Them Later

The Motto80 does not prescribe a single correct RPM or bean feed rate for either burr set.

Different coffees, roast levels, and brewing goals can all benefit from different settings.

When comparing burr sets or dialing in a new coffee, keep RPM and bean feed rate fixed first. Once the recipe becomes repeatable, change only one variable at a time.

Changing multiple variables simultaneously makes it much harder to identify what actually changed the cup.

For BOOKOO Omni, RPM and bean feed rate are best treated as secondary refinement tools after a baseline recipe is established.

For BOOKOO SweetCore, bean feed rate can also become a useful adjustment for reducing astringency once the core recipe is already working.

Which Burr Set Should You Choose?

Choose BOOKOO Omni if you regularly brew filter coffee, also enjoy espresso, and prefer a cup that unfolds with smoothness, juiciness, rounded acidity, and enough intensity to stay engaging from beginning to end.

Choose BOOKOO SweetCore if espresso is your primary brewing method and you want sweetness and texture to establish themselves earlier while retaining brightness and meaningful flavor separation.

If BOOKOO SweetCore is your primary burr set but you occasionally enjoy spending time dialing in a careful filter brew, that remains entirely possible.

Ultimately, neither burr set dictates how a coffee should taste. They simply make different kinds of deliciousness easier to achieve, and invite you to spend your dialing-in time emphasizing the qualities you enjoy most.