Multiple Coffee Refractometers Compared: R2, VST, and Atago

This is a summary video of a bunch of data collected by Socratic Coffee ( / socraticcoffee ) in our collaboration on the DiFluid DFT and R2 devices for coffee refractometry.
If you prefer the written form:
Coffee Refractometer Accuracy: VST vs DiFluid R2 / coffee-refractometer-a...
DiFluid R2 Coffee Refractometer Device Variation / difluid-r2-coffee-refr...
Rethinking Refractometers: VST, Atago, and DiFluid; Part 1 / rethinking-refractomet...
Rethinking Refractometers: VST, Atago, and DiFluid; Part 2 / rethinking-refractomet...
Rethinking Refractometers: VST, Atago, and DiFluid; Part 3 / rethinking-refractomet...
My Book: www.indiegogo....
My Links: / my-links
My Medium Page:
/ rmckeon
Me on Instagram
instragram.com/...
If you like, follow me on Twitter / espressofun and KZbin / @espressofun6091 where I post videos of espresso shots on different machines and espresso related stuff.
You can also find me on LinkedIn / dr-robert-mckeon-aloe-...
#coffee #speciatlycoffee #espresso #coffeeoftheday #coffeeofinstagram #coffeeblogger #coffeeblog #coffeecupping #coffeecup #coffeeporn #coffeebreak #coffeegram #espressoshot #espressomachine #coffeedaily #coffeebrewing #espressofun #espressocup #espressogram #peoplebrewcoffee

[@Sinisterg60]

Excellent work! Early adoption of the R2 here and I've been very happy with the consistency. Plus they keep on updates.

[@cricocoo]

Great work! Also fun to see something really useful for instant coffee ;) A note of constructive feedback: some of the plots did not make sense as line plots, but should have been scatterplots or something else

[@espressofun6091]

Thanks! I tried a few different plot styles and the scatter ones looked too messy. Fair point though. Data analysis is tricky in just presentation

[@yutaosong9701]

Many thanks for the review, your analysis convinced me to buy one

[@Coffeenerdtools]

Great breakdown as usual.

[@pavelgrebnev3868]

a bunch of useful information, thank you so much

[@joefinegold]

Thanks so much!

[@drewlawrence696]

Very grateful for the work here also the option for the written version (not that there is anything wrong with YT). Gets a sub from me and I hope you attract more subscribers. Cheers 👍

[@espressofun6091]

Thanks

[@EdoRezaprasga]

Suscribed. Wonderful breakdown and analysis 🙏👏 hope you get more views and suscriber

[@espressofun6091]

Thanks so much!

[@JordanMcKenna-wc6ot]

Great breakdown. Do you have more work planned on this coming down the line? Thanks!

[@espressofun6091]

Not currently. Thanks!

[@ErikN-sr4ti]

Is it fair to say that the R2 is a home brewers device vs. the VST and Atago? From what i can see your results on the R2 is showing that it is a professional refractometer. If so I just might get it.

[@espressofun6091]

Yes it definitely it capable.

[@chrissatterlee4287]

Great video, Robert! Did you buy the R2 devices on the open market, or were they given to you by the manufacturer for your testing? Just wondering if it's possible they were cherry-picked.

[@espressofun6091]

Valid question. I don’t know if they were sent or bought by Socratic Coffee. However, for the first DiFluid tests, they were send devices that had wild swings across devices, so the first ones weren’t cherry picked. I haven’t seen results for other R2 tests vs VST (or Atago) that suggests these devices were cherry picked. Assuming Socratic Coffee did buy them, the manufacturer could have cherry picked nonetheless because they knew where they were going.

[@LivingTheLifeRetired]

@@espressofun6091almost every review I have seen the devices were provided free of charge. I am still looking for a review where the reviewer paid their own money to get it. In my experience with the R2 that I paid for with my own money the results for even the same sample vary widely. If I push the button 5 times I sometimes get 5 vastly differing results that produces extraction yields from 18-21%. Id like to have the DiFluid OMNI but am worried about the same faults. I’ll save up for a VST and a Lighttells CM-200.

[@espressofun6091]

@@LivingTheLifeRetired tell me more. What are you using it for (espresso or filter)? Tell me what the readings are? What’s the variance?

[@LivingTheLifeRetired]

@@espressofun6091 I’ve only tried using it for pour over. It’s cleaned, calibrated, samples are room temperature, and for the same sample (that is, leaving it on the device) and pressing the test button, to get readings like 1.32, then 1.40, then 1.47, the 1.46. That results in extraction yields ranging from 18-21%. With those variances it makes it rather pointless.

[@espressofun6091]

@@LivingTheLifeRetireddoes it stabilize? VST and Atago take quite a bit more time to produce a result probably because they’re waiting for the reading to stabilize

[@LivingTheLifeRetired]

I hope I don’t get an R-1.

[@stephan3077]

The R1 is the older model that looks totally different.