70
Looking for advice buying a coffee grinder
(lemmy.world)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
70 points (96.1% liked)
Coffee
8376 readers
1 users here now
☕ - The hot beverage that powers the world!
Coffee gadgets - It's always great to learn about new gadgets. Please share your favorite hardware or full setups. It might inspire newcomers to experiment!
Local businesses - Please promote your local businesses. If you are not the owner of the business you are promoting, kindly ask the owner if it's okay. It would be great if the business has a physical store to include an exterior or interior shot.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
There are a few things to note: burr vs blade. You do not want a blade, because as others have said, the key to the grind is consistency of granules. Coffee ground too fine tends to over-extract, be bitter, and even clog equipment. Coffee ground too coarsely will under-extract, taste kinda earthy & "bleh", and it's a waste of bean.
The two best electric burr models on the budget side of things, AFAIK, is the the Capresso Infinity & the Baratza Encore.
The Capresso Infinity is the cheapest quality burr grinder you can get; it is gentle & slow grinding. Very consistent. Unit size is small, which is nice.
The Baratza Encore is SUCH a capable grinder. Very well known. It's got a nice "heft" to it, so it stays put while grinding. I had a very oily bean that I sent through the Encore, so much that it choked & stopped up. I carefully cleaned it all out & it works just fine. What a champion!! Unlike the Capresso Infinity, it can crank out a more than acceptable espresso-level fine grind.
Between capability & reliability, the Baratza Encore wins my endorsement. If you don't care about espresso & you just want a good machine without spending all the money, then & only then would I recommend Capresso Infinity.
Wow. I was only planning on educating myself and then hunting for a bargain on ebay and charity shops. But this reads like a truly genuine endorsement that I might just go for that. Not sure yet but I'm definitely considering!
I was using a hand grinder for years before i finally decided to plunk down the $ on a good electric grinder. Based on the reviews I'd read over the years the Encore really seems like the best grinder for the $, even though it's relatively expensive. If you're gonna use it daily, it's a worthy investment. It's fast, reliable, consistent, and it's also built to be taken apart for cleaning/maintenance. It's one of these situations where "buy once, cry once" could apply.
If looking for a bargain, you can always try to score one open box on eBay...
Did Baratza stop selling refurbs? I got mine as a refurb but don't see a page for refurbished ones on their site.
Also they sometimes sell refurbished Encores on their site for a discount. But honestly new, they're still very reasonable. My refurb looked brand new and has been serving me well for 2 years.
I was going to suggest refurb, too, but looking around their site there is no longer a page for refurbs. A little googling and it appears since Breville bought them in 2020 they've gone downhill some.
Oh that's a bummer! I bought mine in 2022 and didn't know that.