It’s quite intuitive to use: You simply fill the chamber with beans, set the dial to any of the 18 settings between fine and coarse grind, set the number of cups you are planning to brew (though you won’t need this if you pre-weigh the amount of beans you use in the first place), and press start. “But if you keep it clean, I’ve found that you rarely have to use it (the bits just slide right off as you dump them into your filter).”īlade style: Burr | Noise level: Loud | Price: $īefore I got my hands on the Baratza, this was the entry-level grinder I had for about a year - one of the most affordable on the market with burr-style blades. “The appliance also comes with a tiny brush to get all the coffee unstuck from the plastic grounds container,” he notes. Previously, Rellosa used a hand-crank model that took too much work and a blade grinder that resulted in uneven ground size the Krups, he says, solves both these problems, giving him “the ease of an electric machine and the consistency of a burr blade.” Now, he says he makes great pour-over daily and never has to fidget with the grind setting or cup dial - he simply pours his beans in, turns it on, and walks away. The simplicity is exactly what Strategist writer Jeremy Rellosa, who bought the machine about eight months ago, likes about it. It comes recommended by Paul Schlader, owner of New York City-based Birch Coffee, who promises it has the essentials: 12 settings for selecting your preferred grind size and a “cup selector” dial to grind the exact amount of coffee you need for the number of drinks you’re making - and that’s it. If you’re not quite ready to take the plunge on a model upwards of $100, the Krups Precision Grinder is a very solid place to start. “It’s intuitive and performs wonderfully,” he says, “grinding from fine espresso to the most coarse setting for French press or cold brew.” (The Encore, in fact, has 40 grind settings, so you can easily adjust to whatever you’re looking for.) While he acknowledges it can be a little loud - or a “touch chatty,” in his words - Foos says that’s to be expected for a grinder made of plastic and designed for the home.īlade style: Burr | Noise level: Quiet | Price: $ “When you have to replace the burrs every few years, they make it incredibly easy to do so,” he says.Įlliott Foos, director of coffee at Daymoves in Brooklyn, told us that he used the Encore at work when he previously ran the coffee shop attached to chef Flynn McGarry’s Lower East Side restaurant Gem. Humberto Ricardo, founder of Third Rail Coffee, adds that Baratza machines are “designed to be repaired instead of thrown away should something break, which is good for my wallet and for the planet.” And speaking of repairs, Pratt noted Baratza’s great customer service. I find it easy to disassemble, clean, and reassemble the detachable parts before I store it. In general, my biggest qualm with coffee grinders is the mess they make, but this one has nicely angled sides on the grind chamber that allow for neat pouring. It takes a couple of rounds to grind a full bag of beans (how I prefer to do it - as opposed to per serving) but works quickly at about a minute per turn. The machine took me no more than five minutes to set up, and the switches - one to set the grind size and another to turn it on and off - were easy to understand. In my own testing, I found the same to be true. “It’s simple to use and super-consistent,” Lareau says. Some favor its higher-end models (more on a couple of those below), but nearly a dozen of the coffee aficionados we spoke with recommended this more affordable option, highlighting its quality performance and solid build - especially for the price. If you’re still not quite convinced a coffee grinder is something you should put so much hard-earned money towards (ahem, me), don’t worry: I’ve included a few more affordable options that are still very much pro-approved.īlade style: Burr | Noise level: Loud | Price: $$Īs a brand, Baratza came up in our reporting more often than any other. So to figure out which models are worth the investment, I asked baristas, roasters, and coffee shop owners about the versions they keep on their own kitchen counters (and sometimes in their suitcases because apparently, good coffee never takes a vacation). Unfortunately, most decent coffee grinders - even those made specifically for home use - cost a very pretty penny. And your beans won’t be any good at all if you’re not grinding them yourself right before brewing. And as any actual coffee snob will tell you (trust me, I’ve talked with a lot of them), your coffee is only going to be as good as your beans. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a particularly good one. Give me a cup - pretty much any old cup - and I won’t complain.
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