Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder Expired

Until you use a good conical burr grinder, you don't really know what you're missing. (And that's okay - I didn't either until I finally took a leap of faith).

Regular "burr" grinders and traditional cheaper blade/chop grinders are very inconsistent and produce a ton of "fines". These way too fine ground pieces make your coffee bitter / off. Instead of chopping, this has two blades that almost look like gears interlocking and crushes the coffee much more consistently. How close together these burrs are determines how finely it gets ground.

The lack of consistency in the grind in general means the amount of coffee extracted with vary a ton, changing the way your coffee tastes along with it.

As for why more expensive - the burrs are more expensive, mostly. This one is great because they WILL wear down (with any grinder) and you can replace, upgrade, or repair them. This is the gold standard entry level conical burr grinder. Google "Best coffee grinder reddit" for a ton of additional info on why.

Hope that helps.

Oh man. I just paid this for a refurb direct from Baratza. My Aldi burr grinder died, and I didn't want to pay this kind of money for a disposable appliance.

For those who don't know, Baratza offers parts for their grinders - they are meant to be repaired! You can also buy an upgraded burr (the M3, I think) and this grinder will perform just like their next model up. The only practical difference is the cheaper plastic housing and the extra $80 or so in your pocket. All the grinding guts are the same. this is more or less a Buy it for Life type of product.

Ive used mine for a week, and the grounds are so much more consistent than any of my previous grinders. And that's without the burr upgrade. The motor doesn't bog down in the least while grinding beans. It would be nice to have a timer to shut off the grinder while I'm doing other things, but whatever. It works so well that I don't really care all that much.

If you have a budding coffee nerd in your life, or just want to buy once this is a great grinder.

This is a great grinder for anything except espresso. French press, pourover, standard drip...the Encore will be great.

Unfortunately it does not have enough adjustment steps or consistency at the super-fine grind settings to make great espresso with a non-pressurized portafilter setup. Their Sette line is much better if espresso is your thing.