Baratza Encore Electric Burr Coffee Grinder

Product Information

Most electric burr grinders have a range of numerical size selections—designed to grind beans anywhere from very fine, for a Moka pot or an espresso machine, to very coarse, for making cold brew or French press coffee. The efficient DC motor keeps your beans cool, even during extended grind times, while a combination of electric and gear speed reducers slow the burr to 450 RPM, ensuring a smooth bean feed and reducing noise, heat and static buildup. We rated electric burr grinders first and foremost on the quality and consistency of their grind, the number-one thing a good grinder must do well.

Some coffee grinders, like those from OXO, Smeg, and Zwilling, allow you to adjust the hopper before removing it so that you can move it with the beans inside. We know that it still may be a tough sell for those who don’t consider themselves major coffee geeks, but we think spending more is well worth it for most coffee drinkers—whether that worth is measured in more cups made at home, fewer dead grinders sent to the landfill, or just added daily pleasure from making your own delicious coffee.An amazingly speedy deilvery and so far the machine performs really well with a more even grind (less sludge in the cup) than that which it replaced. Senior editor Marguerite Preston used the OXO grinder at home for about two years before switching to the Baratza Encore. These measurements told us how much of the coffee was dissolved into the water, and thus how successful the extraction of the grinds was.

The Encore is our only pick (besides the hand grinder) that doesn’t have a timer or some automated way to measure out beans, but we’ve found it’s easy enough to measure your beans before you add them to the hopper—and many coffee aficionados already do that. When the Encore was on a medium setting, it took us about 35 to 40 seconds to grind 68 grams of medium-grind coffee appropriate for filter brewing—in other words, it took less than a minute to grind enough for a pot of coffee, on a par with other grinders we tested. The OXO’s burr sets are also slightly faster (grinding 10 grams more than the Encore in 15 seconds) and just a little bit quieter than those of the Baratza machines when grinding through beans—though the motor sound is a little higher and whinier. Our team are always happy to help and are very knowledgeable with our range of products, and so will definitely be able to clarify any queries you may have.Most reviewers like to refer to the Encore as Baratza’s entry-level grinder, but we think that’s selling it short.

The reason is that unevenly ground beans yield muddy cups of coffee with unpleasant sour or bitter notes—or both. She switched because she found a Baratza for free on the street, but otherwise, she would have happily continued using the OXO. But we’d rather you have a machine that can make you better tasting coffee for up to a decade instead of one that’s mere eye candy.

The sifter works by separating boulders and fines into separate compartments; grounds at the ideal size are left in between.

Flat sets were found mainly in commercial machines (flat burr sets often cost more and tend to collect coffee between their burrs; the coffee then drops all over, which is something that’s easier to overlook in a café). Those beans leave more of a residue, which you need to remove occasionally (every few weeks, for oily beans) for peak flavor and grinder performance. From the Baratza Encore to the Baratza Sette series, you will be making the best coffee with the right gear.Conical burrs grinders are exceptional at producing consistent grinds from very fine to very coarse as well as being durable and will remain sharp for many years.