Baratza Encore Electric Burr Coffee Grinder

Appears well made and quite substantial.Grind for espresso on setting 1, which is what I wanted it for, is OK with quite a heavy tamp. I think it is possible to adjust it further by moving shims, so I might look into that. My Rancilio Silvia seems to have a very powerful pump which requires a very fine grind, more-so than my old Gaggia Classic needed.Grind for filter is very good with quite a lot of adjustment in the region of 13-14. Not tried it for Cafetierre/French Press yet.The additional power button on the front to just grind enough for straight into the portofilter is a really useful little touch.All in all, it seems pretty good.Update December 2014 - Review upgraded to 5 stars...As per the original review above, I was a bit concerned about the fine grind for espresso being fine enough. Anyway I was thinking about adjusting the machine from the advice on Baratza's website (Thanks for the link in the comments area Mr.S Mellins) but when I had a look I noticed the opening advice from Baratza was don't be too hasty to adjust, let the machine settle down first.You're probably ahead of me here, but guess what, after about 5 hoppers' worth of beans ground, the fine grind is quite a bit finer. In fact on the finest level it now chokes out the Rancilio. So on that basis, I do think this is an excellent grinder for the money, worth 5 stars and if you do get one, give it some time to bed in before recalibrating it finer. It may well sort itself out.

This is my third grinder. I started with a cheap Dualit grinder and upgraded to the large Bodum Bistro, which promptly broke. Neither of these first two grinders were sufficiently consistent or fine enough to grind for an espresso machine. The Baratza Encore goes just fine enough to make a good espresso with an non-pressurised espresso machine.It is nicely designed so looks ok on your kitchen surface, it is noisy but so much that you'll get frustrated by it, and it is easy to change the width of the burrs to adjust the grind thickness. My only gripe with the product is that it doesn't have a timer. You must either turn it on or off to grind, or manually hold a button for bursts. Many products in the same or cheaper price brackets have a timer, which seems like an unfair omission from this product.All in all, a great buy if you grind for espresso or any other brewing technique.

I understood from the reviews that on purchase some buyers found it difficult to assemble the hopper and grinder to the base however having used various other grinders I felt confident of overcoming any problems. I followed the instructions to the letter and was particularly careful with flimsy rubber gasket, filled it with beans and switched it on. The hopper flew out of the base with the beans all over the kitchen! I reassembled it again and tried once more with the same result. Consequently I have returned it to Amazon having to jump through hoops from Amazon call centre.

Absolutely loving it.......my mornings can now be satisfied very quickly with a perfect mug of coffee utilising this fantastic grinder. I use "pour-over" cones and filters and on-stove espresso pots and this grinder can grind the beans for both styles perfectly, with the push of a button.This is my first conical, electric grinder so cannot compare to other makes. But having come from a manual grinder in the past, this is an absolute God-send. I did extensive research before buying and the Baratza grinders always come top in any review and now having used one, they are all justified.It is also very well made and I get the feel of quality and power when using it and suspect all the gears, motor etc... have been designed to last a long time. Another very strong plus, is the slow grinding speed of the conical burrs, so your coffee grounds don't get overheated, unlike some of the cheaper grinders out there. It is also a lot quieter than I was expecting, suspecting my two Cats would run for the hills when using it, but no, they haven't even batted an eye-lid.......

My first burr grinder and I have to say a big step up from the blade "grinder" I had used before.Grind is adjusted by rotating the hopper (while grinding) but the indicator line on the hopper is a little difficult to see (it is raised so I just have my thumb touching it as I rotate it). Hopper lid is dished, so you could weigh your beans on it before tipping them in if you are particular. Grind seems to be pretty consistent: I set it to about 7-10 for espresso and around 22 for cafetiere (finer than the guidelines I think) and it goes up to 40.A tiny bit messy when you remove the container, more so if you grind directly into your portafilter/group handle (but that's a nice option). Obviously it's a bit noisy when grinding but you expect that, and miles quieter than a blade.Torn between 4 and 5 stars.

Very happy with this grinder. Used daily now for almost 3 years and it's still as good as it was when new.Always experiment with the grind especially if you use different beans. Also you may find that some days you just feel like a different texture or strength.