Baratza - Encore ESP (ZCG495)

I jumped from a cheap $40 grinder to the Encore. It went against my nature to buy such an "expensive" appliance just for coffee. Totally worth it.

As the cheapest option I would recommend a manual grinder. Kingrinder would be the cheapest decent starting point, I have the P2 and it is good for espresso. As for electric grinders, I would probably look at second hand Baatza Encore ESP. if you find it on deals, maybe it's even close to your budget as new.

I've had the Encore for years and love it. For pourovers, drip, etc. when the motor stopped working, I emailed Barratza and they sent me a new motor with instructions to replace it. It's a workhorse and a great grinder. I tried using it for espresso and gave up after a few days. It just doesn't grind fine enough. I read up on budget grinders, looked at old posts here, and ended up getting the Shardor 64. For the money, it's been great for me.

Gonna just say, go with the Baratza Encore. Cheaping out on anything that needs a big motor is going to cost more in the long run, especially because the Baratza can be completely disassembled at home and replacement parts are readily available. It truly is a buy for life machine. Coffee grinders and blenders are buy for life items, imo. Paying more once is going to be cheaper than paying less twice.

I had to replace them once with the stock burrs because the holder broke. I think it took maybe 4-5 years before that happened. TBH I didn't think I had a fines problem until I got the sculptor, and even now I'm not 100% sure it's a big deal. It could be that my wife started drinking espresso and so switching between two grind sizes daily was what produced the fines. Overall I highly recommend the encore (and hear great things about the encore ESP).

I got a 1zpresso j-ultra a couple weeks ago and haven't used my electric grinder since (baratza encore esp). I know you're tired of hand- grinding, but it's so easy on the jultra and the results are fantastic. It takes me about 50 seconds to grind through 18 grams, but i could go faster if I wanted. If you really want an electric grinder, the encore esp is $200 and will give you good results. The best in the $200 and under price range. But if you spent a little more $ on a df54, I think you'll be happier with that.

Baratza ESP gang where we at 😭

When I worked in an office I used to use a manual coffee grinder. While fun at first I hope to never, ever have to grind by hand again. I found it became tedious to do so. I'd vote electric. As others said the Encore is a great choice for middle of the road and quality to price ratio. And speaking of ratios, pick one and stick with it (I ended up using the suggested 55g to 1 L of water), with whatever grinder you get brew a pot too bitter (fine grounds) on purpose, then do one too sour (too coarse) so you have those tastes in mind. Now keep dialing finer until you start to taste too much bitter for your liking. You now have the starting point for future bags of coffee. Maybe a bit finer for light coffee, a bit coarser for dark. Or just set it no forget it.

Baratza is great.

To add a bit of context to what others have said (more expensive grinders provide a more even grind, are higher quality for durability or fix ability) the reason the consistent grind is important is extraction of the coffee from the rounds. One wouldn't get the same result if the grind size changes every time you brew. But it is a bit more in that in that lesser grinders produce more solvable fines in the grounds. These fines actually dissolve and end up in your coffee giving it more of an off flavor than if they were not in there. I'd actually suggest a good grinder is just as or even more important than a good coffee maker. The Encore you reference is good for the price, not doubt. I used one for years.

Comments like these are why the ESP was my first decent electric grinder.

I have the Oxo grinder and it works great, but I wish I dropped more $ for the Encore because it's repairable so it will probably last longer (part of the reason why I bought a moccamaster in the first place). As far as I understand, the grinder bits will wear out down the road. Trying to move away from disposable cheap appliances to ones that are repairable where I can.

Nice! In that case I would go for the Breville and probably a Baratza Encore ESP for the grinder, should be $500 total

It sounds like you have two pretty different use cases. For your husband a standard baratza encore would work well. An encore is also decent for pourover, but adding a second nice hand grinder is probably the best way to do things. To get a nice electric that rivals nice hand grinders you would need to increase your budget a good amount.

Baratza is a workhorse. It is not a quiet workhorse but it is a good machine

Baratza is the answer. I've had mine for over 20 years. I recently contacted the company to buy the little rubber feet that deteriorated on the bottom and they sent me the feet, some extra other parts, stickers and postcards. Years ago I contacted them to buy a few other normal wear and tear parts and they sent those free too. Buddy at work has one, they've sent him new circuit boards and gearboxes for free. Outstanding product and customer service you just don't find anymore.

That's not true, they go plenty fine enough. Yours is either broken (burr holder tabs) or not calibrated to the fine side of the spectrum. a 10 on the adjustment wheel usually chokes most espresso machines when calibrated to the fine side.

That white plastic part is also specifically there to break before anything else does. When I broke it I ordered a few to have on hand just in case.

I was a hard-core French Press user for many years and got a Baratza Encore. I now use an AeroPress but using it in a French Press style. The Encore continues to serve me very well and would recommend as a good "bang for the buck" option.

I have an encore for espresso for over a year now. Started with a dedica and now a la Pavoni. It does work well enough, but I'm now upgrading to a much better grinder. If you only want to brew dark roast Italian charcoal style espresso, the encore is enough to work with. But I'm running into issues with medium roast beans. It's not that I can't dial it in, it's just that the encore is not sensitive enough. There's not enough steps. Sometimes the coffee is bitter, so I move the dial a millimeter and now it's sour. If you do get it, make sure you recalibrate it immediately. This way you can make it a lot more sensitive, essentially doubling the number of steps. There's an official Baratza video on how to do this. You should also make it stepless while you've already got it opened up. For me these two modifications are enough to make good dark roast espresso. As soon as you have beans with a little acidity, you'll need to upgrade. Also, any setting lower than 9 takes literally half an hour to grind for a single dose..

I got the Fellow Opus, but that seems more geared towards pour-over coffee. It is capable of doing espresso as well; however, dialing in the coffee is finicky. The other one, which is similarly priced, would be the Baratza Encore ESP, which is made especially for espresso. James Hoffman recently made a video regarding coffee grinders in this range. You may want to check that on YouTube as well.

(1) Scale with a tare function. Get one that doesn't turn off too fast. (2) Infrared thermometer. Tells you when your pan or griddle is hot enough and when it's too hot. Will also tell you if your HVAC is blowing hot or cold air and how hot your sidewalk is. (3) Slotted spatula The Baratza Encore is our coffee grinder. One downside is that I'm always cleaning up the little bit of ground coffee that escaped.

I had a ton of success with the baratza encore, but it is probably better suited for espresso and not pour overs. After upgrading to the sculptor 78s, I realized the encore produced a ton of fines even at the coarse settings I used for pour overs.

Agreed. I've had mine for a couple years and it's done well so far.

I second this. it's a very solid flat burr grinder with a lot of range from filter coffee to espresso. Build quality is fantastic, but it is a single dose grinder, so if you are looking for something with a hopper that can grind through larger amounts, then Baratza Encore ESP is a good introductory grinder with espresso range

I have the baratza esp and it gets the job done, I wouldn't over think it. It is loud, but it doesn't bother me, but if it is important for you keep it in mind

The Baratza Encore is a conical burr grinder that does everything from press, to drip, to espresso at a reasonable price.

I had a Baratza Encore and recently upgraded to a Fellow Ode Gen2. Ode has great consistency and works great for my AeroPress around the 2.5 mark (1-10, 1 smallest). On course grind for cold brew the Ode has gotten jammed a few times, so I break out my old Encore for chunky grind duties.

What about making a little sound-reducing housing to keep the grinder in? For a time I lived with some people who were being woken up by me grinding coffee before work in the morning. I ended up moving the grinder (Baratza Encore) out to the garage, but the garage was also under their bedroom, so I wrapped the grinder up in a thick moving blanket, could easily dump coffee in the top and uncover the front to get the holder for the ground coffee out when I was done. Maybe build a little wooden box and add some soundproofing foam or something like that?

I should also add .. I'm not sure "a ton of fines" is accurate. It definitely produced less uniform grinds than, say, the sculptor (visually obvious, not just suspicion). It also had poor retention so I had to add a bellow.

I loved my encore for 7 years of my coffee journey and just upgraded recently to an ode gen 2. I would go for the encore.

I bought a Baratza Encore grinder because I read many reviews and recommendations that said it's a good grinder for the price (around US$150). I've had it for about two years. I like it. I am not a hardcore fanatic about making coffee. I buy good beans. I use my Baratza. I use my Moka Pot. I like the results.

Price/value I'd go for a Baratza Encore ESP. I bought that one and a Bambino Plus last year and it has served me well. Got it for 100 quid new on Black Friday and puts out nice coffee. To get something better you have to go at least double.

Nope! But with the encore there is no space between the grinder output and the container. You'd have to add that extra filtering step on your own. TBH I just got used to the fines - some small differences with brew time due to clogged paper and small difference in taste. I guess I have a high tolerance for those variables.

Hmm, i push my percolator brews up to like ~34, perhaps it is the beans I use for percolator coffee, but i find any finer and the ESP makes too many fines in the "middle range" of its settings.

Yeah definitely need a good grinder. The Baratza Encore ESP Pro just came out and is an upgrade to the Baratza Encore ESP. The original is about $100 cheaper but is missing some of the newer features that make single dosing easier and a step less grind setting. Hand grinders are also a great option and as far as quality to price it is the best option. I use a 1Zpresso K-Ultra. A great option for drip/filter and espresso coffee.