CoffeeGeek - Don't Skimp on the Grinder

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how to buy an espresso machine - the guide

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Espresso Machine Buying Guide - Don't

Skimp on the Grinder

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Quick Jump

Introduction | Get a good grinder | Life of Ownership | Using CG's Reviews | Vendor Tips & Tricks |
Choosing a Semi / Auto | Choosing a Manual | Accessories to Consider
1. Introduction

If you take nothing else away from this

guide, please take this advice to heart:
The grinder is an integral,
necessary part of making good
espresso in the home.
I can't stress this enough.
As mentioned in the preamble to this
guide, CoffeeGeek readers often ask me for help on what espresso machine to
buy. Frequently, back when I was doling out advice, I'd get emails from folks
who bought the machines I recommended, complaining about how the shots
were lousy, running too fast, producing insufficient crema, or tasting
excessively bitter. And 99% of the time, the problem was easily diagnosed;
they didn't buy a grinder. They bought preground or prepackaged coffee
instead.

2. Get a good grinder

3. Life of Ownership
4. Using CG's Reviews
5. Vendor Tips & Tricks
6. Choosing a Semi / Auto
7. Choosing a Manual
8. Accessories to Consider
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Why the grinder is important

Espresso preparation is harsh. It's just about the harshest brewing method
you can throw at a coffee bean and still produce something that tastes
heavenly. Percolators can't do that. Even moka pots are finicky as all heck.
Espresso brewing, using over 135 pounds of water pressure per square inch,
extracting in 25 seconds, is near-torture for the ground coffee bean.
So why does espresso just "work" for some people? Why do some home
baristas and many "third wave" professionals have the ability to pound out
great tasting shots of espresso?
If you ask them for their secret, besides talking up good ingredients (quality,
fresh roasted coffee, good water) and having a developed skillset for
producing espresso, they'll all mention one other key thing: the grinder. One
core item they all have in common is a quality grinder to freshly grind the
coffee to the very precise particle sizes necessary to good extraction. Often,
the grinder is the rock star of their little espresso show.
I've often said that I can make a better shot of espresso with a $200 espresso
machine and a $400 grinder than I can with a $2,000 espresso machine and
no grinder (or a blade grinder)... and it's absolutely true.
This isn't some snobby talker here.

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This isn't some plot to get you to spend crazy amounts of money.

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This is based on literally thousands of experiences related in our forums, in

espresso enthusiasts' homes around the world. Nothing has improved the
quality of espresso as much as the addition of a good grinder to your home
kit. This is so important that I have to say - do not bother reading the rest of
this guide if you plan on skimping on this vital necessity.

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Budgeting for the grinder

How do you set a budget for the grinder? A simple, hard and fast rule I have
offered to people for some time now is, "Spend at least the same amount on
the grinder as you do on the espresso machine, up to $200 (the cost of the
grinder). Then percentage it down as your budget goes higher."
That means that, if you have $500 for an espresso machine budget, spend
$200-$250 on a grinder, and get a $250-$300 espresso machine. If your
budget is $1,000, think $300-$350 or more for the grinder, and $650-$700 or
less for the espresso machine.
I know a lot of readers are going to look at this and cry foul, or at least
wonder how I can justify spending $300 or more on a grinder. But if you're
thinking about spending $1000 on an espresso machine, $300 for the grinder
isn't so much. You just have to wrap your head around the fact that the
grinder is an integral part of the overall purchase. Think of it in terms of
budget = espresso machine + grinder + accessories, instead of just
budget = espresso machine, and you'll be surprised at how easy it is to
justify. And after you have those shots that will blow away 95% of the cafs
out there, it gets even easier. Here's a suggested budget breakdown for your
purchase.

Grinder Budget Recommendations

Overall Budget

$300

$500

$1,000

$1,500

$2,000

Espresso Machine

$150

$250

$700

$1,100

$1,500

Grinder

$150

$250

$300

$400

$500

Grinder % of Purchase

50%

50%

30%

27%

25%

What grinder to choose

So now you've budgeted for your grinder and want to know what models to
choose.
Your first stop should always be the CoffeeGeek Consumer Reviews for
Grinders, but with over 900 reviews posted for grinders (and growing daily),
it can be a bit difficult to navigate. Fortunately, one page of this guide gives
you tips on how to more effectively use the consumer reviews section. Make
sure you check it out.
In addition, I do have some recommendations, fresh as of this writing and
amending of the guide (revised on Jan 1, 2010), so keep this in mind if it's
2012 and you're reading this! I'll give my low end, medium price, and high
end recommendations, as well as a tip for scoring an awesome grinder at a
price way lower than the cost of many new high end consumer grinders.

Manual Grinders
We don't include manual grinders (like the Hario Mini Ceramic) in this guide
for a couple of reasons. First, most hand grinders, especially budget ones,
cannot do a consistent enough grind for pump-driven espresso machines (the
Hario models are an exception). Second, and probably more important, hand
grinders are very, very slow when grinding for espresso. Think two, three
minutes to grind. Because immediate grinding is crucial to great espresso (ie,
you should be brewing within 30-45 seconds after grinding), a lot of the
coffee's stored Co2 is released from the grounds when using a hand grinder

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and patiently grinding enough to do a double shot.

Low End Champs

This is going to sound like a paid
advertisement for Baratza, but it isn't instead, it's an indication that we consumers
are not well served by most grinder makers in
the under $200 category.
With that out of the way, the entire line of
grinders from Baratza are great starting points
for the new home espresso fan. At the low
end, the Baratza Maestro grinder (around
$100 new, around $75-80 refurb) will do fine.
Baratza Virtuoso
This grinder has seen several minor revisions
It's had some teething pains, but the
over the years since first being introduced,
latest incarnation is solid.
and, like the other Solis and Baratza grinders,
can handle multiple duties. It is capable of
doing what we call an "okay" espresso grind, but it can also handle your press
pot and auto drip grinding chores, too. Recently, the grinder has lost its timer
dial (it's now a two position on/off dial), and its front push button on demand
button, but gained a lower price, and an improved motor / burr setup. For
some espresso machines, it might be a challenge producing a grind fine
enough for a "ristretto" shot; but it will be absolutely fine for most budget
espresso machines.
I had the chance to use the Breville Ikon Grinder, which is also priced at
$100 in the US. While it does not have the grind range of the Baratza lineup,
it comes close. You may find the Maestro can grind a tad finer compared to
the Breville's finest setting (in our testing, the Breville at the finest setting
produced a normal 60-70ml double shot in 25 seconds on a Rancilio Silvia).
At the coarsest settings, the Breville produces big-chunk grinds that are
suitable for press pot coffee, though the fines were a bit more present than
other grinders.
The next step up in price are the Maestro Plus at $150 new ($110-$130
refurb), and the Baratza Virtuoso at $200 new ($160-$175 refurb). The
Maestro Plus shares the same motor and gearing system with the Maestro, but
its upgrades include a slightly larger grind range, more metal on the body, a
weighted base, and side timer + front microswitch for active grinding on
demand.
The Virtuoso is a bit of a step up. It features a DC motor with different gearing
and a lot better torque. It also has a different conical burr set (the Maestro
and Maestro Plus share the same burrset). And probably most importantly,
the Virtuoso has a wider grinding range and can grind for ristretto pulls and
press pot grinds.
The three machines from Baratza can also be accessorized with something
Baratza calls "the Portaholder". It's a replacement for the grounds bin that
allows you to insert and hook a portafilter (even commercial portafilters) into
the machine for direct grinding into the espresso filter basket. This is an
optional accessory, but highly recommended if you do a lot of grinding for
espresso.
If you buy any of these grinders (incl. the Breville), there's a bit of a bonus
here - if, down the road, you want to buy a dedicated espresso grinder, you
can still make use of these grinders for your non-espresso grinding needs. On
the other hand, they have a good resale value, should you choose to do a
straight upgrade to avoid having two grinders on the kitchen counter.

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Middle Priced Grinders

This is where we get into the "dedicated
espresso grinder" arena, with one exception.
From $200 for a Gaggia MDF, to the Rancilio
Rocky doser (or doserless) model at around
$365, to $385-$425 for the Anfim home
grinders all of these grinders are well suited
for producing a great espresso grind and,
more importantly, will be serviceable for
decades to come.
The favourite for many in this category is
Rancilio Rocky
probably the Rocky, priced at $365 as of this
Always a solid choice - current models
update (Jan 2010). Rancilio has been
ship with green tinted hoppers and
doser chambers.
manufacturing this grinder since 1990 (its
introductory price was $175!), and while it has
seen some aesthetic and usability upgrades in recent years (including a model
using a chute instead of a doser), some things have never changed. The
Rocky possesses the same motor and internal parts as the Rancilio MD40
grinder, as well as a precision-milled flat burr set. I know people who have
Rockys that are 15 years old, and they're still running fine today. Amortize the
initial cost over 15 years, and that equals about $20 per year - not too
shabby. You could go through five Braun KM grinders in that time and end up
paying the same amount for a vastly inferior grinder.
Our one exception to the "espresso only" is a
grinder coming in March 2010. Around that
time, Baratza is rolling out a fourth grinder in
their budget/ midpriced lineup. It is called the
Virtuoso Preciso, and it borrows something
from Baratza's top of the line grinder - the
Vario - adding some extensive grind controls.
The projected price is $300 MSRP, so it may
sell for less. The added grind control will make
many espresso lovers happy.
Virtuoso Preciso

Lastly, Anfim. We believe the Anfim "Best"

This new grinder is coming in March,
2010.
model is probably the best bang-for-the-buck
dedicated espresso grinder under $600. We've
had a model in the CoffeeGeek Lab for 2 years now and it consistently beats
the Rocky (and even the Mazzer Mini!) in terms of overall grind quality,
dosing, speed, and convenience. If you search hard enough, you can find this
grinder under $400, but the price has steadily climbed in the last two years,
taking it slowly out of the mid priced category. You should avoid the "Haus"
model from Anfim - it has a much weaker motor and smaller burrs - the "Best"
model is the one you want.

The High End Models

By the time you get up to the $400-$1,500 price range for grinders, in most
cases you're moving into the commercial world; I don't just mean commercial
parts in a consumer product - I'm talking full-blown commercial grinders
designed for light to medium (and even high volume) caf duty. Most of these
grinders are dedicated for espresso, but one, introduced in 2009, is a bit of a
game breaker because of how well it does a multipurpose job of grinding for a
variety of needs.
That grinder is the Baratza Vario. It finally hit the market in 2009 after
almost 18 months of development. This grinder has impressed the socks off
many of our forum participants, including those who have done blind taste
tests pitting the Baratza Vario against $1,500, $2,000 commercial grinders.
One of the more famous claims is that the Vario bested a Mazzer Robur, a

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nearly $2,000 grinder!

We like the Vario because of its versatility. It is extremely capable as an
espresso grinder, but you can quickly switch grind settings using the
macro/micro adjustment feature, grinding for press. Then just as quickly, you
can switch back to your espresso setting. We also like the near zero grindsretention feature. Pretty much every doser equipped grinder we talk about in
this guide retains up to 10 grams of ground coffee in their chutes between
uses. The Vario retains less than 0.5 grams. Its highly recommended as a
do-it-all home grinder.
Then there's the Mazzer Mini grinder. For a
long time I was a big fan. And as long as the
grinder was under $450, it was on my most
recommended list. The grinder is now $600,
and while it is a full blown commercial grade
grinder (compared to the Anfim Best's more
consumer build), the main reason for choosing
this grinder is probably longevity - it'll last
decades. The stepless grind selection is a big
plus as well. Many swear by this grinder.
Some may prefer the Compak K3 Touch and
Macap's Doser
Elite models of grinders. The Touch, priced at
Check out the quality in the doser
portion of the Macap. Super thick
$460 (Jan 2010), is a great grinder with
plastic, and the doser lever sweeps like
stepless grind, a mechanical timer for auto
butter.
dosing, and the option to do a single or double
dose along with always-on functions via the
touchbar and three way power switch. The Elite is the doser version and costs
about $80 more but is still cheaper than the Mazzer Mini, and very much the
Mazzer's equal.
I've also been impressed with the grinders from Macap. Their M4 model has
been on the market for the past few years but are only recently getting more
attention. They are available in both stepped and stepless models, and I'd
recommend going for the latter, unless you get a great deal on a stepped
model.
If you want to go full blown commercial grinder, I have three
recommendations for you as of this rewrite in 2010. Two models from
Compak, and one from Anfim.
The Compak K6, which comes in two flavours - the Barista model ($800) and
the regular version ($720) is a great grinder and one that I'd happily pick over
the Mazzer Major or Super Joly (at least a new, retail Super Joly). These are
full blown commercial grinders, but the size would suit the typical
$1,500-$2,000 home espresso machine. Stepless grind selection, a great
doser, and a build quality that will last several lifetimes make this an easy
choice. Considering it costs nearly half the price of a new Mazzer Major, this is
an even easier choice.
If you want ridiculous overkill, and something that even your top cafes would
drool over, there's the Compak K10 WBC model - the CoffeeGeek Lab's
primary grinder - and the grinder I have paired with my Speedster espresso
machine, the Anfim Super Caimano Titanium. I've tried pretty much every
grinder available today, and these are the two best bang for the buck super
grinders available today.
The K10 WBC is all manual, which I like. The high-resistance switch is solid
and secure for turning the grinder on and off. The doser "action" is supreme,
and easily the best I've ever used. The dosing itself into your filter basket isn't

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as good as the Anfim (the current world champ at this), but its pretty close,
and puts the doser Robur from Mazzer to shame in this regard. Of course, it is
stepless in grind selection, like all Compaks. And the K10 is crazy fast too - it'll
grind a double dose in under 5 seconds. Built like a tank, but has nice curves.
Huge, but not as huge as a Robur. At $1,400, it's expensive but considering
that Mazzer's direct competitor is $700 more, and doesn't even dose as nice,
this is the king of conical burr, doser grinders.
The Anfim Super Caimano has recently gotten a major upgrade and has one of
the most technologically advanced timers found today on a grinder - it
digitally times your dose to 1/100th a second. The doser on the Anfim is
legendary, and it started a whole trend towards "never touch the coffee"
because it doses a nice cone into your filter basket. The Anfim is actually quite
small by commercial standards - it occupies maybe half to 2/3rds the
"airspace" that the Compak K10 does - and it is a medium speed grinder. The
one I have does 18 grams in 6 seconds, which is pretty fast by any standard.
The grind selection isn't stepless, but it does offer subtle grind fineness
changes. The grinder is around $1450 as of this writing.
Any of these grinders - and frankly, almost grinder in our review section over
$400 - will deliver in the home for decades to come. These are grinders
designed to plow through 100 lbs of coffee a week and more. In the home,
you're lucky to do that much in a year.

What to look for

I used a lot of terminology in this part of the guide: stepless, stepped, doser,
micro adjustment, action, conical, flat, timer, etc etc. I know much of it can be
confusing, so here's some tips on what to look for in grinders, and what all
these terms mean.
stepless vs. stepped - this refers to how you change the grind particle sizes
your grinder spits out. Most budget grinders are what we call "stepped" meaning there's distinctive settings you click into on the grinder to go from
coarse grinding to fine, espresso grinding. Some grinders, like the Baratza
Maestro, have 40 steps in their grinding range going from espresso to press
grinds. The most expensive stepped grinder we recommend - the Anfim Super
Caimano Ti - has about 80 available steps, going from powder (turkish) to a
medium grind.
Stepless on the other hand has no set points in grind fineness - the selection
is fluid, meaning you can get (hypothetically) grind changes as little as 5 or 10
microns in sizes (that's really small!). There's mainly two types of stepless
systems. Mazzers and Compaks use resistive collars that have high friction to
keep them from moving during grinding, but your brute force is enough to
turn the collars coarser or finer. Macaps use a gear system, referred to as a
worm gear, that very gradually changes the burr height when you turn a dial.
Baratza's Vario (and soon to be released Virtuoso Preciso) bring a third system
into play - a macro and micro adjustment. One adjuster arm does big jumps
in grind selection; the other arm does much smaller adjustments (Baratza
claims they are 5-10micron adjustments) which is essentially equal to
stepless. That said, the Vario has roughly 240 different setpoints for grind
adjustment. One bonus of this is that unlike stepless adjustment systems, it is
fairly easy to remember your grind settings on the Vario, when you're jumping
back and forth between press and espresso grinds.
Doser vs. doserless - Some grinders we recommend, including the K3
Touch, are doserless grinders - you grind directly into the portafilter. A
portaholder-enabled Baratza grinder does the same thing, making them
"doserless". Other grinders have a doser - a holdover from the 1920s-1950s
era of grinder development when it wasn't understood that filling a doser

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chamber with ground coffee was detrimental to espresso beverage quality.

Grinder manufacturers to this day still don't get that the doser needs to go the
way of the dodo bird, but at the very least we have some nice improvements
to the technology. Grinders like the Anfim and Compaks dose quite nicely,
putting all your coffee into a nice even mound in the filter basket.
Doserless may seem like the way to go, but even this technology is flawed doserless grinders are very messy, leaving a lot of sprayed grounds on your
counter.
Conical and flat burrs - the budget grinders in this lineup have conical
burrs, as does one of our most expensive recommendations (the Compak K10
Conic WBC model). But the Anfim, the Vario and other grinders have flat
burrs. What is better? The jury's still out on this one. Both do a great job of
cutting up coffee for the purpose of espresso brewing. Conical burrs tend to
spin slower because of their larger cutting surface, resulting in less heat
transfer to the coffee, but the flat burr models we recommend have their own
heat-dissipating tricks as well.
Timers - some of the grinders we recommend have timers. Basic mechanical
ones (on the Baratza Maestro Plus and Virtuoso), advanced mechanical ones
(like on the K3 Touch), and advanced digital timers, like the Baratza Vario and
Anfim Super Caimano. Basically, the more advanced the timer is, the better it
is for repetition and lack of waste. The Vario basically wastes no coffee - dial
in your grind time, and from then on (as long as you don't change brand of
coffee), it will grind the near perfect amount based on your setting. The Anfim
even more so.
What boon is this? This saves you money. The Anfim Super Caimano's two
greatest benefits are its doser and its timer. The clean doser and the precise
timer means very little coffee waste for a busy cafe. Some cafes report saving
as much as 400g of coffee per day because of the Anfim grinder. 400g of
coffee saved means the grinder pays for itself in the first year, just in coffee
savings (at least in a busy cafe). For a home consumer, a high end digital
timer on a grinder means you get more shots of espresso per bag of coffee.

And a Buying Tip!

Here's one more tip for you. For many years, I had a Mazzer Super Jolly in
my Espresso Lab that I found on eBay almost brand new - but not branded as
a Mazzer Super Jolly; it had been rebranded as an Astoria "Manual" and used
less than a month. The portafilter fork was pristine, the burrs were practically
new... and I paid only $275, including shipping. The tip is this: find out under
what names the Mazzers are rebranded, and search often on eBay for those
names. The one I bid on didn't mention "Mazzer" once, and that kept the price
low.
Now I know this tip runs somewhat contrary to my advice on another page in
this guide, about treating after-sales service as an important part of your
purchase, and not ditching one vendor for another just to save $10. But in this
case, getting a $750 retail grinder for a fraction of the amount is just too good
a bit of advice to pass up. Just keep in mind that you probably won't get any
warranty or any after-sales service if you go this route.
Next Page...
Introduction | Get a good grinder | Life of Ownership | Using CG's Reviews |
Vendor Tips & Tricks | Choosing a Semi / Auto | Choosing a Manual | Accessories
to Consider
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