Baratza Plastic Encore ESP Coffee Grinder, Black

If you are seriously into coffee, then a good grinder is a must. Grinders are expensive, but are also the most important part of the brew. The Encore ESP (stands for espresso) has settings from 0 to 20 just for espresso grind sizes. Then on, for larger grinds like french press and so on. It does a good job of giving an incredibly even grind consistency, which of course, has a direct effect on the quality of your coffee. I am a espresso (black) person, so a good grinder was an inevitable buy. With the machine, you get a cleaning brush which really helps; you get two types of bins, one specifically for espresso grinds which fits into normal portafilters so there is no spillage when transferring the grounds; and if you are someone who needs finer than the finest grinds out of the box, they also provide two shims (like washers) that help you to go even finer. Practical, useful and a no-nonsense machine. Baratza recommends the setting at 15 for espresso, but personally, I found it dials in perfectly between 6 and 7. It varies by machine and technique as well, but it is imp for you to find that sweet spot for your machine where you can get a balanced shot of 1:2/2.5 in about 25 sec. There are tons of videos online, so one can check them out. From installing & removing parts; from burrs to cleaning, most of it is covered. Baratza support also have a number of good vids on their channel, covering cleaning, maintenance, shimming, etc. The attraction of cheap grinders is often difficult to avoid. But trust me, they are not worth it esp. if you are seriously into espresso. Even the TC3 does not give you the fine grind unless you are ready to toil about 50 min for a 20g output. Invest in a good grinder, and you will thank yourself every morning for the fresh tasty shot.

The perfect home grinder.

The encore ESP is a good grinder at this price point. It is consistent, not very loud with 30 grind size settings. The feed flask shakes during grinding, giving a feel of under par design. Overall build quality is good. Now, let us dwell upon the problem with this grinder: The quick release knob on top of the rotating burr becomes loose upon a single use itself. Which means the burr is now free to move up & down taking your grinding setting haywire & will give you inconsistant grind output. Looks like it is a design deficiency & the company has come up with a modified knob too. But Baratza Co. do not support this product in India and hence are ready to provide a modified knob only outside India, where they have support setup. Requested them to send it to me in India at my expense, but they just declined. But Baratza needs to address this serious shortcoming in their product being sold with old type of quick release knob. The authorised reseller in India, Blue Tokai, rang me up to assure that he will arrange the modified knob, but has not kept his word. So, I have used PTFE tape on the quick release knob bolt & tightened it, & it is working. So beware of this before purchasing it, rest is all fine with this grinder.

Absolutely disappointed. Extremely poor quality, the grinder shakes to the core when you turn it on. Broke down the very month i bought it. I must add, the service from the ‘somethings brewing team’ is the laziest i have ever seen. They repaired it after many weeks of delay and finally sent it to me, only to find it stop working the very next day. 20k+ for such a product is daylight robbery.

First things first - yes this does grind espresso level fine coffee but be aware that it may not do so out of the box. 1) you may have to add a shim (2 are provided) or 2) you may have to recalibrate by opening the case (video available at baratza site) 1 star deducted from the review for this reason.

Good product. Easy to use I will share my experiences after using few more months.

After the Normcore manual grinder, this Baratza is just perfect. It’s a little noisy, but that’s what I expected. Also, at first it didn’t grind the coffee finely enough, so I had to take it apart and add some extra metal rings (they’re included when you buy it); now it works perfectly.

0 problems. Works very well. You can also clean it quite easily

Muele a la perfección y lo hace estupendamente para expreso. Con la regulación fina que tiene puede adaptarse la molienda a los distintos tipos de grano y de tostado. El ajuste es comodísimo, simplemente girando la tolva, que está graduada, con lo que siempre puedes volver a un ajuste previo. Encima tiene tan poca retención que puede usarse perfectamente como dosis única, claro está que para ello precisa de una báscula auxiliar. De los dos depósitos de molido que tiene únicamente es operativo el grande, porque si usas el pequeño, algo de polvo se vierte fuera y mancha la mesa. El grande es perfecto para moler y luego verter sobre el cacillo, ya que los ángulos facilitan el vertido. En mi modesta opinión no hace falta un molino más caro; es más, viendo lo bien que se desenvuelve este, abrigo la sospecha de que en los foros hay más vendedores que usuarios, ya que siempre están recomendando lo más caro y cambiando cada poco tiempo, lo que es absurdo hacer para un simple aficionado.

C'est mon tout premier moulin électrique mais je suis comblé ! Tout le monde le répète, le moulin c'est le plus important dans un bon espresso, mais un bon moulin, c'est assez rapidement très cher ! J'avais donc trouvé ce modèle qui avait l'air d'addresser un bon rapport qualité/prix. Et au final très ravi, on peut descendre super finement dans la taille, je règle tout le temps entre 0 et 10 pour mes espressos et ça fait la diff, rien qu'en moulant à cette précision l'odeur est nettement plus marqué qu'un réglage plus épais ! Sinon niveau bruit, on monte jusqu'à 90dB, ce qui parraît assez élevé comme ça mais en réalité ça va, et de toute façon ça moud 10sec max. Et puis la marque ne fait aucune promesse de volume sonore donc rien à juger ici. Bref, si vous voulez vous faire de vrais espressos, c'est le moulin "abordable" qu'il vous faut. Honnêtement il ne faut pas une moulure plus épaisse que 10 si vous comptez utiliser un porte filtre bottomless.

Ho preso questo Baratza Encore ESP per usarlo insieme alla mia Breville Bambino e l'accoppiata funziona alla grande. All'inizio, però, ho riscontrato un problema di cui si parla spesso online: anche impostando il livello più basso, la macinatura non era abbastanza fine per un vero espresso. Como ho risolto il problema del macinato grosso: Per via delle diverse linee di produzione, a volte il macinino esce di fabbrica con solo 5 spessori (shim) sotto la macina invece di 6. È bastato smontare il blocco e aggiungere lo spessore mancante, che si trova già nella bustina degli accessori inclusi nella confezione. Da quel momento ha iniziato a funzionare alla perfezione. Ora, a seconda dei giorni e dei chicchi, mi muovo tranquillamente tra le tacche 10 e 15 ottenendo una polvere ideale per i filtri single wall. I punti di forza: Manutenzione a lungo termine: Questo sistema di spessori è comodissimo per il futuro, perché permetterà di compensare l'usura delle macine nel corso degli anni semplicemente riaggiustandoli. Solidità: È una macchina robusta e senza fronzoli elettronici inutili. Pulizia: La ritenzione è minima e si pulisce in un attimo. In conclusione: se vi sembra che non stringa abbastanza il macinato, non fate il reso, basta aggiungere lo spessore incluso.