Baratza - Encore ESP

I’ve had my Baratza Encore grinder since 2023 and been using it everyday since. Do I need to replace the burrs?

Another vote. We use it daily for the past 2 years. Got it for $100 from Crate & Barrel on sale.

$100 for Baratza at C&B sure was a deal and I am glad you grabbed one for the same. High five!! Costco did bring in a coffee grinder, but I never saw one in person here in YEG.

Encore Esp is a workhorse. It just works without a fuss.

Encore esp is pretty awesome for the price.

I am pretty sure the esp has the M burr which is touted as an upgrade. That said, you can swap in the M burr and it used to be priced around 45 usd if you could find it.

The encore has been a fantastic grinder for me for at least 4-5 years. Still a bit pricey but you buy it once and never have to worry about it again.

1. Manual grinders are not that bad if you're grinding for 1 cup. But not timemore c2. Get something long lasting like kingrinder k6, 1zpresso, etc. 2. In addition to being electric, electric grinders bring a level of consistency in brewing process. Hand grinder output can change based on how fast you're rotating, what angle you're holding the grinder at, etc. But if you must get an electric, dont cheap out. Cheap grinders will not grind fine and consistent enough to be respectable. The bare minimum is bartaza encore esp or the best budget being df54.

If you just want one, get a decent coffee burr that can do fine & coarse. Might cost more but you won’t hate your first latte or espresso. If I had to pick: Baratza Encore or Breville Smart Grinder Pro.

Start with the Encore. It's more than good enough for batch filter coffee. I used an Ode 2 for years and I can't say I was ever too impressed with it.

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..

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.