Vario-W 986

I had a vario, 886, and upgraded it to steel burrs. I really enjoyed it and being able to also do espresso. But I found that I got more rounded notes and changed it up to try and seek out those specific flavor notes. Ultimately a personal preference

I wanted to upgrade my setup from a manual conical grinder to an electric grinder. Having heard about taste profiles of flat burrs, i was curious. Reading reviews i found anything below 300€ was more or less unusable. I didn't want to go for start ups or chinese companies, fearing two or three years down the line i wouldn't be able to get support or spare parts. So the used market it was. Browsing around i found i could get a Baratza/Mahlkönig Vario from 2015 for ~100€. Reading up on it, it has alot of Potential for tune ups (alicorn alignment) and spare parts were still readily available and cheap. Seller said, that the burrs were worn and it couldn't grind espresso as good as it used to. Upon receiving it, i did a test grind on the finest setting and saw, that indeed, it was alot coarser than i expected. It also made a very uneven sound while grinding. Reading on Mahlkönig website, the ceramic burrs should be good for 2000kg of coffee. I reconed it must be something else. So i tore the whole machine down. I was suprised, how much ground and also whole beens where inside the back (where the angry electrons and spinny bits live). Also there was a lot of carbon deposit from the motor brushes. I cleaned everything and found my first culprit. The belt has lost some teeth in one place. I bought the replacement belt+pulley kit for 15€. Swapped both, added new grease and it was running smooth again. Regarding the grind size, it seemed the calibration screw had backed out. I removed it and screwed it back in with some yarn wrapped around the threads. I did the alicorn alignment procedure and where back to a suprisingly silent flat burr grinder for 115€. Shots taste great so far and looking at the condition of the parts inside, it should easily last another 5 years.

The smell of 10year old rancid coffee the whole time working on it was kinda gross tho

A burr grinder is far superior to a blade grinder without question. And don't cheap out. A good burr grinder will last you for many years. I purchased my Baratza Vario-W(built-in scale for consistent grind and weight) over 15 years ago and it is still going strong. It wasn't a cheap date, but I have absolutely no regrets. HTH

I don’t have issues switching between grinds with the vario-w. Just change the grind when running and there aren’t beans in the hopper. I’m not storing beans in the hopper anyway. 

You may be able to find a used Baratza Vario-W around that price. The ceramic burrs are not recommended for multipurpose use, so if you're interested in more than espresso or want to pull something more modern, try to find the steel burrs instead.

The baratza vario w can do either espresso well or the others well - but doesnt not switch between them well. The answer for me was to have two of them! one for espresso - one for everything else.

Same setup here…except I’ve got the Baratza Vario-W. If I were to do it again, I’d skip the Vario-W and get the Encore.