Breville - Dose Control Pro

Original Encore is not suitable for espresso. Only the more expensive ESP version is. K6 will be **much** better than any electric at your price range, including the Dose Control. If you don't mind a bit of a workout, go for it!

So I have the breville pro grinder. Totally new to espresso and curious what a better/higher costing grinder gets me? More finite settings?

That’s my thought for now. Unless I get way more into this I could see myself upgrading for it. Good to know the options and the differences for a small price bump for a grinder

Ive got a Casa brews 4700Gense-02 plus a breville coffee grinder pro plus bottomless porta filter a good tamper and wdt tool. Puck screen or paper filters - atlas coffee subscription for always fresh beans - the 4700 is more automated than my prevous delongi and find it really nice. I usually do americano with touch of almond cream - perfect - and latte on this are perfect as well.

Whole beans, usually purchased locally, grind my own at time of use. I used a $20 hand grinder for years and years before I finally pulled the trigger on a basic Breville electric grinder, but honestly that's just so I can get down to espresso ground fineness easier, it's not necessary for most applications. I tend to try random beans from roasters all over the area or when I travel. If you're not picky or adventurous, Costco often has very paletable Lavaza beans in bulk that you can always freeze to make them last.

Get a used grinder on marketplace for sure. Oxo and Breville are the bare minimum, but if you see a sub-$50 Baratza, that’s even better. If you don’t want to then start buying more beans, just resell it yourself when you finish the bag. Anything lower-end than those and I wouldn’t bother. Blade grinders ruin beans, as do super cheap “burr” grinders like Cuisinart and Shardor. As far as storage, if you brew coffee daily, I’d just keep them in a resealable container (with a “burp” valve if possible; old bags from previous coffee purchases should work) in a cool and dry place.

We got a cheap breville grinder for our decaf that worked perfectly for the like 3-5 shots of decaf pulled a day. That way it’s still freshly ground beans perfectly dialed in to the decaf beans.

Its simply that its a niche interest and people are willing to pay to enjoy their hobbies. Add on top of that the "Apple effect" and you'l find most suggestions to be quite expensive. My suggestion is to just buy used, and if your any good with your hands look into "broken" items on ebay i got my Breville grinder for like 15$ because someone thought it was busted when in reality a bean was stuck in the gears.

I love my Aeropress. It was my main coffee making method for years. My Yama syphon brewer has replaced it for most daily coffees, but I still use it when I want something quick or a little smaller volume of coffee. I just bought my first espresso machine so that’s getting a lot of use currently, but I drink a lot of coffee and don’t want to pull 5 double shots in a row every morning. The tricky part is you need a grinder too. Aeropress and a Breville grinder would work and is less than $100, but you may not have a kettle available. A decent electric kettle is very helpful. It’s less necessary for a Moka pot or syphon brewer, they typically use a gas stove (get a cast iron heat dispersion plate if you go syphon to make sure you don’t overheat the glass with direct flame). My advice boils down to Aeropress if you have a good way to heat water already, Moka pot if you don’t, syphon may be an option too but might go over budget when combined with a grinder. Edit to add: I’m a big fan of lattes when I make them with real espresso, but find that the volume of milk required is too much with the other methods. Try heavy cream instead. You can still whip/froth it before or after adding it to coffee, but you only need a little and it adds a sweetness that is enough for me not to need anything else. I fill a 1.1L thermos every day before work with syphon brewed medium roast Columbia coffee and about 1/4 cup of heavy cream poured in.