Eureka - Mignon Silenzio 55

I just upgraded from a Breville smart grinder pro to a eureka mignon silenzio 55mm (approx $600 CAD if you shop around), and I’ve noticed a significant difference in the quality of my espressos…. Really good value for money and also just looks really cool imo.  I’m currently using Breville dual boiler espresso machine.  The upgrade from conical burrs in the smart grinder pro to 55mm flat burrs in the silenzio has resulted in noticeably softer/fluffy and uniform grinds.  The adjustment on the silenzio allows you to really dial in your shots, and while the analog timer isn’t the greatest, it saved me ~$150 for the next model up (eureka specialita).  Just make sure you use a scale to measure your grinds and espresso pulls to get the right ratio!   The only real downside with the silenzio is if you want to switch from espresso to a much more coarse grind (ex: French press), it’s a big pain in the a$ with the dial… the Breville smart grinder pro is much easier with its digital display and adjuster.  I’m only making espresso these days though, so I will only make minor adjustments to the silenzio when changing to a different bean. Best of luck!

I'm happy with my Eureka Mignon Silenzio 55, though I do not have anything to really compare it to.

Yep, I have two eureka mignons. One is the silenzio for espresso, the other is their filter grinder. Especially with the dial on the mignons, I got fed up redialling when I wanted to swap between brew types. Heck, I’d almost buy a third for a ‘guest bean’ 😂

I think they’re great, I upgraded from a baratza encore. Sometimes on the finer end, the silenzio has some clumping. But that’s just me being a bit off on dialling in. My only real complaint is the dial has a very high learning curve in my opinion

I started with a Flair and 1Zpresso Pro and felt that I was making good espresso with decent consistency. Then I upgraded my machine to a Rancilio Sylvia Pro X and my shots got a little better. I finally got tired of hand grinding so I picked up a Eureka Minion Silenzio and, WOW! Not only are these shots better than anything I previously pulled, they are super consistent. I can pull shot after shot after shot and they all come out amazing, and the same. So to answer your question, it’s consistency. Consistent grind size, consistent heat, and consistent pressure. Precision is expensive. If you have any variability in any of those then you will have variability in your shot.

4 - Eureka Mignon Libra for espresso, Eureka Mignon Silenzio for decaf, and two hand grinders for pour over and travel

I make pour over and espresso daily, and I use separate grinders. Dialing in a grinder for espresso is a chore on its own, and switching between espresso and pour over grind twice a day is just not something I want to do. Grinding for pour over by hand is easy, so I stick to a manual grinder for that and only use an electric grinder for espresso. I have Comandante C40 MK3 and Eureka Mignon Silenzio. 

Eureka Mignon. I would not go cheaper than that ($200-$250 for an espresso grinder). edit: reasons to go with Eureka: you get a consistent grind. easy to clean, easy to disassemble, easy to replace parts and replacement parts are available. reasons to go no less than $200-$250 for any grinder: below that you just won’t get a consistent grind which will be frustrating as you learn to make espresso and ultimately cost you a lot of money in beans. for brewing coffee it doesn’t matter but for espresso it really does.

Ode2 and Baratza Encores are the buy once for AP/PO. I’ve had my Encore for years pushing AP or doing the occasional PO. I also have a Eureka for espresso and 1z JX Pro, but once you go electric, it’s a luxury. I only take the manual when travelling or at our cottage.

Yes, I think they are great. Much less retention than the Mignon we originally bought & then returned. Easy to adjust, reliable. We use it for decaf, V60 & filter in a small cafe.

Have owned all the grinders on your list, at one point or another. Agree that Duo might be your best bet. Ability to play with other 83mm burrs is a good hedge against future curiosity. Recommend getting second (filter) burr option, because having the extra carrier for fast(ish) swaps is nice. Cannot recommend the Eurekas. Good build, very pretty, but burrs are proprietary and the grind chamber/chute design is antediluvian. Fine for hopper base on-demand grinding, but crap for single dosing. Even with the mods (tilted base, bellows), retention is terrible. Eureka’s attempts at single-dosing focused grinders are not honest efforts. Just a new model name and superficial accessories. And their new dial is just…stupid. Still not enough ratio to overcome the thread lash in their adjustment screw. The rev counter is nice enough, but a big dial like [this](https://www.amazon.com/ARO-EspressoTM-Eureka-Mignon-Adjustments/dp/B0CLCB8VQ6/ref=asc_df_B0CLCB8VQ6) is much more effective (and not stupid looking, imho) Libra portafilter contact sensor was unreliable. I heard they fixed it, but I had given up already and moved on. When it worked, it was…ok. Weight accuracy wasn’t bad, but irrelevant because it was a hot mess of sprayed grounds. RDT absolutely necessary in my environment (20-50%RH over the year), but the extra moisture caused caking/clogging in the chute. From a taste perspective…it’s ok. Blendy, decent body, not a lot of clarity. Little unkempt and harsh. Good in milk drinks. Niches — good workflow, probably among the best, even compared against titan grinders at 5x the price. Personally, not a fan of Mazzer burrs. Harsh and bitter finish. The Zero doesn’t have any options for their 63mm conical, so you’re kinda stuck. The stock Duo espresso burr was, to me, a cleaner version of Zero profile. Other options: Mazzer Philos. The grinder itself is a bit pricey, and rumor has it that the i200D and 189D burrs are big improvements over Mazzer traditional flavor profile — but it’s a good platform for 64mm burr space, where you are spoilt for choice and the burrs are cheaper than 83mm. Hope that helps

The Eureka Mignon series will grind to the 190-195 micron range depending on which model.

I got a home grinder initially so that my coffee wouldn’t go stale as fast.  Whole beans last longer than preground.  Part of the bonus was, hopefully, that I could buy a larger bag for cheaper and still get good coffee for less money per cup. Then I got better at dialing in my grind size and getting the smoothest flavor I could, so now rather than spending ten dollars per kilo of commodity-grade coffee, I’m happy spending twenty per 300g of specialty coffee. 🤣 For the same money, you’ll get much better grind quality in a hand grinder than you would for electric.  Get a Timemore or 1ZPresso and it’ll rival electric grinders costing double or triple as much.  It’ll take a bit longer, but with the modern class of hand grinders, you’re only looking at maybe 45 seconds for a 3-cup pot without working very hard (which is much better than multiple minutes in a Hario Skerton). In electric grinders, the bare minimum I’d recommend would be an Oxo or a Baratza.  But I’d rather step up to, say, the DF54, Eureka Mignon series, Urbanic, and some others.

Neither the Shardor, Hibrew, or Casabrews are likely to meet your requirement for a 5 year life. The Baratza ESP has the best build quality of any device on your list, but you can still do better. I'd suggest a Gaggia Classic E24 for the machine, and one of the Eureka Mignon grinders. These are high quality products that should last forever if well taken care of. I wouldn't give a lot of credence to the Amazon reviews. Many people buy espresso equipment (especially Breville) without realizing how difficult it is to learn to use. They get rapidly frustrated, blame their problems on the machine, and give it a poor review. Feedback from this sub and other coffee/espresso forums is much more relevant than Amazon ratings.

You might be able to pick up a second hand Eureka Mignon for around that price, that's what I did.

https://www.espressocoffeeshop.com/en/8-coffee-grinders Entry level Eureka is only around 200usd. Email and ask them for a coupon code, you’ll very likely get one. Excellent grinder, will make a huge difference.

I have, they are nice

Eureka Mignon has a few options, though they’ll sit right at that 250-300 price point. They’re very solid, good looking, and can do both espresso and drip with enough hopper capacity.

Have a look at the Rocket or ECM line of espresso machines. As for grinders, I love the eureka mignon line, and mazzer. 2+K is an easy spend for a home set up. I'm sitting around 3500 now.

Your budget is fine. You can easily get a good grinder that will do both, which generally means grind fine enough for espresso as that is the more demanding. Most people prefer, for multiple types of coffee making (esp. pour over and espresso), flat burrs. Just a preference thing, conical burrs can still work well with pour-over, it is just that classical people look for greater clarity with pour-over. The best answer is two grinders, one conical and one flat, but that is luxury, however, given how good and inexpensive conical hand grinders are now, that can make for a best of both worlds solution. One key question is if you want to single-dose or hopper feed. The workflow is different with pros and cons of either way. It is just a preference thing. Most people on this sub seem to be single-dosing (inc. me), just be aware that may not be what you prefer. If it was me, I would get a good budget flat electric grinder like the Turin DF54 or the Fellow, and a conical hand-grinder (a Kingrinder, Timemore or 1zpresso). If I wanted to favour espresso and only do pour-over occasionally, I would look at a grinder like the Option O Casa. Finally, if you want to go with a hopper grinder, the Eurekas models are worth looking at. As a small tip - pay attention to the noise level of the electric grinder, if you are noise sensitive. Some of them can be annoyingly loud. Hope it makes sense and helps.