TIMEMORE - Sculptor 064S

I have a (kinda old) Baratza Virtuoso, Ode Gen2 and Timemore 064S. You can't grind for espresso with the Ode. The 064S is just a bit fiddly for espresso because the available range is compressed/coarse -- but I use mine every day. My Baratza experience is "emergency use only" but a friend is quite happy with the ESP (filter/drip).

great grinder, but i don't think they can be had for under USD$550 anymore, post Kickstarter, no?

On my bar currently is a Fellow Ode, Baratza Vario, and a Timemore 064s. Had SSP cast in the 064 but probably swapping them to the Ode now. All that to say, I could have just one of any of these and be perfectly happy. Timemore is probably my favorite as far as quality and workflow, plus it can genuinely pull double duty. Ode is great but obviously you’re not getting espresso there. Vario is an old design with clunky workflow but the burrs are great—in fact, the Mahlkonig X54 is essentially just an updated Vario. All these are great grinders.

The Ode is hot garbage, get the Sculptor kids.

I'm pretty happy with my Timemore 064s. I got it early on at a promo price about a year ago. I use it almost exclusively for espresso. I had a PCB go up on me recently and Timemore sent me a replacement. The replacement took a couple of "back & forth's" and the first replacement they sent was the wrong PCB so there can be some communication issues with these folks. All in all I still like my 064s. No regrets. I have a Niche Zero also which I like too.

Don't know if my incident is any evidence that "they are having problems". My occurrence is probably just a random event. If there's any "problem" I think it's some communication issues and from my experience it's not horrible, just a little frustrating.

About 0.1-0.2 grams of retention is what I’m getting with a 064s too, and at least some of that just gets stuck to a dosing cup and to inner walls of the grinder nozzle, and is easily removed by the blower they included with the unit. I don’t think that that stuff exchanges though, as after going from a pourover grind to an espresso setting, I get the exact extraction time/yield both on the first shot, and on consecutive ones.

Super happy with my sculptor 64s

The obvious answer would be the DF64v, the DF64's slimmer and prettier sister. I'm not in love with the wooden block for the catch cup to sit on, it's weird that they didn't stick with the tried and true forks, but it's undeniably a lot closer to the sleek elegance of the lagom P64. The other 64mm flat option but in a different form factor would be the timemore sculptor 064S. Quite a good looking machine imo, by all accounts very good, although a bit more of a pain than most to gain access to the burr chamber.

yeah something's wrong here. I saw so many more recommendations for timemore 064s in this sub which led me to buy it

Both are excellent for and really geared toward filter/pour over. They can handle mom’s pot but not true espresso. Low end of Ode Gen 2 is around 250-300 microns and 078 is 370. The 078S and 064S can both grind finder and do True espresso. But from everything I gather, those birds don’t produce as good of a pour over cup. I had actually ordered the 078S first because I wanted to future proof it if I ever got into espresso, but ended up returning it without opening the box because I got a lot of feedback that it wasn’t as good for pour over. For what you’re looking for, Ode Gen 2 will give you most bang for your buck and pretty great price-quality ratio. The 078 is incredible and a noticeable improvement over the the Ode Gen 2, but it is basically twice the price - and the cups aren’t twice as good. Still worth it in my opinion.

I'm happy with my Timemore 64s, I backed it on Kickstarter. Super low retention, great grind size distribution, great cups. I only wish it was easier to clean. (I haven't cleaned it yet...)

Have u considered a timemore 064s that's what i use for both filter and espresso and i love it. can't see that it's been mentioned on this thread. It is my first electric grinder though so nothing really to compare it too but I find going from filter to espresso reasonably easy on it

Really easy honestly I love it. yeah 1 or 2 beans may get stuck u just push them in with your finger. Lance has it quite high up his list of grinders the main reason I went for it was because I wanted to do both espresso and filter had it 2 months now and no regrets at all

I'm rocking a timemore 064s that I use for both and love it i use it for espresso v60 and clever dripper

Love my sculptor. Paying that much for aesthetics alone is pretty rough though lol

I already have a K6 and a Sculptor 064s respectively. They're not super fancy but I've no complaints. Genuinely have no idea what I would choose if given the option, because I don't know (and frankly, don't want to know) how much better it can get from here lol

Not gonna lie, with this budget I would stick to the 064s and put in SSPs that go well with your taste preferences! Or stretch it a bit (double) and get the Zerno Z1! You will get the best grinder around for around 2k shipping + duty included Under 1k, you could upgrade to the 078, but that's not worth the hassle of resselling + buying again. And you get the same grinder quality, just bigger. So at your place I would keep the 064 and get new burrs if you want to experiment around and unlock "new" (more different) highs.

Give a shot to the Comandante C40 + Red Clix—each click is like 15 µm and I can grind down to ~120 µm, awesome for Turkish. Too much arm work? The Timemore Sculptor 064 S with the ultra burrs does around 170 µm electricly. I run both with my SAKI electric cezve, cup comes super clean. Good luck!

Ode and Sculptor are IMO different price brackets and while they are both flagship-level for their price range one is clearly better than the other (Sculptor > Ode). The Ode is a great grinder for it's bracket and you can regularly find it for <300 but its not going to make as good a cup as the Sculptor if you are price indifferent between the two. BTW i think the ssp upgrade for the Ode is not worth it as the stock gen 2 burrs are very competitive.

Timemore Sculptor 64s / 64, Baratza Encore ESP Pro, DF64, and the Mahlkonig X64SD (read about the duty cycle before going for the X64SD). The Timemore Sculptor 64s might be a better choice than the Fellow Ode 2 or Opus. It’s got excellent reviews and costs about the same as the Ode 2. It’s rated for everything from Espresso to Cold Brew. The burrs are 64mm so you can find replacements easily or upgrade to SSP burrs. There’s also the Sculptor 64, which will grind for everything except espresso. The Sculptor’s footprint and design is about the same as the Ode. The ESP pro and Sculptor are probably the best of the lot.

Thanks! I’m leaning more towards the 64 because of the price, dimensions and burr size.

Df64 gen 2 or ode 1/2 with the right burrs can be a very capable choice…same can be said for an 064 or any other decent 64 platform. For hand grinders it has to be zp6 or pietro I would imagine. Pietro would be out of the budget range but either could be found used also.

I would second the 064, or recommend the 078. The 078’s turbo burrs provide excellent pourover and machine coffee, while being able to hit espresso too. If you realllly want to focus more on espresso the 078s is great while still being able to pump out pretty good drip

The 078 is better for filter, and I assume the same with the 064. The S has burrs geared more towards espresso and has a different step down on the dial. I would not hesitate to get the 078 with turbo burrs again!

Check out the Timemore Sculptor 064 or the 078s if you can stretch, great for filter, low retention, and built for light roast clarity

Timemore sculptor 064 or 064S. Slightly more expensive but auger fed and vertically mounted and overall nicer feel. I will say though, I thought my DF54 would be super ugly but it's surprisingly not that bad looking in person.

And I fully agree. If you have 250 € and absolutely cannot go above it - yes, it is. But OP asks about 500£ budget. There are plenty of interesting options here, even Timemore 064 can fit there if you are lucky with price.

# **Without philosophizing in the answer, you have two options: a handgrinder, or electric grinder.** — ## **🔹 Hand Grinders** ### **High-End Options:** - **1Zpresso K-Ultra** – External adjustment, versatile for both pourover & espresso. - **1Zpresso J-Max** – 8.8-micron steps, optimized for espresso but handles pourover. - **Kinu M47 Phoenix / Classic** – Precise & durable, great for both. - **Comandante C40 MK4** – Ideal for pourover; needs *Red Clix* for better espresso dialing. - **Timemore Chestnut S3** – Stepless adjustment, more suited for pourover. - **1Zpresso ZP6** – Produces ultra-clean grinds, excelling in filter brews. ### **Mid-Range Options:** - **1Zpresso JX-Pro** – Espresso-friendly with finer adjustments than JX. - **Timemore Chestnut C3 ESP** – Budget option with espresso-compatible burrs, decent for pourover. - **1Zpresso X-Pro** – Compact, external adjustment, slower but espresso-capable. — ## **⚡ Electric Grinders** ### **High-End Options:** - **Mahlkönig EK43** – The gold standard in specialty coffee shops. - **Weber EG-1** – Premium single-dose grinder for all brew methods. - **Lagom P100** – High-performance, SSP burr options for precision grinding. ### **Mid-Range / Prosumer Options:** - **DF64 Gen 2 / DF64P / DF64E** – Affordable single-dose grinders, great for both. - **Niche Zero** – Top-tier single-dose grinder for espresso & pourover. - **Eureka Mignon Specialita** – Stepless adjustment, solid for espresso & can handle pourover. - **Fellow Opus** – Budget-friendly, designed for both espresso & filter brewing. - **Baratza Vario+ / Sette 270** – Great entry-level grinders with micro-adjustments for espresso. - **Timemore Sculptor 078 / 064S** – New contenders with solid grind consistency. ### **Budget-Friendly Options:** - **Fellow Ode Gen 2** (Needs *SSP burrs* for espresso) – Excellent for pourover, but needs mods for espresso. - **Baratza Encore ESP** – Beginner-friendly with stepped adjustments. - **Eureka Mignon Crono** – Simple & effective for both espresso & filter. — 🔎 **Check reviews before buying**—grind quality & user experience vary. Preferences are subjective!

Grinder: Try pour over with your solito first. If it leaves you wanting, try the timemore sculptor.  Kettle: Timemore fish smart or Brewista Artisan Brewing Scale: Hario Polaris or Maestri S3 Hario V60: get your favorite color (Whether in glass, porcelain, or plastic is up to you) Filter: Timemore Server: Kinto Oct, Kinto Sepia, or Timemore Drinking Vessel: Duralex Picardie 310 ml

Handgrinding for espresso is suck given form. Unless you practice some sort of self harm, I would suggest getting motorized grinder. With grinders, riddle me this: Do you want to single dose or do you want your dosing to be done by your grinder? If you want to single dose, get the sculptor. If you want your grinder to dose for yourself, get Eureka, preferably one of the bigger ones. Or, if you want the option to hand grind while also not needing to hand grind, Goat Story makes hand grinder with motorized stand.

that really depends on the grinder, i have no issue with the timemore sculptor series. but static can also be helped a lot by a small spritz of water on the beans before grinding. I'd still rather have a but more maintenance than the cost of replacing both grinder and machine when something breaks and the general worse price to quality ratio of combo machines

Just change the 1z for the timemore electric. Nobody likes manually grinding coffee firsr thing in the morning

I know it's months later and you probably already figure out the best grinder for your needs, but I have to mention for future buyers needing advice, that everyone here replying totally ignored your question which specifically asked for the best grinder for dark roast. Ode 2, the electrical Timemore, ZP6, etc are not good, they're light roast dedicated and they excel at that. That being said, why do you want anything other than your Encore for dark roast? You're not getting good results? The Encore is excellent for your needs, the more expensive ones are dedicated for light roasts and for one, they will result in a bad tasting dark roast, and second, they will get issues line clogging and require high maintenance with dark roast beans. The only thing I would get to complement the Encore would be a manual grinder for portability and variety, you would do good with a 1Zpresso J Ultra or Timemore C3