TIMEMORE - Sculptor 078S

1zpresso Q is in your price range and makes the best coffee for the price ($109 before tax and shipping). I use the Q for my travel coffee kit because it’s really small- which is also its con- it only holds about 20g of beans which is only enough for 1 person. If he wants to make someone else coffee too, he just has to grind-dump-grind again. For a stay at home coffee station I would suggest the 1zpresso ZP6 for a real modern style of coffee, it’s almost unmatched for the price. or for something a bit more traditional with less clarity but gaining the ability to grind fine enough for espresso, I would go with the 1zpresso K-Ultra. The ZP6 and K-Ultra are bigger than the Q which is nice because I make coffee for my partner and myself every day and so I only have to grind once, but I will say, the burs in the Q have a more pleasing quality for pourover coffee than the K-Ultra, even though it’s cheaper and smaller. If you can go a tiny bit out of your budget at around $209 you can get the best pour over coffee grinder zp6 or at $259 you can get the best all rounder (espresso/pour over) K-Ultra. I have to say, grinding espresso on a hand grinder is kind of annoying so I would stick with the ZP6 and when he wasn’t an espresso grinder get an stemless electric flatbur like the timemore 078s. Good luck!

I think the only way you’ll know if they are too close is to brew them both to what you prefer. If they can both do that, then the answer is yes, if they can’t… well… does the 078 have the variable rpm like the s model? If so, that can change some stuff and the ode can also take other burrs more easily… so there is that.

Which burrs in the 078 do you have? The turbos, ssp or the earliest original version? I have a 078s and use the ssp lab sweets v2 in my ode1 so i am not sure i can provide that real specific assistance you are looking for. My wife already complains about the dial in when i swap burrs in the ode every couple of months. Just gotta A - B and see if you can tell the difference when you are using your preferred brewer and beans.

FWIW I’ve got the 078s and just got into pour over and it’s been great for that (in my limited experience). I can’t imagine getting an entirely separate grinder for nuanced differences. But I definitely understand that people are into that.

For both espresso and pourover with a budget of $900, I highly recommend looking at the [Timemore Sculptor 078S ](https://www.amazon.com/TIMEMORE-Sculptor-Electric-Coarseness-Adjustment/dp/B0DNZ3SKCN). It's a solid flat burr grinder that is an excellent value proposition considering the quality you get. Things I like... + Flavor separation (especially in espresso) is the best you are going to get for under $900. + The sliding chute, fines knocker, and magnetic catch cup are great QoL improvements. + The build quality is superb. It's a cast all-metal body. As a result, it's somewhat heavy, which may not be ideal for some. For me, I absolutely love it. + It's remarkably quiet. Perfect if you don't want to wake up others when brewing coffee in the morning. Things I don't like... - The small hopper makes larger batches more challenging. I still keep my Sette 30 ➡️ 270 conical burr grinder to make cold brew every week. I also use a 3D printed a hopper extension for french press when we have several folks over wanting coffee. - Disassembly is somewhat more difficult compared to many other grinders. Recommend picking up a bottle of Grindz for routine cleanings in lieu of full disassembly. - 78mm flat burrs are not a common size and may limit future upgradability. I upgraded from the Niche and it's been my daily driver for over a year now. I have zero regrets and no desire to upgrade to anything else, after trying some grinders that are twice the price without any improvement.

I had a ton of success with the baratza encore, but it is probably better suited for espresso and not pour overs. After upgrading to the sculptor 78s, I realized the encore produced a ton of fines even at the coarse settings I used for pour overs.

I should also add .. I’m not sure “a ton of fines” is accurate. It definitely produced less uniform grinds than, say, the sculptor (visually obvious, not just suspicion). It also had poor retention so I had to add a bellow.

I use a 078s with LeBrew Sweet Burrs and a Crema loop slow feeder for both Pourover and espresso. For PO I'll take off the slow feeder and set it to 18 to get the grind size I need. You could technically go the other way, although 078 will not grind fine enough for classic espresso shots (only turbo gushers or soup)

Ha. Fellow Vivace enthusiast. Was the bean that started it all for me. Here we go: - Niche has great workflow but lamentable for pour over and lighter roasts. Don’t like the Mazzer conical, personally, for much of anything. Bitter, ashy finish and grainy texture. Vivace used to run Niches in shop and I always felt I could do better with a rolling pin and mortar and pestle at home. - Timemore 064s — good build, stock burrs are not bad for espresso and filter. I just spend a coupla months pulling Vivace+Lusso shots with it, alongside H&S ultralight pourovers. Been great. There’s also a plethora of options in 64mm space, sounds like Cast LS v3 might be for you and the wife. Burr swaps not the most straightforward on the 064s, but doable for the slightly mechanically inclined. - 078s is good but I am not a fan of proprietary burr sizes; not a lot of choices yet in 78mm. - DFs are a crap shoot in quality. - Philos - huge, well built. You can replace the burrs, but auger and fixed rpm are tuned for the mazzer i200 and i189 burrs. Which are fine if you like them. - Z1 next best choice in 64mm, but pricey and unobtainium. - Eurekas - avoid like the plague. Antediluvian burr chamber design. High retention. Stupid stupid stupid stupid burr adjustment mechanism, yes even the new one. Dialing in is frustrating, never mind switching between filter and espresso settings. Burrs are proprietary and are ok if you like dark chocolate + nuts. Never mind filter coffee, yikes. Re: used market - usual places. /r/coffeeswap. Home-Barista. FB marketplace. EAF Discord, but you gotta put in frequent flier miles. DM me, I can help you out. Re: Vectis - had a janky early build that needed lots of fixes and some significant modding. - But eventually, made the best coffee for me day to day. Easily preferred it to the LMLM, and even the Slayer, sometimes. Have fun

I have a 078s and don't really like it for pourover. My main issue is 1) interchangeability of grind settings. When going from coarse to fine, you will get stuck a few times when adjusting down to the espresso settings. Just have to be patient with this but too much work for the cup of pourover 2) don't really like the cup I'm getting with 078s, I'm not an expert but I prefer cups from my Zp6. My 078s is now exclusively for espresso or moka pot

This grinder isn't 0 retention so there is bound to be Coffee grounds left between the burrs after each grind. The coarse coffee powder tend to get stuck in between the burrs as I am adjusting to finer setting. That's because when I turn the burrs closer together, the coarse powder get jarred in between the burr. The grinder will need to grind them down to the size before you can turn it further. So you have to repeat this process until you reach the final espresso setting. Luckily the motor on the 078s is strong enough so there shouldn't be any issues. But there is a slight risk if you are using greasy dark roast, you might jam the grinder and stall the motor.

Yea that's what I'm doing. You are not supposed to adjust grinder when it is stationary precisely because you will cause it to get stuck more. But even so, I have to do 2-3 adjustments before reaching espresso

Sadly the turin DF lineup is the best that you can afford in that price point. You'll get sick of hand grinding fast. Especially if you start to like the medium light to light roasts. So I don't recommend hand grinding long term. But you are running out of options in the budget space I don't like the plastic internals or noise levels of the Baratza grinders and too many others in the $200 price range are no better. If you are truly looking for a buy once and cry once with higher quality of life features and you don't want a turin or miicoffee DF style of grinder then you're looking at vertical burrs and $600 to $800 minimum. Like a timemore 64s or 78s.

This list seems somehow outdated, and is missing some important items, that are popular and offering a great value. Hand grinders: **Kingrinder K6, K2, K0, Timemore C3S, C2S** Electric: **Zerno Z1**, soon also **Z2** (80mm, now in a prototype stage), **Mazzer Philos, DF64V, Sculptor 078s,064, and Lagom 01** (although grinders with burrs larger than 83 mm is a rather niche ultra-high-end, so not sure really, if EK43, P100 and L01 make sense to be included in such a list) Also: In this list, the **Fellow Ode2** is placed in "budget-friendly", while **Fellow Opus** in "mid-range/prosumer"?? :) Ode costs almost twice as Opus, and while Ode is rather popular for manual brews, Opus is not that popular neither for brew, nor for espresso, although technically "it can do both". (edit to add) Also missing, the **DF54** low-cost electric grinder.