Varia Brewing - VS6 Grinder

The VS6 is in a league of it's own, but I'd recommend it only if you plan on getting a few extra burrs in the future. Sure, the stock burr is highly versatile and I've already put 3kg through it, but there is so much more left on the table. If you're still discovering and not willing to invest, sure, I'd recommend a DF54 and a hand grinder just like everyone does in the beginning. A hand grinder is also always good to have laying around just in case your electric is unavailable or you happen to travel. If you're into the VS6, I can tell you that: 1. The adjustment is so precise that you could switch coffees even at espresso level and still fall on the dial in 2. The alignment is perfect each time you (easily) change the burrs 3. The Silver Plasma and Gold burrs make exceptional espresso and filter, the first being body/sweetness focused while the later being clarity focused. 4. It's a premium grinder, has minimal retention, has a plasma generator, the motor is powerful and has a lot of torque, variable rpm. You could have a read on my detailed experience in [this thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/espresso/comments/1fetpr0/comment/loon8g8/)

I’d suggest the Varia VS6 just because it’s a bit more versatile and cheaper than the niche now. But not for this user. Both are over their budget.

If you're needing to grind 60g at a time you can count the casa out, probably the P64 and varia too. The casa hopper (is it really a hopper?) supposedly holds 30g, I can comfortably feed it 37g in one go, but a 60g dose you'd definitely need to feed it in two parts. I think 60g would be pushing it for all of the hoppers you've mentioned, although I think both the ode and timemore have extended hoppers available if needed.

Once you can bump up your budget, I highly suggest the Varia VS6. At the risk of hyperbolic evangelism, it's almost unicorn like. A single grinder that does high-clarity filter (w/o the sharpness of ssp mp) and modern espresso in one burr set (gold). Although, the stock burrs do filter very well while also doing a better job with traditional espresso. The burrs take less than a min to swap, and there's about 8 options to choose; all relatively inexpensive. If you pick it up, I'd start with the stock burrs. It's completely likely that you'd be satisfied with them for both filter and spro. You can always try more burrs in the future.

Really hoped that the Varia would make a better showing here.  I wonder if the dial can be modded a bit to keep it from wandering (add friction material somewhere, maybe?) The noise of the Baratza puts me off, too.  I get offended these days by design decisions that don’t seem to care about the end user’s happiness.  I shouldn’t be forced to hate grinding coffee in the morning even if it’s just for thirty seconds. I did a lazy “noise analysis” vid of the earlier £500 grinder video to help me visualize their differences: https://youtu.be/3ELGcSK1G_4?si=5QGq5dh2InxT0DlP

I have a Varia and I love mine. I get great espresso from it. Sad it didn't get a good review from James