Wilfa - Svart WSCG-2

This morning I woke up to the Wilfa WGCS-2 that I bought back 5 years ago as a student had stopped working on me. Now I'm faced with the choice of what to buy next and these are the options that I'm considering. I mostly brew pourovers but the occasional French presses and batch brews as well. My priorities are with a neat and relatively small grinder as I have a tiny kitchen and very limited counter space. I have had hand grinders in the past and have zero interest in one now. A Wilfa Uniform, for 250€ (shipped). I think this is the upper limit on what I'd be willing to pay. I'm questioning if the coffee will be that much better? It's of course cheaper than it was at launch pre-pandemic, and not the new Uniform Evo. It seems like most complaints I see are on build quality (at a 350€ launch price point) or the scale that's not included with mine. Fellow Opus, for 185€ - I like the look and size, people say good things about the coffee but complain about the workflow. I don't mind if it's plasticky, but will it get grinds all over my kitchen? Wilfa Aroma Svart for 150€. A minor upgrade on my old grinder, as they use the same burrs but a different motor. On the list but not something that exites me. Baratza Encore for 140€ (ESP for 170€). I find it a little ugly, and I'm not sure what, if any is the benefit of the ESP for my use cases. Am I missing any obvious options? Anything else I should consider to help make the right choice?

Love my Svart, but I suspect OP is in the US (budget given in dollars) so Wilfa not an option, unless things have changed recently.

Also what country are you in? I really like my Wilfa Svart as a solid and cheap grinder, but it's not an option for those of you outside Europe (or certainly wasn't last time I looked)

I've got a Wilfa Svart which is a good budget option, have a vague recollection they were (at least when I bought it a couple of years ago) hard to get or not available outside Europe though.

No doubt there are better grinders, buy my Wilfa Svart has served me well for 3 years.

2 for me. I use a Wilfa Svart day to day (morning Clever Dripper, maybe Aeropress, V60 or Kalita Wave during the day) but also have a Kingrinder P2 which iI'm currently dialling in for espresso (got it for Christmas) and it will also be my travel grinder.

Nothing to do with price or value, it’s just about quality and taste. You can buy coffee beans for three quid from the supermarket and grind them as you need them. They should give you a better taste than buying the same stuff pre-ground. The entry level for speciality coffee is going to be close to ten quid for 250 grams. If you do decide you want a grinder, I’d recommend the Wilfa Svart. It’s a small electric grinder. I’ve been using mine for getting on for a decade, and paid £100 with a bag of beans thrown in.

I also have a Wilfa Svart. I “needed” a hand grinder for travelling and got a KINgrinder Z6 for Christmas. I couldn’t justify asking for anything more expensive - but I now use it most of the time at home, so looking at upgrading the Wilfa sometime this year. May be looking at a Gen 1 Ode, with upgraded burrs. My pension will only stretch so far and most of my friends think I’m insane anyway, always wittering on about clarity and sweetness.

The burr grinder makes a big difference. Baratza Encore it up! That's the price to performance grinder I would recommend. I have the Wilfa Svart, turns out I needed a voltage transformer for it in the US so I'd just recommend the Encore instead if you also live in 120v land. p.s. the hopper size means nothing - weigh your beans and throw the amount you weighed into the hopper and grind. Don't keep beans in the hopper. That's something I learned over time.

I'll second the Wilfa Svart recommendation, though I find it starts to struggle at espresso grinds.

You gave some pretty tough perimeters for what you are looking for, so I don't have a straight forward answer for you. I will say though that a shardor is a downgrade from a Wilfa Svart

The shardor 64 is a low end espresso grinder. This is less than ideal for pourover, even with ssps. The Wilfa Svart is a solid grinder, similar to the baratza encore here in the states. Ill take the Wilfa ten times out of ten over the shardor. If I were you, I would get an ode 2, then down the line get a hand grinder for espresso. Or just go straight to a K Ultra, which does both well, but is obviously not electric so bigger batches can be a pain.

My own experience: wilfa svart to DF83V + pourover burrs. The difference is there, but it's not night and day. I've also compared to zp6 and k-ultra. I still prefer df83v for clarity, but all of them are much closer than I would've expected. Since 250 is just slightly above wilfa, I personally wouldn't even bother.

I recently bought the K6 and i'm sold! It grinds so consistent with little fines. It may be even better than my Electric grinder: wilfa svart

Went from the Wilfa Svart that broke after 5-6 years to an Ode Gen 2. Great upgrade