DF54 Series

This is what I was thinking. I also have a DF54 for espresso and am considering a hand grinder for the very occasional pour over.

I actually haven’t taken my df54 apart or recalibrated it. I haven’t necessarily needed to. It’s been doing fantastic for pour over and my espresso needs. Of course when it starts to chirp or needs cleaning I will adjust as needed but for now I haven’t made any changes since it’s arrived.

If you typically buy fresh roasted small batch coffee, especially single origin, I think you should look for something with more clarity like the DF54. It will deliver a more uniform grind size which helps flesh out the flavor profile. If you want something easy to dial in with a wider sweet spot for grind setting then the Encore ESP is a great choice, especially for a beginner. Maybe even step up to the ESP Pro which has a digital display and a more upscale look and feel. Personally I think it’s worth the extra cost over the regular ESP. If you think you’ll be into espresso as a hobby, you’ll probably end up with both a conical and flat burr grinder anyway as they each have their pros and cons.

A little two-cents as someone who picked up an Opus a few months ago. Price was keeping me in that $200 range, so I was looking at the Opus, the Encore, and the DF54. Had an 1zpresso JX break and needed a replacement quickly that could multipurpose and was electric (was hoping to pick up a Flair for espresso at Christmas and was tired of years of hand grinding). I would say I’m on the higher end of intermediate rather than a beginner. I think the DF54 is, from the sounds of it, the best of those three grinders, but I’d read that there was some skepticism about customer support. I also wasn’t sure if I wanted to fall down the rabbit hole of changing out burr sets for espresso and filter. Lance Hedrick actually has a video on the Opus where he blind tastes coffees against the Encore and is surprised to find he prefers the coffee from the Opus. That was probably what swayed me toward the Opus. I’ve also been happy with Fellow products—Stagg, Prismo, Carter mug—and their stuff was on sale when I needed to put in an order. The retention is unfortunate but not deal breaking for me. I take it apart and clean it once a week (it seems to want to hold on to around .5g of coffee no matter what). As others have mentioned it definitely doesn’t feel as high end, but that’s okay with me. I brew pour over, aeropress, and, most days, steep and release with a Clever and I’ve been getting very enjoyable cups of coffee.

I have a feeling they’re going to hate the DF54 if they had issues with the Ode’s build quality.

That's fair. From what I remember about briefly using a DF54, it was a nice grinder but the Ode 2 felt better to use. I also got my Ode 2 for $280 which probably made it seem like a much better value.

DF54 v3 is a solid choice. A little over budget tho. I have the DF64 and it has been a phenomenal decision.

I had the same question and ordered a DF54! (Yesterday). I had local vendor offering the Mignon Zero 55s, for 250€, but after many people here and on discord and other sources suggested that the DF54 is just the better grinder and is cheaper I decided to get the Df54, (from the same vendor, I paid a little more (compared to https://df64coffee.com/ ), but now I got local support and supported a local business.

Df54 should fit that budget.... Or go hand grinder and get a j-Ultra or commandante

Interesting, I think it's quite beautiful it's slim and sleek but that's subjective Also I don't understand why that would push your budget? I tried a random Amsterdam adress and it came to 202€, so quite below your budget. And at that price point it absolutely outperforms, everything. https://df64coffee.com/ A different option, would be a Mignon Eureka singledose like the zero 55, but I have been told it's not as good as the DF54. But I have no experience with mignon and they make really good grinders like the smart or the Specialita.

Ich trink zwar mehr Espresso aber hab, vor 2 Tagen die DF54 bestellt... 198€ + Versand (213€)... Is so grad noch unter 200€.. oder eben auch nicht ;-) https://df64coffee.com/products/df54 Wenn die zu teuer ist, Baraza Encore ESP.