Baratza Virtuoso vs. Breville Smart Grinder Pro vs. Capresso Infinity vs. Others

[Regev]

I make Turkish/Ethiopian coffee nearly every morning, sometimes for a large batch of people. I do have Aeropress and Espresso available, but me and my pals really prefer the deeper, fuller flavor of unfiltered coffee. (We are Israelis, perhaps it's a cultural thing). Anyway, I am *sick* of manually grinding using the Hario hand mill, so I'm looking to invest a little in a great and reliable electric grinder that will give me a powdery, consistent grind for Turkish style. Which of the following would you recommend?

Baratza Virtuoso
Baratza Encore
Breville Smart Grinder Pro
Capresso Infinity

I see some cheaper (much cheaper) options for electric burr grinders on Amazon from these companies:

Secura
Bodum
Krups
Cuisnart
Oxo

I also see some crazy $1-2k grinders, why's the great range in pricing? I'm looking to shell out the minimum $ for something that can provide a reliably consistent Turkish grind, and won't break after a year of use. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[JumpinJakJava]

You cannot go wrong with either Baratza grinder. But you will notice the price difference. If you do not might spending the extra $, I would opt for the Virtuoso.
I use the Capresso Infinity, it works fine. Seems durable and consistent. I brew with a Chemex every day, and the Capresso grinds great.

 

[Regev]

You cannot go wrong with either Baratza grinder. But you will notice the price difference. If you do not might spending the extra $, I would opt for the Virtuoso.
I use the Capresso Infinity, it works fine. Seems durable and consistent. I brew with a Chemex every day, and the Capresso grinds great.

Thanks for the reply. Is the Virtouso worth paying double the price over the Capresso? I mean, if they would both provide the same Turkish grind, why pay more?

 

[Musicphan]

Go with the Virtouso.. you won't be disappointed. If your concerned with the $$ simply drop down to the Encore. Good article for you to read...

The Best Coffee Grinder | The Sweethome

 

[Regev]

Awesome resource! thanks. I read it all, but they say nothing about Turkish, not even espresso:

"We didn’t test for espresso grinds because making espresso at home is more of a hobby than a normal use case. While almost anyone can afford a good drip coffee home setup, espresso is prohibitively expensive and time-consuming. Every expert we talked to said that if a home coffee maker wants to start getting into espresso, they are going to have to spend at least $300 for a grinder alone. Then getting decent espresso machine capable of achieving the temperature and pressure consistency needed for a good shot will cost well more than $1,000. And that doesn’t include the time you’d need to spend dialing it in every time you switch to a new coffee"

"Finally, because the Virtuoso is a “stepped” grinder with only 40 discrete grind-size adjustments, it isn’t ideal for dialing in that perfect espresso shot.4 As Prima Coffee notes in their review of the lower-end Baratza Encore, the grinding mechanism is capable of producing a consistent-enough fine grind for espresso, but if you really want to get the perfect shot, you’d be better off upgrading to something like the Baratza Preciso. It uses the same grind mechanism as the Virtuoso, but adds 10 micro steps of adjustability between each of the 40 steps (for a total of 400) and comes with a filter PortaHolder that’s an add-on for the Virtuoso."

If the virtuoso isn't so great for Espresso, who can it be good enough for Turkish (which, correct me if I'm wrong, is 3 times finer in grind?)

 

[JumpinJakJava]

You will need a commercial grinder to grind the coffee consistently for a Turkish grind. Why not buy an espresso grinder? Even if you buy a decent used one you could clean it properly and replace the burrs. Just a thought.

 

[Regev]

What do you mean an espresso grinder? Isn't the virtuoso an espresso grinder as well?

 

[JumpinJakJava]

Technically the Virtuosa is not an espresso grinder, even though it has adjustable grind settings. It is an excellent burr grinder. But for the consistent Turkish grind you desire, look into a commercial espresso grinder. Google- espresso grinders, there are so many.

 

[Regev]

Wait a sec, so you mean those cheap Turkish copper hand mills (those you can buy at the market in Turkey for a few bucks) grind a finer, better grind for Turkish coffee than the Virtouso?

 

[techspace411]

I make Turkish/Ethiopian coffee nearly every morning, sometimes for a large batch of people. I do have Aeropress and Espresso available, but me and my pals really prefer the deeper, fuller flavor of unfiltered coffee. (We are Israelis, perhaps it's a cultural thing). Anyway, I am *sick* of manually grinding using the Hario hand mill, so I'm looking to invest a little in a great and reliable electric grinder that will give me a powdery, consistent grind for Turkish style. Which of the following would you recommend?

Baratza Virtuoso
Baratza Encore
Breville Smart Grinder Pro
Capresso Infinity

Regev,

If you're looking at the Baratza's take a look at the Preciso. It's almost identical to the Virtuoso but with a few extras. It might grind fine enough for your Turkish. It's got additional micro adjustments in between the main settings. Price-wise, not too much more than the Virtuoso:

Shootout: How do the Baratza Virtuoso and Preciso Compare?

 

[peterjschmidt]

We might be confusing the need for a grinder capable of a very fine grind with a grinder capable of grinding for espresso. Turkish coffee probably doesn't care if the grinder has variable settings to compensate for pressure variables, and humidity, etc. I'd guess that even if the Virtuoso is good for espresso, it'd be more than adequate for Turkish coffee.

 

[Regev]

Why do I need the micro adjustments in the Preciso if i'm going to grind on the finest grind possible anyway?

 

[peterjschmidt]

Why do I need the micro adjustments in the Preciso if i'm going to grind on the finest grind possible anyway?

I don't think you do. And I doubt you need the Preciso either.

 

[Regev]

Why did you say "I'd guess that even if the Virtuoso is good for espresso, it'd be more than adequate for Turkish coffee."? Turkish requires 3x finer grind than espresso, right? Then theoretically, a grinder can be fine enough for espresso but not fine enough for turkish. What am i missing?

 

[peterjschmidt]

Espresso is brewed under pressure, and requires uniform particle size to avoid channeling as the water is pushed through the puck. And the particle size/grind level needs to be finely adjustable to compensate for variables so that the shot-time falls into acceptable parameters.

Admittedly, I don't know much about Turkish coffee, but I think all you need is super-fine grinds, which any good grinder will do. Once you find one that grinds fine enough and you have it set to super-fine, you shouldn't have any of the concerns that an espresso user would have.