Baratza Encore - The Cost Effective Burr Grinder That Can Do It All.

Baratza Encore - The Cost Effective Burr Grinder That Can Do It All.

We’ve been using this grinder at home for a full year now so we figured it’s time to do a review. As a online seller of coffee you might have an idea of how much coffee we actually go through. You’re right it’s a lot. We take a sample bag of every roast on the say of roasting. We date it and then test it day of , 1 week 2,3, 1 month, 1.5,2,2.5 and 3. It’s Interesting, Coffee people might tell you that “oh coffee is done 4 week’s after roasting. Which is right and wrong… Frankly we feel it’s more complicated than that. We have found that some coffee might have a harsh note from roast to say 3 weeks out but then smooths out or even develops other flavors as the carbon dioxide comes out. So as you have noticed we do a lot of grinding. Our method also has us brewing the coffee 5 ways, Espresso, Aeropress, French, V60, Chemex.

Now I will admit we do sometimes get lazy. Espresso and Aeropress are the absolute most used methods we do. If that says anything about consistency about coffee brewing.

We Needed a flexible grinder as you can tell. Heck I’d love a permanent espresso fixture on my kitchen counter. But I’m a practical guy first and even with playing around with other equipment I always go back to this grinder.

WHY?

Well It’s consistent. Each click gives a consistent coarseness. From espresso all the way to French. This Grinder will do Turkish.. Yes it’s clumpy but it does. It also takes a long time on it’s finest setting. The finer you go the more cleaning you may need to do.

WHAT?

What does it do well? Any style of drip or pour over. The grinder burrs are aimed at id say the middle coarseness. You sometimes hear about “espresso Burrs, drip burrs” well these are designed to kinda be middle ground.

How well does it do espresso? The absolute truth is. 7/10 If you own an espresso machine I’d say get an espresso grinder. If you want an economical grinder that is one of the most practical on the planet.. Then this is probably what you want. When it comes to my espresso machine and testing out aging beans you needs a bunch of notches to get the right consistency. Which for me is about 4-5 clicks and sometimes wishing for clicks in between the clicks.

You might ask why go all the way to 3 months? Because we have been testing different bags in hopes to one day do retail. Some retail settings have slower turn over and we have been researching how BAD does coffee get at 3 months. In terms of grinding Coffee looses all or most of it’s carbon dioxide by 3 months and also looses humidity. The dryer and older coffee gets the harder for the burrs to grind it.. for some reason you need to go finer the older coffee goes. (To a certain extent)

Over All, our year with this grinder has been great! We’ve gone through about 1500-1600 bucks worth of coffee and have been completely satisficed with the grind.

Tip’s

• There is a Baratza Encore card inside the box that tells you which grind to start at for each brew. These are Soo very close to where you need to be. Especially if your coffee is about 2-3 weeks old. keep that, take a picture or even tape it in to your coffee cupboard. *I wish I did!

• Cleaning, yep you will need to clean this grinder a few times of year. Biggest tip I can offer.. Pay attention to the red mark. In the instructions (keep them too) it tells you how to disassemble and re-assemble. It’s relatively easy. I’d say that there are easier brands out there.

• Cleaning 2, use a Vacuum once a week, and clean your bin with soap and water and let dry completely. I might do a video on this.. When doing espresso it’s kinda handy. the vacuum clears out the shoot.

• Baratza suggests you can remove the bin and press the button with your portafilter. Don’t do it.. waste of precious gold and makes a mess. I use the bin and tap tap tap it in to my portafilter over a scale for 18g ish gram brews with our Gaggia machine.

If there is anything else you’re wondering about Comment or email us sales@highwoodcoffee.ca

We’ll put the Baratza over view below the video.

THE BARATZA ENCORE IS THE ULTIMATE ENTRY-LEVEL GRINDER FOR YOUR CRAFT COFFEE JOURNEY – THE KEY DIFFERENCE TO THE TASTE IN YOUR CUP.

The Encore consistent grinds for brew methods from espresso to French Press and everything in between.

Straightforward controls make your daily routine simple and easy. Load up your hopper with your favorite beans, turn the hopper to the grind setting you want, switch the Baratza Encore on and let the precision conical burrs deliver consistent, quality ground coffee every time.

Beyond a great coffee-making experience, the Encore lets you explore new coffee flavors –  With 40 individual grind settings, you can find the perfect grind size for all brewing methods. The hopper can hold 8 ounces of whole beans, and the clear grounds bin has a fill line to indicate how much to grind. We intentionally designed the Encore to fit nicely under most kitchen cabinets without sacrificing power or quality and to bring value to your daily grind.

Exact same trusted functionality with a sleek new exterior!