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The Best Espresso Grinder Under £250

James Hoffmann 631 views

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at 23:23 when he talks about this what does he mean? im not sure exactly? like what does it mean to push it a little bit finer for filtered? don't go as coarse?
Comment from : @SusieQs23

I just saw a breville smart grinder (non pro?) on marketplace for 40usd Think im gonna pick it up Seems/looks like an older model than this one shown with different labels on the buttons Still figuring its a steal Btw i cant possibly imagine spending over $50 for a coffee grinder, that price seems ridiculous high to me so while $40 is on the high end of what i would ever imagine spending i feel like its a no brainer even if its an older model
Comment from : @dirtrider88

can you review STARSEEKER E55 ?
Comment from : @dmitryb5739

Apparently there is a new version of the Varia VS3, called Gen2, which it doesn't shift the grinding setting while in use That would make it a good contender
Comment from : @Andres_Suarez

I own an opus in US and thought you didn’t go into enough detail on the difficulty to dial in espresso I find it very difficult to use the micro adjustment without seeing 2-3 second changes in shots Fellow recommends going finer 2 micro clicks and coarser 1 macro click to get more adjustment but that’s just too much headache for me Big miss from fellow on grind adjustment
Comment from : @connerbuller6901

I'd love to know the settings you used for both espresso and filter coffee for each machine It would be a great benchmark to start finding my favorite grinding for the machine I end up choosing
Comment from : @STILLROLLINGFILMS

Fellow Opus user from South East Asia here I've been using Opus for a year now, mainly grinding medium roast beans for mokapot and Picopresso Absolutely love the coffee I'm getting from the grinder, but I absolutely hate the retention issues Everyday I spent way more time cleaning the grinder than prepping & brewing with Picopresso Also I just learned that the grinder has another weak point: there are two flimsy plastic protrusions on the bottom part of the bean hopper One of them presses on the safety switch, so the grinder may only work when the hopper is properly installed If that plastic part flexes or broke off during use, the grinder just suddenly stops working I've contacted the Fellow customer support, but no responses yet Other Opus users, be careful when tapping on the bean hopper lid as you try to clear the retention issues
Comment from : @alexanderreza9501

Odd mention about conical burrs being cheaper when most cheap burr grinders in the states are flat burrs
Comment from : @RilsR

Has anybody any experience in reliability of the mentioned grinders?
Comment from : @philippm8039

So if I want to save money on store bought lattes, I would buy an espresso machine for maybe $450, a grinder for $250, a scale to weight 13 grams of coffee, and several accessories costing about $25 each? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Comment from : @philip5899

I bought the df54 and, thanks to James, I am drinking the most delicious cortados ever!
Comment from : @thechosenone9692

ATTENTION ⁠ DO NOT buy the Varia VS3 v2, it's utter garbage, the gears are made out of some cheap plastic that's designed to fail around the warranty period of a year, and their costumer service is completely useless, their solution is for you to buy the $50 motor every 12 months
Comment from : @yonkocommander5531

8:14 I hate the prevalence of the thought that 1 button to several functions means simple It’s not simple if you’d need an instruction manual to know any of this and that it’s not known at first sight by a layman I work in IT and the prevalence of this thought that 1 button means simple is infuriating
Comment from : @mindhackz

Can someone point me to the best content James has for choosing a grinder for pour over/filtered coffee?
Comment from : @ericabillings2355

Varia honestly sounded the worse
Comment from : @nullfield6514

Video titled best under 250, doesn’t say which is best Sad face
Comment from : @beaglewso

Silly question but can you put a filter paper in your pod to catch fines?
Comment from : @lukeperkinonline

I currently use a Capresso Infinity conical burr grinder and brew exclusively with aeropress or chemex Looking to upgrade my grinder, which of these would be best for aeropress or chemex?
Comment from : @tedlin4962

Hey James how about I give you 50£ and said "what's the best grinder on Aliexpress" (or Temu)?😃😃😃
Comment from : @simonnicholls5619

yum techy stuff! better than sales chat!
Comment from : @manxman8008

Would love to see your take on the Varia with the hypernova burrs ❤
Comment from : @albadominguez1536

Day 2 of asking James Hoffmann to review the Gemilai espresso machines
Comment from : @bianckinitan

They are all too noisy!
Comment from : @DanielB-j3o

Esp is insanely loud and take forever to grind Makes a good coffee though
Comment from : @mskibo5

What about the Eureka Mignon manuale? Fits under the £250 budget and could potentially fit with a single dosing kit Better than the DF54?
Comment from : @wesbgreen1

As it turns out an antique sponge coffee grinder is far superior to any decent modern machine i can afford even used
Comment from : @jwkill21

Regarding the Fellow, I don't understand that you say that the retention is high (at the end) but the extraction numbers that are very consistent (middle of the video)
Comment from : @thibaut5345

Great video James A week before I watched this I bought the Smeg grinder It’s beautifully made, very quiet and a pleasure to use However you are absolutely right about not grinding fine enough It works well with a pressure basket using the finest setting but it’s not so great with an unpressurised onebrHowever I have found a way to adjust the static burr to deliver a finer grind It’s a real game changer
Comment from : @RTFM70

21:41 James looks traumatised when he is doing the sound test on some of those machines It is so funny His expressions make me laugh
Comment from : @johnmknox

Opus owner here Grind quality is great and the coffee is delicious But my unit has randomly decided to stop in the middle of grinding and beep 3 times So it’s effectively useless now Buyers beware brbrI decided to replace it with a $100 1zpresso Q2 and have been pretty happy with its grind quality (tho I do miss grinding coffee with the press of a button)
Comment from : @humanbean-f2s

Isn't hibrew G5 worthy to be compared with these too?
Comment from : @YalokIy

Damn, that DF54 makes me want to go electric
Comment from : @0bzen22

Have the opusbrbrAll negatives I agree with Retention is ridiculous even though the grind is fantastic I use it for cold brew and espresso
Comment from : @h4zmic

Interesting that you use the expression muddy! Back in my DOD contracting days we used to call our coffee from our Mr Coffee machine a “cup of mud” lol! brbrI’ve come a long way as I thoroughly enjoy my precision brewer with my smart grinder I use trade for what I think is pretty good specialty coffees brbrWay better than a cup of mud or folgers from a Mr Coffee
Comment from : @WesAlexander

And which of those grinders do I use for my Moccamaster?
Comment from : @1990Cookie

I use the Smart Grinder Pro, and I am also using it as a single-dose grinder The problem for me when I prefill the hopper is that I don't empty it fast enough, so the beans start oxidizing As a result, I notice a significant change in grind time and the required coarseness When I don’t make espresso for a few days, I have to adjust the grind settings by at least two points, and at that point, it’s just sheer luck if I hit the right settings and the espresso tastes acceptable
Comment from : @mastermoe6118

the lagom rangle (mini and newly casa) is very abcent in your vids how do you actually choose which grinder to review?
Comment from : @IIIxwaveIII

250 pounds! How am I going to get that into my apartment? I don't even have a table strong enough to put that on! Why is everything in the UK so heavy?
Comment from : @acutchin

Rockin‘ the Opus, love it Am a fan of sleek design, don’t dislike the Grind Size adjustment as im rarely changing it throughout one bag of beans Retention is an issues though, yes Recently, after 4 months of owning the Opus, I noticed less output, opted for cleaning and pulled out relaxing 25grams of retention overshoot (without grinding) from the inside Definitely needs a spray before using
Comment from : @theonemueller

I’m using my venerable Breville grinder that I converted to a single dose grinder The conical burrs are excellent and when combined with the conversion kit from Etsy I replaced the collar, added the bellows, dialed in the grind, and set the grind time to clear the grinding chamber completely Beans are spritzed prior to grinding I do prefer to grind straight to the portafilter, put on the WDT collar and stir the ground beans, followed by tamping and a puck screen At the end of the day, I can digitally dial in my grind as opposed to an analog setting When I get snobby about a grinder, a DF54 will be in my future Unless the next best grinder comes along
Comment from : @gregdaniels7479

Imo, SMEG is like the Apple of kitchen appliances
Comment from : @123willbishop

Love the Fritz shirt!
Comment from : @Sir_Redwood

SMEG, doesn't even get to enter the category, seems pretty on brand for them
Comment from : @jacob1121

Are the Eureka line of grinders not worth the time?
Comment from : @jonathanfree6234

I bet you felt like a right Smeghead when you purchased that grinder i really should watch red dwarf again :P
Comment from : @DanteEsGrande

While it may be not so popular or not so well known, the Graef CM702 might be the best budget grinder It goes as low as 70 euros on amazon Paired with a single dose bellow sold on amazon aswell and a water spray you can get under 01 grams retention Not sure about the uniformity but with this grinder, a cheap Delonghi ecp and an ims double basket I am pulling, in my opinion, really good shots
Comment from : @roborovsky6950

Ich habe die DF54Der erste Monat war das auch so wie in diesem Test Allerdings funktionierte die Ironisierung schon bald nicht mehr und der Kaffee hängt überall Nach einem halben Jahr kam dann ca einmal pro Woche nichts mehr aus der Maschine Nach Anfrage bei dem Hersteller, führte ich eine Komplettreinigung durch Da muss man relativ viel öffnen Und es wird auch klar, warum der Kaffeestau da ist Der Declumper ist ein Stück Plastik, dass sich nach einiger Zeit des Gebrauchs verbiegt und nicht mehr richtig arbeitet Eine absolute Fehlkonstruktion Ich habe die Maschine über zwei Monate jede Woche komplett reinigen müssen um Kaffee zu bekommen Der Rest der Maschine wäre toll, wenn dieses Plastikding nicht wäre Ich wollte vom Hersteller Ersatz, aber in dem Kleingedruckten steht genau dieser Fehler des Declumpers und ist nicht reklamationsfähig Sehr aussagekräftig Ich kaufe mir jetzt eine andere Mühle und bleibe Miicoffee in Zukunft fern
Comment from : @timmschauen5481

What’s your opinion on the tuni g1 grinder?
Comment from : @bryanserranopd

Could you perhaps do a similar comparison of budget coffee machines that do not have a grinder built in? I expect they would be less expensive than bean to cup machines, and perhaps I'm not the only one that has a standalone grinder for moca pots, aeropress and such and does not need to buy another one built into a large machine, but would still like to have a decent machine on hand
Comment from : @RoachRider

A comparatively neglected aspect of any review of coffee grinders is the easy or otherwise of cleaning, eg Niche Zero relatively straightforward but Niche Duo rather less so? I clean my grinder at least once after every 1 kg of coffee beans ground
Comment from : @russelldean2085

I have the Encore ESP for a year and half now I love it ! Yes it is very noisy but I don't mind that !
Comment from : @Ara198826

I was just looking at best used cars for £250 That’s my level
Comment from : @guinnessharvey4476

Man this was such a top tier review video even though we're a drip coffee machine household lol
Comment from : @lvs6775

A blind taste test would have been more accurate
Comment from : @barneyboy22

Wattage is merely an expression of electrical power and doesn’t necessarily indicate current draw - that would be amperage
Comment from : @breakalime

These links all go to US sites Links to purchase UK voltage&plug models would have been nice, considering James is English, but I really appreciate the insight, thank you
Comment from : @lindaclark7

Santa, (ie my wife) just bought me the Sage grinder shown here I do have to say that it has made quite a big difference to the tastes of my espressos that I make now Definitely miles away better than the hand blender that I was using before, lol Plus all my friends are wowed whenever I make them a coffee and hear the beans freshly grounded for them Makes them feel extra especial
Comment from : @reneduranona

any one know how the built in sage grinder oracle compares to the smart pro sage -identical or ? thanks
Comment from : @waseem600900

Sage grinder pro is no good, the end Im on 1 and forget the time of 25 to 30 second range, until i changed the internal burr to 4 This should not be adjusted with one month of owning Using a gaggia classic evo pro for my espresso On my old barista pro, the grinder moved between 10 - 13 depending upon age and type of bean
Comment from : @karlproksch1350

I just use a plastic bag and a wrought iron pan
Comment from : @Hageleschannel

Kinda sounds like the Varia is a great grinder that needs different burrs
Comment from : @bYeonios

No
Comment from : @truthnotfeelings

Please can you do a review on portable electric grinders ❤
Comment from : @lefruitcake2512

I'm considering the Varis VS3 and I am wondering if anyone can confirm, is the dial slippage issue fixed yet or not in version 2?brbrSome people say online that it has been fixed in version 2, but the machine from this video should be version 2 and it still has that problem?
Comment from : @StephenMisc-mr6gb

I have the encore ESP I really do like it for all the reasons stated However, I would like finer adjustments for espresso, often 1 click is too much time difference in the shot It's ok, you can always adjust by reducing or increasing dose, but it's a tad faffy
Comment from : @barbarus740

Happy with my VS3 and my Lelit Binaca V3, perfect match
Comment from : @foetor

The Varia is the most expensive option out of these here in Australia, by $60 dollarydoos or so Interesting how disappointing it is
Comment from : @ChipsNeeson

really loved the video Could you make a video about flat burr alignment? And did you do it on the DF54?
Comment from : @NonExistChannel

Cough up the data Hoffmann ;)
Comment from : @BlithelyDoubting

Just a thought here the biggest nit with the Varia was its horrible tendency to creep on espresso settings Seems to me that in a set-and-forget application you could just wrap a wide elastic band (I call them 'broccoli bands') around the join at the edge of the setting ring The friction would hold it in place Of course, you wouldn't be able to read the dial, but if you're not planning on adjusting it regularly that wouldn't be a big deal If you were just wanting it to make reliable espresso grounds, would that not make it a much more serious contender?
Comment from : @TalosLives

Great comparison! I wish you had also tested the Eureka Mignon Manuale! I have the Crono with espresso burrs and it is a very good <250 grinder for espresso
Comment from : @ufunfu262

I don't even drink cofffe regularly, let alone espresso The odd cappuccino as a treat, an espresso maybe once a year or so Still one of the best channels on here, so I don't mind, I love nerdery of any kind, have at it :D brbrBy the way, as a pure science project, what if you sifted out ranges of size of grounds, and brewed with only that?brMaybe that would be enlightening?brIs there maybe some secret lurking between mesh sizes?brCould it be that range X-Y brings out the fruity sweetness and range Y-Z brings on the mud? IDK, but I know I'd watch that in a heartbeat
Comment from : @AnWe79

James Hoffmann is like the Gamer's Nexus of coffee equipment Kinda neat
Comment from : @imglidinhere

The Best Espresso Grinder Under £250???brbrTalk about first world problems
Comment from : @anajonda

DF54 Delivered for 144£ Happy to be setting aside my old Ascaso conical burr stepless grinder that drifted constantly finer as it tried to kick off the hopper and shoot beans across the floor Boringly dependable is good for me
Comment from : @MatthewWatsonDiscovery

James mentioned df54 was good for pour over in the finer ranges - my espresso range is 15-20 so does this mean 35-50? Also does anyone have any recipes or advice for pour over on the df54?
Comment from : @Jbgopro