A fine grinder for the budget barrista. Update: 1/3/2017. After nearly a year of constant use, this grinder is still going full force. I am so glad I skipped buying the Breville. Not so much against the Breville, but rather a testament to the fact that this grinder is all I need. The Breville would have been overkill If works fantastically with my DeLonghi pressurized portafilter espresso machine, and my Black and Decker single cup maker. My son and I drink coffee regularly so it is fired up several times a day. If it failed tomorrow I would not hesitate to repurchase it. Best grinder I've owned and greatly exceeded my expectations. Back to the regular review, already in progress. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly. GOOD: - Price. $35.00 is dirt cheap for a burr grinder. This isn't much more than a small blade grinder and it's so much nicer. - Burr Grinding: Yes, it's not a conical burr grinder, but a burr grinder is much better than a blade grinder - Dosing. Choose the number of cups you want and push the button. Each "cup" equates to approximately 1 Tablespoon of Beans except for the Espresso setting (more on that in the "bad"). This is unbelievably convenient. I can grind the exact amount I need for my Espresso or my single cup drip maker and get freshly ground coffee with each cup without having to count seconds or try to convert seconds to cups, etc....The "cups" guide works great (6oz per "cup") and it's easy to adjust up or down according to taste. - Easy selection for choosing grind strength. Simply rotate the beans hopper to the proper setting and viola. This is done due to the top burr being a part of the bean hopper (more than that on the ugly). Thus you simply rotate the bean hopper to the desired setting and it adjusts the gap between the burrs. Detents positively let you know when you are on the desired setting and each setting is clearly labeled. BAD: - About that Espresso, the manual tells you to set it to 3 cups for a 2 oz shot and 5 cups for 4 oz. That right there tells you that they are referring to their little Mr.Coffee steam espresso machine. Which also should tell you that this grinder will not grind fine enough for a pump machine with an unpressurized portafilter. I have a DeLohghi EC155 and the espresso setting works great for that machine, but your mileage may vary. Odd's are if you have a high end Espresso maker, you won't want to cheap out on a 35 dollar grinder. So just keep in mind what you are mating this thing with. - Noisy: It's relatively noisy. It's not super annoying since my kitchen is downstairs, and I'm single. But I can imagine that people might not appreciate the noise from the grinder. - Inconsistent Grind. As is typical for this type of grinder, you will get some powder, and it will accumulate in your grounds chamber. If you use paper filters, this will keep the powder from appearing in your coffee. It is a design flaw of this machine, and while it's to be expected, it can be prevented or lived with. - The Blue LED. It's bright, but as others said, simply move the grounds cup about 1/4 inch out and the light goes out. Easy work around. THE UGLY: - OH THE MESS: The biggest drawback of the machine is the mess. Transferring the contents of the grinds cup to your filter or portafilter can be messy. Grinds tend to stick to the side of the container and then end up on the counter/sink/wherever. - Cleaning: This has to do with the bean hopper, it's screwed into the body of the grinder and it is actually the mount point for the top burr. So if you want to clean the burrs, you have to unscrew the hopper, which means you have to empty the beans. This is a bit of a chore, and on more than one occasions as I was attempting to transfer the beans to a secondary container, the top lid came off and beans all over the counter. These two items alone almost forced me into buying a Breville Smart Grinder, but it's $200+ price tag made me take a step back. After careful consideration, the bean dump and my own laziness makes the mess a bigger issue than it needs to be. I can take steps to secure the beans prior to cleaning the device, and if I'm careful with removing the grounds, I don't have to spread them over the kitchen. The Breville is most likely a much superior grinder, but is it 6 times better, and will I appreciate it 6 times as much, or will I stress over paying over $200.00 for a grinder. At this point my inner miser is telling me to be more careful. For me, this and the DeLonghi are more than enough for now. If it dies in the near future, then I may have to spring for a pricer grinder, but right now it does exactly what I want for a price that's hard to beat.
