Looking for a coffee grinder that makes good pour overs.
Eyeing the baratza encore. Want something affordable and not in like the 400 dollar range.
If anyone has any recs plz lmk
I feel like @moonboy403 would have some strong opinions here. In that price range you might also get good QPR gains with manual hand grinder. My (very uninformed) impression is that the Encore is am entry level “good” grinder, but there’s probably quite a bit more you could spend before you hit diminishing returns. With a manual grinder you can likely ascend higher on the quality level for the same money, as long as you’re willing to spend the time and effort grinding.
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I have the baratza encore-- I think it’s a solid burr grinder for the price (I also didn’t want to spend $400). I’ve had it for at least 5 years now and no problems overall. It’s easy to adjust the grind and keep the burrs clean.
When you remove the basket of ground coffee, some particles of the bean husks do float out and land on the countertop. I just brush them into my hand and toss them, but if you’re a neat freak that may bother you.
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I bought a Baratza Virtuoso a long time ago. I can’t compare it to anything as it’s the only one I’ve ever used. All I can say is i can’t think of any way it could be improved.
No idea…I’ve only had experience with 4 grinders and one of em is a Vitamix 
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Your current grinder is pretty srs bizness though!
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Not sure if it’s within your price range but for $250-300 you can grab a used Bartaza Vario. You can then hyper-align it to get similar performance to a $2500 Monolith.
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I don’t think there’s any reason to spend more than $100 on a grinder if you make only drip coffee.
There’s a massive difference in evenness of grind size distribution at different price point in addition to choosing to go between conical vs flat burr but whether they’re worth it or not is purely subjective.
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Wow, that’s a level of obsession I didn’t know coffee grinders could provoke.
Have we talked about the DF 64? Or the TimeMore sculptor? Do you ever grind for espresso?
Trying to figure out my next purchase…
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I use a flat burr grinder for both pour over and espresso.
For actual reviews, look for Lance Hendricks’ on YouTube. I’m pretty sure he had touch on both.
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Thanks. Will check that out!
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Many enthusiasts also make their own coffee water for brewing with distilled/RO water + mineral packs
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I have a Sculptor 078s. I grind for espresso on it and it performs really well. I actually upgraded to it from a Baratza Vario. I have found it a touch more responsive than the Vario in terms of dialing in coffee. My only concern with it might be how it performs long term. I’m not sure if its still the case since they were bought by Breville but Baratza’s customer service has been excellent in my experience. Any issues I had with the Vario were fixed by them either coaching me through it or them fully refurbishing the machine at little cost to me. Timemore just hasn’t been around as long so I have yet to see how responsive they will be to product support down the line.
If anyone here is serious about buying a grinder and wants a solid resource with obsessive levels of analysis I’ll echo what @moonboy403 said Lance Hedrick is amazing. If you want to get into more granular detail on grinders I would also take a peek at the Espresso Aficionados Discord
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What do you use?