Grind consistency at medium grind settings was close to—but not on a par with—that of our top picks, especially at the high and low end of its range. And some grinders come with an integrated scale, so you can weigh out the beans before you grind them. It was fine and functional, but by the time January rolled around, had gotten wickedly inconsistent in its grind size. The Encore—like all Baratza grinders—is covered by a limited one-year warranty, provided that you keep up regular maintenance and cleaning and don’t use the machine to grind rocks.

The DC motor keeps your beans cool while the gear speed reducers slow the burr to 550 RPM for less noise and smoother bean feeding. You usually end up with a lot of fine powder, some bigger chunks, and (hopefully) some grounds that are the desired size. Anecdotally, we’ve noticed that electric grinders that perform the best in our consistency tests are often on the messier side—though we’re not yet sure if that’s a real pattern, or why that would be the case. If you’re willing to pay more, the Baratza Virtuoso+ is similar to the Encore in shape and size, yet it has a faster, slightly different burr set, a digital timer, and a heavier, mostly metal base, which gives it a higher-end look and feel. Load up your hopper with your favourite 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.A timer would also allow you to turn on the machine and walk away, knowing the machine would stop at a certain point; this is convenient but not essential, since grinding enough coffee for a full pot usually takes less than a minute. We also feel duty bound to address the fact that the Encore is not one of the most cutting edge in terms of external design, which is a bit of a bummer. For each machine, we ground coffee at the finest setting, the coarsest setting, and at the recommended setting for a medium grind. You wipe the particles away with the barely damp side then use the dry side to fully remove the moisture. Although this can’t fully replace a thorough manual cleaning, it can be a quick way to refresh your grinder and remove some of the coffee oil buildup.

OXO also says it uses a steel grounds container that bumps up against a grounded steel tab to help reduce static buildup of the coffee grinds, which is an issue with most coffee grinders. In fact, after many hours of taste-testing, we can’t stress enough how even small variations in grind size can make a huge difference in flavor. The go-to entry level electric grinder, great for manual brewed coffee and compact enough for any worktop. Plus, Baratza also makes a smaller 60-gram hopper, which lets you use its top lid to measure out beans, streamlining that process.From the Baratza Encore to the Baratza Sette series, you will be making the best coffee with the right gear. Just keep in mind that the original Encore isn’t really for espresso, mainly because of the large grind adjustments.