Coffee grinders beta · Baratza
Owners keep the Encore ESP paired with entry espresso machines because it grinds consistently for espresso, pour over and cold brew without breaking the budget, even as some pay attention to burr holder wear over time.
Owners consistently call it good value: it costs less than rival grinders, covers multiple brew methods with one bag of beans, and several say it made a real difference over a super automatic or no grinder at all.
Grinder quality is divided. Some owners run it for years with no complaints, while others report the plastic burr holder cracking or general quality issues cropping up after ownership.
Pick up to three. You get a page with just those, side by side, on the subjects owners raised.
Once the novelty wears off, most owners treat the Encore ESP as the unglamorous half of a setup, paired with a Bambino or similar machine, and stop thinking about it much because it just grinds. People who started without a grinder and later added one say the difference in shot quality was immediate, and several have kept the same setup for years without wanting to upgrade the grinder itself, even when they upgraded other gear.
What becomes routine is adjusting grind size between shots and, for a few, dealing with occasional needed cleaning. Ease of use shows up often: owners describe it as one of the simpler parts of the setup, especially compared to dialing in pricier equipment, though a couple note it doesn't hold your hand the way some higher-end machines do.
Support experiences are mixed but lean positive. One owner had a rock damage the grinder and got it repaired and returned within two business days after calling Baratza. Another owner who has had the grinder since launch reports the plastic burr holder cracking and describes a slower response from Baratza this time around, with a support ticket still open.
Grinder quality itself is genuinely split among owners. Several have run theirs for years with no issues and describe themselves as satisfied, while others flag build quality problems, including the burr holder failure mentioned above. The accounts here are still fairly limited, so it's hard to say how common these failures are versus how many units simply keep working quietly for years.
Nothing has a clear majority against it yet. Counted from the owners who raised each subject, not from everyone. A subject is judged once at least 4 owners raise it.
4 more subjects came up from fewer than 4 owners each, which is not enough for a fair reading. To see how it stacks up, compare it with another machine.
The same owner, asked again at each point. Fills in as owners answer.
More in coffee grinders: Niche Zero, Kingrinder K6, Eureka Mignon.
Public discussions we read and summarised in our own words. Nothing here was submitted to Still Kicks.
Counted from public accounts by people who said they own it, and summarised by Still Kicks in its own words. Not a manufacturer claim, a lab test or an estimate.
Nothing here asks for anything about you unless you write to us.