**Pre-Order & Secure the Baratza Encore ESP for Mid April! alternativebrewing.com.au/collections/baratza 00:00 Baratza Encore ESP Grinder Review 00:19 Pros (Features) 01:35 Hopper 02:22 Adjusting the Grind 02:33 Grind Sizes 03:17 Burrs, Motor & Speed 04:03 54mm Dosing Cup Compatibility 04:32 Cons (Limitations) 08:11 Filter Cupping Results 12:44 Espresso Cupping Results 13:25 Cleaning 14:09 Conclusion

Best review on the ESP I've watched!

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

Wow thanks so much ! ! There's a few out there 😂

Gracias por este vídeo Gran y completa reseña de ambos molinos

Great review!

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

Wow! Great review!

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

I could get the old encore to make suitable espresso so long as you didn't need to set it between two grind settings but the big killer for me is that the finer espresso setting would have a lot of retention which would then mess up my pourover when switching between the two settings. This is a great option for someone who won't be switching much though

Baratza ESP has arrived... Long story short - as advertised! Well-packed; feels substantial and well-made, more slender than my Virtuoso which works well for my 2x2 workspace; the much-ballyhooed espresso calibration is a wonder along with definitive clicks as the dial turns; started off at 15 which gave me a great (powdery) grind thus 15 even finer stops if/when I need them; I'm an espresso guy and the dosing cup works so well - none of the hassle of scooping and dragging the grind out of the bin (doserless grinder) into the portafilter and the cup fits the portafilter perfectly; as usual for Baratza its loud and seems there's a slight high-end whine which the Virtuoso didn't have - but small price to pay; all in all a very good entry-level purchase. Were I to upgrade I would be be looking for an all-metal, quieter machine with flat burrs and perhaps digital read-outs but really for pure function sake I won't be trading in the ESP for a long time!

@ThatIndyFan

6 ай бұрын

Is your ESP still holding up? Any “settling” of the burrs or changes within the machine over time?

Great review, love your content and comparisons. The idea of washers under the inner burr to adjust grind size is fascinating. Are the washers all the same thickness?

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

The appear to be yes. It is curious, most of the washers are already in the Grinder

Whether I get to espresso brewing anytime soon (I'm still only in year 1 of home coffee brewing) the biggest reason I'd want to upgrade my current encore is for that cleaning ease god I always feel like I'm better off not bothering with cleaning the encore since the inner burr isn't removable without a teardown

Great review! Amazing! I have been in the 7-10 range on my Encore ESP and i was shocked most youtubers were in the 16-20 range on theirs i was like what is wrong with my device however i am using IMS basket and Puck paper so i know i would be a couple clicks down. I am trying to figure out my workflow as my puck prep needs to improve luckily have the double spouted portafilter Express/Pro verssion on my Bambino so not making a mess while i learn.

@AlternativeBrewing

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing!

Eagerly awaiting delivery of my ESP, he happy to share my thoughts once here next week.

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

Please do!

@kerrywinter2001

Жыл бұрын

Also: it's true what pro reviewers have said, a WDT is helpful as the grind definitely clumps. I bought one but realized quickly you might as well get a funnel at the same time.

Nice shirt!

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

I’d love to see comparisons. Particularly between this, the Breville, Fellow Opus, SD40 and at the upper end of this price range, the Varia and Sette 30. They’re all 40mm(ish) cone grinders in the $200-400CAD range. Especially looking at such traits as Turkish grinding ability (fineness, obviously, but also a robust enough motor), noise, retention and grinds quality. I’m looking for a quiet (none of our household run on he same schedule), low retention (I typically have several coffees on the go at a time and switch back and forth daily) single doser for Aeropress/Moka primarily, with a little Turkish on the side. This seems to point to the Varia, but Baratza certainly has a massive history and reputation (at least in the Americas) for good value for money, solid build, excellent customer service/support and high repairability. And is likely to be around half the price. Then comes the Opus. This is becoming a tough choice.

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

I'd be leaning heavily towards the Varia based on your requests. Opus, Baratza, Breville - they are all very very affordable All-round Grinders - though (and I haven't used the OPUS yet) the Vaira is just a step above in all categories I believe - and especially for how quiet it is! But - I'll look to add the Varia to the comparison video 👌 In Australia, the Varia is $600 - which is a fair bit more than the Encore ESP at $349 ... hence why I hadn't included it in this video - but it would be fair to say - the addition cost is worth the value. (consistency, speed, retention, workflow, noise, static, versatility - all better on the Varia.)

@coreycannon4511

Жыл бұрын

@@AlternativeBrewing The Price thing is weird, isn’t it? I quoted $200-400CAD, yet the gap is closer to $300-400CAD for all those grinders. It’s wild that the Baratza is relatively close in price between Canada and Australia, but the Varia is wildly more expensive there than here. I’m actually surprised it’s not the other way around, with the Varia being cheaper there than here. The Baratza is American, but (correct me if I’m wrong) owned by Australian Breville, so similar pricing is no surprise. It’s almost a domestic company here and there, so I would assume no tariffs. But Varia is from New Zealand!! How are they cheaper here? Don’t you two countries have a 40 year old free trade agreement? Never mind NZ is so much closer to AUS than North America. You could practically throw them across the Tasman. Ok, I know it’s not THAT close, but still…

Great overview! I wonder how the ESP compares to the Rancilio Rocky?

I'd love to see some coffee roasting videos, especially with the Gene Cafe CBR 101, and decaf beans

Would love to see comparisons on workflow, i.e. how hard is it to dial in espresso on the Encore vs SGP? Great review! It’s a good time for us home brewers that don’t have huge budgets for our espresso hobby!

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

Great suggestion!

Good review. Thanks. It sounds as though it may be a little more versatile than my Wilfa Uniform wrt espresso, with its clever, fine adjustments at the espresso range. Not that I’m considering swapping.

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! Yeah, the adjustments at fine were much better than I was expecting for the price - and still have all the coarse settings too from the OG Encoee

Nice shirt

Absolutely brilliant shirt

Love the James Hoffmann shirt, where did you buy it?

@andyfoster9038

Жыл бұрын

And at the risk of appearing stupid, what's the E=B+C/D all about?

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

It was a custom 1/1 🔥& the equation is for calculating the EY(E) ‘Extraction Yield’ of an espresso. So how much material you extracted from the dose as a percentage. Where you combine the Weight of the final espresso (B) with the concentration of the Espresso, measured with a refractometer as a TDS reading, usually between 8-10 for espresso. Then divide that by how much ground coffee you used to brew the espresso- your Dose (D). This should give you a % somewhere around 18-22% if alls well.

I have older Baratza Encore. Plastic of external mill broke after a year using specialty coffee for V60.

would love to see comparison between baratza ESP vs Turin SK40 🥺🥺

Can the dosing cup and base fit in the original?

Do you think Encore ESP will be better for espresso than Virtuoso+ ? I recently bought Virtuoso+ but i think that doesn't grind thin enough for non-pressurized baskets even in the lowest setting

Great video! If I take milk in both filter n espresso would there be much difference in taste between this barratza and the niech zero?

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

Yes, definitely

would like to see it compared to opus

This thing is good. Built well, grinds very well. Weigh up against the bodum and breville. I think this one is just more robust. You'll soon forget the extra cash it's worth. Buy it.

I assume this mechanism is going to replace the smart grinder in Breville all-in-ones, at some point. Why else buy Baratza?

Great review. I am curious how is this one compared to Eureka mignon?

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

It's much more affordable than the Eureka Mignon. I would expect the Eureka Mignon to fair better, but will consider it a possibility for an upcoming video.

Hi, what grind setting would you recommend for the V60 01 and Moccamaster (KGB Select)?

@AlternativeBrewing

8 ай бұрын

V60 - #25-28, MM - full batch #32-35

If you were using this as a daily driver, what would your workflow be? Would you weigh out the beans ahead of time to use it single dose? If not, what's the most efficient way to get the same amount of grounds every time? It seems like you would have to guess every single time, run it for a few seconds, weigh it, run it again, weight it, repeat, etc. This seems like a painful process? Is there something I'm missing if you don't want to weight out beans and single dose it every time?

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

If you're hoping to avoid using scales, then you can adopt volumetric Dosing. Volumetric dosing is a method of measuring coffee by volume rather than weight, which can be a useful alternative. Here are some examples of how volumetric dosing can be applied to different brewing methods. So you would use the filter basket of a Moka Pot or espresso to dose, or another small container to "accurately enough" measure coffee for pour-overs to your flavour preferences.

Do you know if they're going to make a conversion kit for the original encore?

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

That’s a great question, I’ll keep a look out for a specific kit for this - to my knowledge Baratza have not brought this out. I am aware of folks already putting the M2 burrs in the OG Encore. And there’s washers you can also get to adjust the Grind fineness as well.

How do you think the Encore ESP, in terms of espresso performance, stacks up against the niche zero? is the niche really worth 3x the price?

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

Yes and no 😂 Additional things to consider are static, retention and consistency- but solely on whether the coffee tastes 3x better - I would say no.

Thanks for the video! Can it grind to Turkish?

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

Yes you can!

Is the Eureka Mignon Silenzio that much better and why? Trying to decide, as i want to purchase a machine for years to come.

@AlternativeBrewing

3 ай бұрын

yes

The ESP seems to be pretty good from this review in terms of espresso. I saw one review of the Opus (by Lance) and it turned out less exciting than this one.

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

I’m excited to get the Opus for sure! Having it side by side with these two (Breville&Baratza) would have been valuable. The fact these are inexpensive grinders - it’s cautionary to ensure we’re not over-hyping these grinders as reviewers. I’d say the Fellow Opus included here. They are great grinders for the price- agreeing with @Lancehedrick here, and to add - if your looking at spending upwards of $500usd for a grinder- I wouldn’t suggest you consider these grinders worth the savings. They’re great budget grinders - but from overall user experience with performance, a more expensive grinder will outdo these machines.

@KrishnenduKes

Жыл бұрын

@@AlternativeBrewing I get your point. Thanks for the reply! :)

@NoZenith

Жыл бұрын

Lance just compared the 2 of them and he basically said the same thing you did about Espresso but it looks like he prefers the opus for filter grinds

@KrishnenduKes

Жыл бұрын

@@NoZenith Right. I saw that. Thank you.

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

@@NoZenith can't wait to get the OPUS 👌 ..

Hi ! Thanks for the review, on my town in france i can get it for 180€ or the Eureka Mignon CRONO for 199€.. Wich one should I buy for espresso ? Cheers

@AlternativeBrewing

9 ай бұрын

Mignon 🫶

Do you know if this grinder has all steel internals or are some plastic. I’m looking for an entry-level replacement for my Breville dose control after discovering the plastic impeller has slowly been wearing down and depositing microscopic particles of plastic into my grinds for the past 4 years! I’d like to replace it with something durable that isn’t going to slowly poison me… This really seems to fit the bill in terms of function and price. I was initially looking at the Rancilio Rocky, but really can’t justify the price tag.

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

Unfortunately, the housing around the burrs is Plastic. Although, this issue is unknown to the Baratza Encore. I'm sorry this has happened to you! Grinders with little in the way of plastic used would begin at the Eureka Mignon, and the Varia VS3 - all much more expensive grinders. Perhaps going with the Encore or a Fellow Opus, as they have great track record for quality build (even though still plastic)

@dcartref

Жыл бұрын

@@AlternativeBrewing thanks for the response and suggestions. I’ve considered spending more and going for the Rancilio Rocky, mainly for its reputation as a solidly built grinder. I like the look of the VS3 but have read that it tends to struggle with oilier beans, and that’s what I primarily use, unfortunately. How does the Rancilio compare, in your opinion?

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

@@dcartref that's a tough one. IMHO I think you're almost cheating yourself out a a really great grinder for just an extra $100 or so dollars. Aussie dollar ofc. .. A Eureka Mignon Grinder is far superior to a Rancilio Rocky. .. You're also right about the Varia VS3, for oilier beans - I'd stay away 👍

@dcartref

Жыл бұрын

@@AlternativeBrewing Thanks, I appreciate the insight. This segment of the grinder market is entirely new to me so I’m relying heavily on reviews and the opinions of others to help make my decision.

I'm sure this video will sell thousands of Encore esp for Baratza. I'm seconds away from ordering one for myself.

14:01 As someone who works in an operating room, this footage reminds me of a microscope-guided spinal discectomy.

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

😂

The question for a beginner like me is...do I spend 200 bucks on the ESP, 200 bucks on the k-max, or 200 something else. My interest is everything non-espresso. I'd like to explore aeropress, all the pour over styles, moka pots, and french press. I don't want to spend extra for espresso capability when I won't use it. I could use the money saved toward a scale/kettle.

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

K-Max 👌 For Filter ... and ofc will also do espresso very well. Portable, robust, makes incredible pourover. The Baratza Encore - is convenient and cheap, but I wouldn't say it makes incredible coffee

The ESP and the Opus look like grinders for people getting into coffee, seasoned coffee veterans will be better off investing in more expensive grinders. These are more what seasoned coffee nerds like me recommend to newcomers.

@AlternativeBrewing

Жыл бұрын

You're absolutely right! The OPUS may perhaps get us coffee geeks/nerds excited initially - it's a shiny new gadget 😂 But ultimately - in pushing the boundaries for quality flavourful extractions and also leaving room for growth - you're far better off going with a Grinder such as the Varia VS3, or DF64, or if staying on-brand, the Fellow Ode v2, where you can upgrade burrs!

@meatgeorge

Жыл бұрын

​​@@AlternativeBrewing I saw Hoffman's video comparing the Ode Gen 2 burrs to the SSP and he said the improvements were pretty minor. Now I have had the SSP burrs for a while (not too long after you started stocking them) and consider them "end game". I would be interested in hearing your thoughts of the two burrs side by side if/when you do a video on the Gen 2 Ode, see what you would recommend for Gen 1 owners that are looking at upgrading their burrs.

That high pitch noise is awful

gross! to use vaccum inside your coffee grinder? you are leaving dust and crap from the sucker

@illiniwood

Жыл бұрын

Quite true. Due to turbulence at the tip, the sucker experiences a regurgitation of whatever may be lingering within an inch or two of the inner lining of the nozzle. Gack!!