Baratza Encore Black: The Go-To Starter Burr Grinder for Home Coffee

The Baratza Encore in black is probably the most recommended entry-level burr grinder in the specialty coffee world, and for good reason. It grinds well enough for pour-over, drip, AeroPress, and French press at a price point that doesn't require a second mortgage. If you're stepping up from a blade grinder or pre-ground coffee, the Encore is the single best upgrade you can make to improve your cup quality.

I bought my first Encore in black about three years ago and used it daily until I caught the espresso bug and needed something with finer adjustment. But for filter coffee, the Encore held its own against grinders costing twice as much. Let me walk you through what makes it tick, where it falls short, and how to get the most out of it.

What You Get for $150

The Encore sits at around $140-170 depending on where you buy it and whether there's a sale. For that price, you get a 40mm conical steel burr grinder with 40 stepped settings, a 227-gram bean hopper, and a plastic grounds collection bin.

The 40mm Conical Burrs

These are Baratza's M3 burr set. They produce a reasonably uniform grind at medium settings, which is where most filter brewing lives. The particle distribution isn't as tight as what you'd get from a $300+ grinder, but the jump in quality from a blade grinder to the Encore is massive. My first pour-over after switching from blade grinding was noticeably cleaner, less bitter, and more flavorful. That difference alone justifies the price.

40 Grind Settings

The Encore offers 40 macro settings via the collar under the hopper. Each step makes a noticeable change in particle size. For most filter brewing methods, you'll use settings 12-28. The jumps between settings are fine enough for drip and pour-over dialing, though espresso users will find them too large (more on that below).

Grind Quality by Brew Method

I've used the Encore for every non-espresso method, and here's how it performs across the board.

V60 Pour-Over

My go-to method with the Encore. Settings 14-18 cover the range for most coffees. Light roasts from East Africa taste best around 14-15, where the finer grind extracts more of those bright, fruity notes. Medium roasts from Central and South America work well at 16-18. The cup quality is clear and balanced, with just enough body from the small percentage of fines that slip through.

AeroPress

The Encore is great for AeroPress. Settings 10-14 work for inverted method, and 12-16 for standard method. The AeroPress is forgiving enough that the Encore's particle distribution doesn't hold it back. This was my travel combo for a long time: Encore at home to grind, AeroPress in the bag.

Drip Machine

If you use an automatic drip brewer, the Encore at settings 18-22 will make your coffee taste better than whatever pre-ground stuff you've been using. The consistency at these medium settings is solid, and the difference in cup quality from freshly ground beans is one of those "can't go back" improvements.

French Press

Settings 28-34 for French press. Honestly, this is the Encore's weakest area. The coarse grind contains too many fines, which causes sediment and over-extraction in the cup. It's still better than blade-ground French press coffee, but if French press is your primary method, you might want to look at a grinder with better coarse performance.

Check our best coffee grinder guide for options that excel at different brew methods.

The Black Finish

The black Encore has a clean, matte black housing that hides coffee dust well. This is one small but real advantage over the white version. After grinding, the inevitable dusting of fine coffee particles around the chute area is practically invisible on the black surface. I only wiped mine down every few days rather than after every use, and it always looked fine.

The black finish also ages well. After three years of daily use, mine showed no yellowing, fading, or significant scratching. The plastic feels sturdy and maintains its matte texture over time.

Daily Workflow and Tips

Over three years with the Encore, I developed a routine that squeezed the best performance out of it.

The Ross Droplet Technique

Static is the Encore's most annoying quirk. Grounds cling to the bin, scatter on the counter, and create a mess. The fix is simple: before grinding, add 1-2 drops of water to your beans and stir them around with a spoon. This kills the static charge and makes grounds fall cleanly into the bin. It changed my Encore experience completely.

Weighing Your Beans

The Encore doesn't have a dose timer, so you're grinding by sight and sound. I weigh my beans before putting them in the hopper, then grind until the motor speeds up (indicating the burrs are spinning empty). This gives me a precise dose every time without needing a scale for the output.

Single Dosing

I only put one dose of beans in the hopper at a time. Leaving beans sitting in the hopper exposes them to air and light, which degrades freshness. The small hopper on the Encore makes single dosing easy. Just measure your beans, drop them in, and grind.

Maintenance and Longevity

Monthly Cleaning

Once a month, I pop out the upper burr (twist and lift) and brush out the accumulated fines and coffee oils. I also run a vacuum over the burr chamber to catch any loose particles. Every third month, I run Grindz cleaning tablets through the machine. The whole monthly clean takes 5-8 minutes.

Burr Replacement

After about 500 pounds of coffee, the M3 burrs start to dull. At my usage rate of 25 grams per day, that's roughly 4-5 years. Replacement burrs cost about $25-30 and take 10 minutes to swap. Baratza's repair guides make this extremely accessible even if you're not mechanically inclined.

The M2 Burr Upgrade

One of the most popular Encore modifications is swapping the stock M3 burrs for the M2 burrs used in the Virtuoso+. The M2 set costs about $35 and drops right in. The improvement in grind consistency is noticeable, especially at finer pour-over settings. If you like your Encore but want better performance without buying a new grinder, this is the move.

Who the Encore Is For (and Not For)

The Encore is for anyone brewing filter coffee at home who wants a meaningful upgrade from pre-ground or blade-ground beans. It handles drip, pour-over, and AeroPress with confidence, and it does French press acceptably.

It's not for espresso. Period. The steps are too large, the finest settings aren't fine enough for proper extraction, and you'll fight the grinder instead of enjoying your coffee.

It's also not for someone who already owns a grinder in the $300+ range. The Encore won't outperform a Virtuoso+, a Comandante, or a Eureka Mignon at anything. It's an entry point, not a destination.

Our top coffee grinder roundup puts the Encore in context with mid-range and premium alternatives.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Encore loud?

Moderately. I'd say 72-78 decibels during grinding, comparable to a moderately loud conversation. It's not quiet enough to use at 5 AM without waking a light sleeper, but it's not painful either. Grinding a single dose takes about 15-20 seconds.

Should I buy the Encore or save up for the Virtuoso+?

If your budget allows it, the Virtuoso+ is a better grinder with the M2 burrs and a dose timer. But the Encore with the M2 burr upgrade gets you very close to Virtuoso+ grind quality for less money. You just lose the digital timer, which you can live without by weighing beans before grinding.

How does the Encore compare to hand grinders at the same price?

At $150, hand grinders like the Timemore C2 Max offer better grind consistency than the Encore. The trade-off is manual effort. If you don't mind spending 30-45 seconds cranking a handle each morning, a hand grinder gives you more for the money. If convenience matters, the Encore wins.

Can I grind spices in the Encore?

Don't. Coffee oils and spice oils will mix, and you'll taste cumin in your coffee for weeks. Blade grinders are better for spices because they're cheap enough to dedicate one to the task.

Final Verdict

The Baratza Encore in black is the grinder I tell every filter coffee beginner to buy. It does what most people need, it's built to be repaired rather than replaced, and it looks sharp on any countertop. Three years in, mine still grinds just as well as the day I bought it, with nothing more than a burr cleaning and one set of replacement burrs. That kind of longevity at $150 is hard to beat.