Baratza Encore Coffee Grinder: An Honest, In-Depth Look

The Baratza Encore coffee grinder is a 40-setting conical burr grinder that retails for about $170 and handles drip, pourover, French press, AeroPress, and cold brew grinding with consistent, reliable results. It's been the go-to recommendation from baristas, coffee YouTubers, and Reddit's r/coffee community for over a decade. If someone asks "what grinder should I buy?" in any coffee forum, the Encore is usually the first response, and that reputation is well-earned.

I've personally used the Encore for several years and put it through its paces with light roasts, dark roasts, and everything in between. It's not perfect, and there are situations where other grinders are a better fit, but for the price and for the brew methods most people use at home, it's hard to beat. Here's a detailed breakdown of its performance, limitations, and how to get the most out of it.

Performance Across Brew Methods

The Encore's 40 grind settings cover a range from fairly fine to very coarse. Not every setting within that range performs equally well. Here's where the Encore excels and where it struggles.

Drip Coffee (Settings 15 to 25)

This is the Encore's home turf. The medium grind range is where the 40mm conical burrs produce their most consistent output. Particle distribution is tight, which means even extraction in an automatic drip maker. I tested the Encore with a Breville Precision Brewer and a basic Mr. Coffee, and the results were good with both. The coffee tasted clean, balanced, and noticeably better than the same beans ground in a blade grinder.

For most drip makers, start at setting 20 and adjust. Setting 18 works well for flat-bottom basket brewers. Setting 22 is better for cone-shaped filter baskets. These are starting points. Your beans, water, and brewer will influence the ideal setting.

Pourover (Settings 12 to 20)

Pourover is where the Encore earns its keep. The medium to medium-fine range (12 to 18) produces grounds that work beautifully in a V60, Kalita Wave, and Chemex. The V60 is the most sensitive of the three to grind changes, and the Encore's single-step adjustments in this range are fine enough to let you dial in without huge jumps between settings.

A Chemex with its thick filter does better at settings 18 to 22 because the filter slows the drawdown significantly. Going too fine with a Chemex produces an over-extracted, bitter cup.

French Press (Settings 28 to 35)

Coarse grinding on the Encore is good but not outstanding. The particle distribution opens up slightly at the coarsest settings, meaning you get a wider range of sizes compared to the medium range. For French press, this means a small amount of fine sediment that makes it through the mesh filter.

It's not a dealbreaker. The cup is still much better than what you'd get from a blade grinder. But if you drink French press exclusively and hate any sediment, a premium hand grinder like the Comandante C40 produces a cleaner coarse grind.

AeroPress (Settings 8 to 22)

The AeroPress is the most versatile brewer for grind size tolerance, and the Encore handles every AeroPress recipe I've tried. Standard recipes work great at settings 12 to 15. Inverted long-steep recipes do well at 18 to 22. Even competition-style fine-grind AeroPress recipes work at settings 8 to 10.

Espresso (Settings 1 to 8)

This is where the Encore consistently disappoints. The fine end of the grind range simply doesn't have enough precision for espresso. The steps between settings are too large. At setting 5, your shot might run in 18 seconds (way too fast). At setting 4, the portafilter might choke completely (no flow at all). There's no usable setting in between.

If you want to pull espresso, look at the Baratza Encore ESP (a recalibrated version with a finer adjustment range), the Baratza Sette 270, or a hand grinder like the 1Zpresso JX-Pro. The standard Encore is a filter coffee grinder. Full stop.

Build Quality and Design

The Encore has a plastic body that's well-fitted and feels solid without feeling premium. It weighs about 7 pounds and stands roughly 14 inches tall (with the hopper). The footprint is compact enough for most kitchen counters.

The hopper holds about 8 ounces of whole beans. It has a locking mechanism that lets you remove it without beans spilling everywhere. The grounds bin sits underneath the burr assembly and catches ground coffee in a small plastic container. The fit between the grounds bin and the chute isn't perfectly sealed, so a small amount of coffee dust can escape onto the counter. Wiping it up takes 5 seconds, but it's worth mentioning.

The on/off switch is a simple rocker on the side. There's no timer, no auto-shutoff, and no digital display. You press the switch, the grinder runs, and you press it again when you have enough. This bare-bones approach means fewer things to break, which contributes to the Encore's legendary reliability.

Baratza is one of the few grinder companies that sells every individual part on their website. Motor burned out after 6 years? Buy a new motor for $35 and swap it yourself. Burrs getting dull? New burrs cost $25. This repairability extends the usable life of the Encore well beyond most competitors, many of which are disposable when a component fails.

Noise and Speed

The Encore uses a DC motor that runs at relatively low RPM compared to grinders with AC motors. This means less noise and less heat during grinding.

In practical terms, grinding 20 grams of coffee takes about 12 to 15 seconds. The noise level is somewhere around 70 decibels at the grinding setting for drip (measured from 2 feet away). That's quieter than most electric grinders but louder than a conversation. You can grind at 6 AM without waking the whole house, provided nobody is sleeping in the same room.

Hand grinders are significantly quieter. If noise is a major concern, a Timemore C2 or 1Zpresso Q2 produces about 40 decibels during grinding. The effort tradeoff is what keeps most people on electric.

Encore vs. Competitors

Several grinders compete directly with the Encore. Here's how they stack up.

Baratza Encore ESP ($170). Same body, different burr calibration. The ESP trades some coarse range for better fine-grind performance in the espresso zone. If you split your time between filter and espresso, the ESP is a better bet than the standard Encore. For filter-only brewing, the standard Encore is slightly better because it has a wider coarse range.

Oxo Brew Conical Burr ($100). Costs $70 less than the Encore and grinds respectably. The grind consistency is about 85% as good as the Encore in the medium range. If budget is your primary constraint, the Oxo is a solid alternative. But you lose the repairability advantage that gives the Encore its long lifespan.

Fellow Ode ($300). The Ode uses flat burrs and is designed exclusively for filter coffee. The grind is more uniform than the Encore's, especially at medium settings. The build quality is noticeably better, and the design is beautiful. But it costs nearly twice as much and doesn't grind fine enough for any espresso, Moka pot, or AeroPress fine-grind recipes.

Timemore C2 ($60). A hand grinder that outperforms the Encore in particle consistency. The C2's stainless steel burrs produce a tighter grind distribution, especially in the medium range. The catch: 60 to 90 seconds of hand-cranking per cup versus pressing a button. If you make one cup at a time and don't mind the effort, the C2 is the better grinder. If you value convenience, the Encore wins.

For a broader comparison, check our best coffee grinder guide and top coffee grinder roundup.

Tips for Getting the Best Results

After years with the Encore, these are the habits that produce the best coffee:

Don't store beans in the hopper. The hopper exposes beans to air and light. Only put in the beans you're about to grind. Store the rest in an airtight, opaque container.

Purge after adjusting. When you change the grind setting, 1 to 2 grams of coffee at the old setting are still in the burr chamber. Run a short burst with the new setting to push those grounds through before grinding your actual dose.

Brush the burrs every 2 weeks. Pop off the hopper, twist out the upper burr ring, and brush away the accumulated fines. This prevents oil buildup and stale flavors from contaminating fresh grounds. It takes 3 minutes.

Replace burrs every 2 to 3 years. With daily use, the burrs gradually dull and produce less consistent particles. You'll notice the grind getting slightly muddier before the burrs are truly worn out. A $25 replacement set restores the Encore to like-new performance.

Try setting 15 as a starting point for V60. If you're new to pourover, setting 15 with a 1:16 coffee-to-water ratio and 205-degree water produces a reliably good cup on the Encore. Adjust one setting at a time from there based on taste.

FAQ

Is the Baratza Encore still worth buying in 2026?

Yes. Despite its age, no competitor has displaced the Encore's combination of grind quality, reliability, repairability, and price. Newer grinders like the Fellow Ode offer better grind consistency but at nearly double the price and with less versatility. The Encore remains the standard recommendation for anyone getting into fresh-ground coffee.

How long will a Baratza Encore last?

With regular maintenance, 5 to 10 years easily. The motor and switch are the most common failure points, and both are replaceable for $30 to $40 through Baratza's parts store. The burrs should be replaced every 2 to 3 years (about $25). Structurally, the plastic body holds up well and doesn't crack or degrade with normal use.

Can I grind for Moka pot with the Baratza Encore?

Yes. Moka pot grind sits between espresso and drip. Settings 5 to 10 on the Encore work for Moka pots. This is actually one area where the Encore performs better than expected. It doesn't have the precision for true espresso, but Moka pot brewing is more forgiving, and the Encore handles it well.

Should I buy the Encore or save for something more expensive?

If you brew filter coffee (drip, pourover, French press, AeroPress), the Encore is all you need. Spending more buys you quieter operation, nicer materials, and marginally better grind consistency, but the flavor improvement from an Encore to a $300 grinder is much smaller than the improvement from pre-ground to an Encore. Start with the Encore, and upgrade in a few years if your palate demands it.

The Verdict

The Baratza Encore is the right grinder for about 80% of home coffee drinkers. It grinds well enough for every method except espresso, it lasts for years, every part is replaceable, and it costs $170. Buy it, set it to the right number for your brew method, clean the burrs every two weeks, and focus your energy on buying good beans and dialing in your technique. The grinder will do its part without complaint.