Grinder Showdown: Wilfa Svart vs Baratza Encore
Vložit
- čas přidán 29. 08. 2024
- You asked for it, so here it is! The Wilfa Svart Grinder (£105) vs the Baratza Encore (£150).
Note: I purchased the Wilfa from Workshop Coffee. However, I now act as an upaid advisor for the company that is currently distributing Wilfa in the UK.
I was not paid to do this review, and do not earn a comission on sales.
Music:
Elijah Nang - Haru / elijah-nang-haru
Links:
Patreon: / jameshoffmann
My Book: geni.us/atlasof...
Limited Edition Merch: www.tenshundre...
Instagram: / jimseven
Twitter: / jimseven
My coffee kit (studio): kit.co/jimseve...
My video kit: kit.co/jimseve...
I've had an Encore for 7+ years now. It has been a fantastic grinder and I have no complaints. As others have noted, it is repairable, and parts are easy to order from the company's website. I have not needed any repairs or replacement parts yet, as it just works without problems.
Easy to clean (once monthly seems like a good interval), grind settings don't move once set. Personally, I like to remove the catch bin, and hold an open #4 paper filter underneath the shoot and grind straight into the filter. This is possible by using the button on the front of the grinder. I do this in order to eliminate static electricity that sometimes forms in the catch bin.
The speed of the grinder is deliberately geared slower than the Wilfa Svart as higher speed creates heat, which is not preferred. So, speed really shouldn't mean better.
Hope some find this a useful post.
Hi. I appreciate your response. Do you use the Encore for espresso? I am hoping to find a grinder that will best fit my usage, which will be 75% drip and 25% espresso.I don't think James addressed this. Thank you!
@@frankmilano Hi Frank, While I don't use the Encore specifically for espresso, I have a bean to cup super-auto machine for that, I have used the Encore to grind decaf beans to be used in the auxillary shoot for the super-auto espresso machine. The grind setting used was, I believe, 7 or 8. This was plenty fine enough for the intended purpose. That's really fine, almost powder-like grind.
For our filter drip coffee maker I use a setting of 14 or 15 for mostly city roast, to city roast +. I roast our beans in a Gene Cafe roaster and enjoy excellent results!
The Baratza Encore is worth more than it's selling price, imho.
@@tbrobison Thank you so much for such a prompt and helpful reply. Sounds like the Encore would be a good choice for me. I’m just starting on my espresso journey with the Breville Bambino Plus. Maybe someday I’ll look into roasting. Sounds intriguing. My last thought is how important is having a grinder that accepts the portafilter? I think it’s called a fork? Thanks if you have an opinion on that too.
Baratza has great customer service. I do not know about the other company. One thing that wasn't brought up and was a major factor in my buying a Baratza grinder is the company builds their grinders to be easily repaired by the consumer and parts are very readily available. This extends the life of the grinders very, very much. This is a major benefit that adds value and convenience to their grinders.
Wilfa is awful, usually flat out refuse to replace things, even under warranty.
This is a big reason I’m about to go the Baratza route.
Things like 18s or 30s grind times for me is kinda irrelevant.
@@Showmetheevidence- Baratza gears the encore down for less heat when grinding which should be a plus. Thats why a blind taste test would be interesting with a known quantity from a real coffee afficiando, or someone who has a favorite coffee.
I’ve had my encore for about 2 years now and I just had to replace the motor board. They shipped me a new one for absolutely free and I got it within a week. It’s very easy to replace and it works like new.
@@TheSkitd A real coffee aficionado? Ha! You might want to look up the maker of this video...
I would love an electric grinder showdown with price range separation, similar to what you did with the manual grinders, including evaluation for espresso or turkish!
look sözen grinder for Turkish coffee
I agree!!!!!!!
I guess Im asking randomly but does anybody know a trick to log back into an instagram account??
I was stupid forgot my account password. I appreciate any assistance you can give me.
@Mason Lochlan i really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and im in the hacking process now.
Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Mason Lochlan it did the trick and I now got access to my account again. I'm so happy:D
Thanks so much you saved my ass !
Showing the sieve results was a really cool component of the video
I can't believe that's not standard for comparing grinders. That's the whole purpose of them!
And that sifter will "only" cost you $129!!! 😲
Agreed. 18s vs 8s doesn't matter to me as I grind right before the water finishes boiling, and noise isn't a factor.
I don't know about the Wilfa. My wife and I own/run a coffee shop in small town North Dakota USA. We've used the Baratzas for years now. They have done a great job but one BIG plus is, that when they need maintenance we can do the vast majority of it ourselves. We can get the parts from Baratza, they have instructions for just about everything, videos are online on how to do what needs to be one. They are easy to disassemble and maintain or repair. Having that kind of support and do it yourself capability where we are is EXTREMELY important. Where many pieces of equipment must be taken to a shop, or a company has to send out a repair tech, we keep these going ourselves. We just cannot say enough great things about them.
I hope Wilfa offers the same options... but if not I'd recommend Baratza hands down as you can literally keep them running pretty much forever. Even if a motor burns out... replace and keep going. They are fantastic machines!
Oh shit, I live in North Dakota, what’s the name of the coffee shop?
Hello fellow North Dakotan! It's always fun running into my statesmen on the internet.
@@samneibauer4241 Same here. Not that many of us... gotta stick together! :-)
Daniel Watson listen man. I need to know the name of the coffee shop
@@CalvinKaralus Simple Coffee and Espresso.
Thank you for this review!
I bought the Baratza as the Wilfa was not easily found in the US.
I’m obsessed, in a good way, with your videos. I bought the Hario V60 & a Hario scale after watching your videos and selected on my own a Cosori electric kettle.
All are perfect but the Baratza Encore grinder has made the greatest improvement in the taste of my coffee.
It’s been an investment that many would chuckle at but I chuckle at others who spend $4 a cup for something that is 100 times more fun to brew at home.
I feel as though I now have the perfect set-up thanks in large part to your videos.
I bought my Encore because my grinders were garbage before than. A better grinder really upped my coffee game.
I've tried blade and manual. There was one electric grinder (Kitchen Aid) that lasted 4 months.
I brew moka pot and french press. No point buying premium beans if the grind is substandard.
Just one quick thing when you measure the loudness, James
Please consider mounting your phone somewhere else then directly on the table. Many of the vibrations will be amplified but in a different way then it will reach your ear. Well at least i suppose you mostly dont have your ear pressed against the table :D
Also the sturdiness of the table and the resonance of the top will also impact the noise, but this way it's more true to hearing sound levels.
Thanks for you amazing videos :)
I use the button on the front of the Encore to purge it from coffee fleece before and after use, works pretty well. Great review, thanks!
Coming back to this now in 2020. James has definitely upped his video game. Also just purchased the wilfa due to this video :)
I was just about to post the same comment.
Thoughts? I'm looking to upgrade my cheap blade grinder and have my eye on this.
@@arkatoz go for it. I'm super pleased with the Wilfa. Makes such a difference in the taste and consistency of my coffees. More than I thought it would.
FWIW I bought the encore in oct 2015, and since then have ground enough coffee for one 10 cup drip pot every day. I bought an extra burr to use as a visual so I could tell when to replace the original. Its never had any problems, and the original burr looks good as new and hasnt been replaced. Two minor quibbles..
1 I wish it was faster to grind
2 I wish there was a backlight for the grounds bin. I keep a cheap flashlight next to it for this purpose.
Also i keep the grinder on a cafeteria tray on the counter to keep stray grounds from making a mess when transferring. Overall very happy with it.
Thanks for this comparison. I've had my Encore for a little over a month. Very satisfied with its performance. I was drawn to Barstza for their support and the fact that I can practically rebuild my machine. We'd be glad to hear more about these machines after prolonged use.
In my opinion, one flaw in this review is the sound level comparison. From the video closeup of the meter, it looked to me as if he was using "Z" weighting, which is no weighting at all. Most measurements are made with "A" or "C" weighting, which better match how our ears perceive sound, depending on the average level (it all relates to research done from Fletcher and Munson, and the Fletcher Munson curves that resulted from that research). Anyway, you don't have to understand all that to get what I am saying. Listen to the sound in the video for each grinder. The meter reading for the Encore is a little higher, but in my opinion it sounded a lot less annoying than the Svart. That is because the Svart had more higher frequencies in the noise, whereas, because of using no weighting, the Encore had a higher meter reading which was due to having higher levels in the lower frequencies, which I find less annoying.
Your brilliant editing saves me lots of time by keeping the video short and informative. Thanks! :)
Wilfa all the way! I have absolutely no complaints about this wilfa grinder. Ive used it for nearly 3years now.
I absolutely LOVE the way you compared these grinders. Very smart
What made me settle on the Baratza was the ability to reliably grind for my latte maker, and for my french press on the same grinder.
I would agree with James except he left out the best feature, especially if you consider this an investment: with the Encore you can replace *EVERYTHING* , and it's designed to be *USER SERVICEABLE* (much appreciated in a throw away world.) They even encourage diy'ers to upgrade burr sets if they so desire.
They have manuals, exploded parts diagrams, even a way to test your motor with and without a multimeter easily available on their site. The design hasn't changed much over years, which is good because of the parts sharing across models and different iterations, keeps costs down and parts easily available.
It may feel cheap to James but they are robust and if it does break I can order literally any part, from the case, motor, switches, to random tiny gaskets. Side note: I actually like the momentary push button on switch, it's handy sometimes.
I absolutely love mine, it's completely changed my coffee game.
Hey man, thank you so much for this comment... I was super close to get a Wilfa myself, but I was a bit hesitant due to the awkward tray and questionable durability issues on Amazon reviews. When I red your comment I started to research and found some really easy methods to replace the burs and the huge amount of people discussing the Baratza repairs and I gotta say I'm way more confident with my future purchase.
Thank you very much for that!
@@DJ2punto0 Glad I could help!
Incredible to see how your Videos evolved!
Wants a quiet grinder lol. When I was a kid my dad had the loudest grinder ever and would bang it on the counter just in case we couldn’t hear it during the grinding. At 4am every day as a way to say I am so you’re up lol. He still does that to this day even tho all the kids have moved out lmao.
That noisy "I'm up so everyone should be up" attitude really grinds my gears, as I went through something similar with my dad.
I know its an old comment but my dad does the same. Blast the radio (AM) at 6am so we know he's up
You really just took me back to my childhood bedroom
Similar thing with my dad, he would scrape his bowl of oatmeal every day at 5:30 am. That man can deafen the sound of a rock concert with just a spoon and a bowl.
Where is the The Ultimate electric Grinder Showdown?
Seriously still waiting on that!
you asked for it, you got it
@Asian Muffin, you're far off, there are way better than niche but very expensive, the niche is excellent though
@@bl6973 baratza sette 30 to me!
It's now there !
Ease of cleaning would have been another good objective measure. From the outside the Svart looks like the grinds have a more complex path to take to exit the grinder.
As an aside, I like the brick background.
The button on the front of the Encore is great for flushing through the last few bits that tend to dance around at the end of a long grind. Just stop the grinder when this happens push the button a time or two. Cleans right out.
"The WIlfa CGWS-130B does not grind for espresso and does not work in North America or any country using 110v power."
Who cares about America, 230V is the best!
Who tf uses 110v lmao
I want one that uses 400V
yeah, Wilfa is a norwegian company and I don't think they have any presence at all outside of europe.
@@berndhaft About 500 million people in a continent called "North America"
My Baratza Encore is 12 years old 1-1.5kg/week service. Easy to buy service parts $5 for a new drive gear and I am back in business for another year. Baratza does not make landfill fodder but durable easy to service machines that perform great and go the distance!
The Wilfa breaks a lot unfortunately. I just returned the Wilfa after being broken and got a Baratza,its s simpler product, but its simplicity makes it a better quality product, meant to last. Wilfa breaks because its components are of poor quality, so if the grind button breaks or stops working (and it will), you got to return it. With Baratza, you got two buttons, and its simpler to clean, use, and repair in case you have to. Both provide excellent coffee though, the same quality I would say, but def get a Baratza if you want to avoid having to return it several times.
You missed:
Showing the finest grind and coarsest grind. Encore is admired because it can make grind fine enough for home espresso machine. Most home grinders can't.
Number of adjustment is not a factor. What those numbers can do is indeed big factor.
Thank you. Glad I was able to contribute a bit :) .
I was just thinking the same. We happen to have both of these grinders. Wilfa just appeared one day with instructions "Try it, if it's any good. If not, I'll get rid of it.". Because we needed a grinder for decaf, I hoped this could be it. Turned out that Wilfa really couldn't grind that fine, but our Encore could. So now the Encore serves night shifts. Thankfully though there are not many customers demanding decaf. The Encore grinds longer, so with more orders it would get unpleasant for both sides... and I bet for the Encore too.
in my experience, the encore is not adequate for espresso
Please note I own an encore and it wasn't good for espresso until I put the shims in (which you can find instructions for online). Then it was adequate but windows between grinds could mean I couldn't dial in exactly but it certainly went fine enough for espresso.
@@JohnDavidWright Why you said that? i'm wanting to buy a electric grinder, and after a read some review on the internet this looks like the best option on this price range.
I own the baratza. The reason the you didn’t like the “buttons” on the machine maybe due to the fact that they are easily removable. They are removable in order to allow you to access the inner workings of the machine. This unit is easily fixed when a problem arises and customer support is excellent. However, this means of course that it has need to be fixed more than once over the last 9 years.....
A stone jammed my 5 year old grinder and broke it. I’m guessing it would have broken any other grinder too. However with my Baratza Encore I was able to order new parts for less than $20. They also had videos online showing me how to fix it. Good as new now. That maintainability is very impressive.
Yep, built cheapo quality but parts are available. It's honestly a valid question - build so you don't need to repair it or build so you will and offer parts so it's not replacing a whole grinder every time...
@@KneelSun followed that video to unclog my grinder once. After a couple of more grinds, clogs immediately. Even after unclogging it just spins. POS grinder.
@@VickiStokes more like user error by the sounds of it 😂
I loved my Wilfa uniform and felt it was better than the baratza encore in every way even though at work we sell the encore, but my wilfa is having cronic motor issues within 9 months of purchase and when I talk to the people I bought it from they said, yeah they're 50/50, a grinder for life or a grinder for a year. They couldn't help me because I didn't have a receipt. I don't know what the sus is with the encore yet but if the extra 50 beans goes into internal build quality I would take 100 times out of 10. Gutted because I cleaned it every time I changed beans, it got a lot of love! So BUYER BEWARE.
We have been using the Baratza Encore for years and it hasn't failed us once. Consistent and solid. It is quite loud though...
About three years later, the baratza price has dropped about 20 bucks in the states. Same consistency of quality, same glorious support (again in my experience in the states). The wilfa remains at its incredible valued price point, I have no idea how it's aged otherwise since I don't have the first hand exp, but even in this video, 4 months of reliable use and reliable consistency for the price is outstanding. I bought the encore since I am a murrican and have used it a fair bit and am VERY pleased with the results. Either way great grinders, great value.
I've had an encore for about a year now, so if I can offer 3 additional thoughts into the mix:
1. Dialling in the encore, in my case, is fantastically easy (especially for drip brewing), because I've found that each numbered click is equal to approx 10 seconds of brew time to get a perfect extraction - e.g., at 21 clicks, the coffee is perfect at 3:30 (210 seconds). The same stands accords a range of settings!
2. However, I've noticed recently that my grounds have become considerably less even over time - I think this is due to wear in the rubber ring between the hopper and the burrs - The hopper tends to shake violently in grinding.
3. Last, this thing is a nightmare to keep clean. Any time you remove the ground bin, it sucks out anything that had been left in the chute, and it just gets very messy, very quickly!!
I'd be very interested to try the Wilfa whenever it comes time for an update! Thanks for the video James.
I have the Maestro and the trick is to empty the grounds bin after I put coffee into the grinder and after I grind I tap the grinder lightly 3-4 times on my kitchen counter and no mess at all.
My parents also have this grinder and it is a bit messier than mine but this trick works beautifully on their grinder too and they have little to no mess.
And remember there is no such thing as messy-free grinder except if its a hand grinder.
The Maestro is much improvement over my Wilfa first generation grinder. Faster,more grind controls and closer together and more consistent grinds. But 6 moths of daily use is not much so time will tell if it will hold up.
And 3 fawlty Wilfa products in the family tells me to stay away from this brand.
I've had mine about 7 months now and its producing so many fines, to the point it clogs my drip brews, no matter how coarse I try to make it
We used to sell the encore in our shop but we stopped selling them due to the amount of customers that came back with their grinder.
Always the same two issues:
- broken white plastic ring under the hopper
- broken power button
The rubber ring in between the plastic ring and the hopper is also badly constructed in my opinion. Annoyingly finicky to put in the right place.
I like the idea behind making it easy to repair and making the machine break at the parts that aren't costly to replace but I still think it shouldn't be breaking as easily as the baratzas do.
The wilfa on the other hand is hugely popular here in Norway. Great piece of coffee gear for a great price. I'd recommend the wilfa over the baratza, easily..
Jort Reitsma do you know if finest grind sizes is the same? Want to use it for my aeropress to make americano coffee but most say Baratza is better/finer and wilfa can’t be used for espresso type drinks.
Lol you have to be hella stupid to break these parts... Might attract better customers
I have a Kruve sifter and recently upgraded my Baratza Encore's stock M3 burr to the M2 burr. I replaced the ring burr and drive shaft at the same time, since my pliers accidentally chewed through the old drive shaft. Testing the old burr's grind distribution with 500 micron and 1100 micron sieves, I had about 57% of the grounds end up within that range at grind setting 17, with the fines and boulders outside that range being of equal weight. I tried to test 800 micron and 1100 micron sieves together instead, but I couldn't get the grind consistent enough to have over a 50% yield within the window no matter what I tried.
For the M2 burr, I haven't tested the difference in fines+boulders ratio yet, and I don't know whether grind setting 17 would still produce fines and boulders of equal weight, or if the calibration changed a little. However, both the grind speed and taste profile have vastly improved with my drip brewer, to the point where I felt I had to re-test in case it was a fluke from taking the grinder apart and cleaning out any retained grounds. The sound profile also changed, but my understanding is that'll change further as the new burr starts to get used more. I would absolutely recommend buying and installing the M2 burr from day 1 if you're getting an Encore.
Sounds like the Encore is popcorning a bit, thus taking more time to grind the whole 30g.
Great review, thanks.
I purchased the Baratza Encore today. Paid $139 US. I'm back into the coffee game now! Got the V60 and great beans but my grinder was the problem. Made the perfect pour-over using James' method. OMFG! The best cup of coffee I've made and had in years.
A piece of crap grinder. Now won't grind. Unclogged it then got to grind coffee for two-morning pots of coffee. Clogged again. Unclogged then tried to grind but it just spins and gets clogged every time now. Only grinding 30 grams of beans. Not frozen. Baratza wants me to pay them $65 to fix it. I will NEVER buy another Baratza product. Even the cheap grinders don't break that fast.
I just bought the Baratza about a month ago...before I saw this video...but at least I'm happy with it. Thanks for the video.
How are you liking the baratza all these months later?
Fyi the encore will get clogged regularly with a medium to dark roast. I’m looking for a new grinder. As I’m tired of cleaning out the packed grounds every 3 mornings
Thanks for the warning. I considered buying one because of their repair policy.
Great review. I pulled the Trigger and bought the Wilfa. Good timing on my part as they were running a promotion on Opumo and I snagged it for £81 including postage. I don't need Expresso grinding and had a budget of about £100 - so this suits me perfectly. Spot on about the awkward shaped and somewhat flimsy bin - but this is my only minor niggle.
In the States 2022 the Wilfa is $325, the Encore is $135 almost a third of the price. That being the case the Encore is the clear better purchase.
Just wanted to thank you for this video :) I got a wilfa svart recently mainly on the strength of your reviews and am very happy with it after toiling with a hand grinder for years
I've neen using my Baratza Encore for about eight months and have never used the front start button. The grinds bin is simple does a great job and the side on/off knob does what it needs to do. I never make espresso at home so not being able to go that fine isn't an issue. It's a first class machine and good value..
Baratza has amazing support. Have helped me troubleshoot and repair multiple times.
Really useful review. Thanks. FWIW the Wilfa didn’t seem to be available here in the Land of Under so I ordered the Baratza.
Thoroughly enjoyable and fairly concise comparison. You should do more of these type of reviews!
I have bought two encores, and both quit within two years. I had to disassemble both and create a frankengrinder from pieces of both:the motherboard from one and the motor from the newer one were the culprits.
I had mine for only 8 months and it stopped grinding. I have no faith in this product.
For the sake of fairness, Baratza has had questionable logistics quality control: my Encore shipped to me with a missing switch knob, and on my recent burr upgrade order, they sent the wrong burr. But their customer service made things right extremely promptly in all cases. And the fact that the entire unit is completely rebuildable to the extent that I can buy individual bolts and nuts is great.
This was a great demonstration on quality of grind. More reviewers should include this.
I don't know anything about Wilfa but the reason I bought the Baratza is that it is fully user serviceable and replacement parts are available from the manufacturer.
I took mine apart to add some LED lights to illuminate the grind bin, and I think the build quality and engineering is very good for a relatively inexpensive consumer good. Focus is solely on the key functional parts and nothing else. No microcontroller or digital display or wifi to fail. There's not even DC power. The whole thing is comprised of an AC motor with a dial switch, and a shaft connected to the burr, and a simple case.
Hey! Great review, comaparison!
A few more of grinders from the same league:
-Graef CM 702
-Imat Lux
-Lelit Fred
- ( Sage/Catler/Gastroback Smart Grinder or Dose Control - they are all the same machine but a bit more expensive)
-Mahlkonig Vario (this one is also more expensive)
--------------
The Graef would be the most important to compare alon with the Imat Lux
I'm interested in cleanliness when discussing grinders. I noticed the grounds at the base of the Encore, particularly when you removed the bin at around 1:50. I use a Baratza Encore daily for my Breville Precision, V60, and AeroPress and I can easily dial in the grind size to match the brew method to my taste; however, it is quite messy. I always hold my Encore over the sink when removing/inserting the bin to reduce the mess on my countertop.
the only thing that has stopped that for me is a couple of drops of water added to the beans. keeps it totally tidy with the only caveat is that you may need to check the hopper for beans left behind.
I have a Baratza Encore and there is a significant amount of grinds in the bin area and inside the grinder. So much so that I have to clean it with a bristle brush after every grind. It's not just chaff - it's good grinds. I've heard that all grinders have a static charge problem that traps grinds. Water helps but it seems to be more prevalent in the Encore. Check out this article on grinder static reduction: www.lowkeycoffeesnobs.com/coffee-grinder-static/
I choose barazta because of service. I know it it really easy to by replacements parts from them. Wilfa not so much
I just a comment on the previous wilfa review video asking to see the beast in use. Then found this review. Perfect! Great job, well done. 👍
I didn't even know my Baratza had a button on the front for the first year I owned it. Always used the switch on the side. Still do.
I've owned my Baratza for 2 years and it was my first big coffee purchase. I'm not even mad it lost, I'm just glad my purchase was at least informed and researched enough to merit a near tie between the two. Especially since loudness and visual design are pretty minimal in my book. Another awesome showdown from Mr. Hoffman.
Thanks for letting me know I got the superior grinder, without even knowing about the existance of the Baratza.
I think something that isn't commonly brought up about Baratza encore is the ease of repairability. You can cheaply order each and every part for the grinder and have something that can last for a decades. Disassembly and repair is very simple.
I've had my Baratza Virtuoso for nearly 20 yrs, and the support has been phenomenal: parts are reasonably priced, and the how-to videos superb.
I know this is old but I wanted to add my two cents. I don’t know about the support for the Wilfa (maybe someone can respond below) but one of the reasons I bought the Baratza Encore is that the manufacturer completely supports their product and you can replace and rebuild every part of it should they go bad. Motors, Burrs, Switches, Hoppers you name it they sell replacement parts and have videos showing you how to fix your grinder. I also plan on buying Baratza Sette 270 for expresso grinding which has almost 0 retention of coffee grounds.
I have the brokes, and only had one chance to "get it right".
Bought the Encore because of the customer service recommendations. I live in the US, and everyone raved about how great they were to work with. It's really zero hassle.
Looks wise, I like the Wilfa better. It's a little less janky looking. But my grinder, bottom line, is to grind delicious coffee, which it does. The bonus of having some support if the grinder breaks is invaluable.
The company also has YT vids out for trouble shooting, before you contact them. Those vids have saved me a lot of grift.
Nice to know James doesn't think my grinder is total trash.😆
It would be interesting, for me at least, to see what the US prices for each unit are. I can't see anyone that sells the Svart in the US, while the Baratza here ordered direct is $145 USD, which Google says is about 115 pounds.
Thanks so much for the review! I would certainly love to see more home grinder comparisons, as this piece is so important but so difficult for a regular home barista to compare. In particular I would love to see some home espresso grinder reviews. I currently have a Baratza Vario for espresso, but I'm wondering if a change to the Baratza Sette or a K30, etc. would be beneficial. Thanks again, and I can't wait to receive your book!
Nice comparison. I would have liked to have seen a shot of the pre sifted grinds side by side to compare the consistency. I’v heard some companies mention a grounded plug as a feature to reduce static. It would also have been interesting to see if there was any difference between how much the grinds cling to the inside of the catch bin after dumping. I am also considering grinding directly into the brew basket from my next grinder. I’m not yet sure if that is possible without making a mess, but it might be interesting to see if that is equally easy on either grinder. I liked how you sifted the grinds to see how much was ground too small. Thanks and cheers
Feedback on the Wilfa wscg-2. My third Wilfa now gave up on me. I love the grind quality, but not the build quality. They've been consistently broken down after 2-3 years of usage, at about 3 x 2 cups of grinding per day.
Very interesting review James. I second the call for review of manual grinders as well as your thoughts on Moccamaster. Just moved to London and am loving the coffee scene!
Helpful information, I don’t have a Wilma, not popular on the US but as you said Suppprt is important and I own your second choice one! It works well for my needs, even did decent espresso grind too! Cheers
I chose the Encore because I prefer its more classic looks. The Svart has a generic, boxy, high-tech kitchen appliance look, with its mostly hidden bean hopper. But I just love the coffee shop look of having beans on full display in the hopper. I'm convinced that when I need a coffee, the pure anticipation created by seeing a hopper full of beans is half as good as actually drinking the coffee!
Thanks for the review, I would also love to watch you reviewing some hand grinders such as Commandante or Feldgrind (Aergrind).
Hey James that seemed like a pretty fair head to head, thanks. it'd be interesting to see a comparison between the wilfa and a higher end hand grinder like the hausgrind/feldgrind, lido, commandante or similar. The price works out to be similar but it'd be interesting to hear your thoughts on hand grinding versus machine grinding at this price bracket. Looking forward to the jimseven book by the way.
pls James! Do it!
bought the Encore as my first grinder and have never been disappointed even when using for (beginner level) espresso shots. fantastic support from Baratza who also encourage a very hands-on approach to resolving any grinder issues. let's hope it continues after the recent sale to Breville...
Hello! Just wondering what grind size do you use for espresso shots?
Damn. A lot of people heard somewhere that faster grinding always means heat and thus degradation. This is not always true!
There are more ways to make a grinder more time-effective than speeding up the motor and a more aggressive burr.
I actually found you through Baratza a rep literally referred your YT videos to me because I want a Sette, but I brew mostly via a french press. That said, I am now watching your videos hoping to find the one he was referring to about a method to grind with a Sette to make course(er) grinds. The thing I didn't learn in this video from your head to head comparison is reliability. I'm not rich/well-off/comfortable.. any of it. If I'm spending $250 on a coffee grinder it better last the rest of my life. Baratza has the "don't dump it, fix it" message their whole business revolves around. As an onsite IT person my life is full of technology that could of been fixed, but is instead thrown in the trash for the environment to somehow cope with our wastefulness. I HATE THAT. If you want me to take your recommendation for the Wilfa Svart, I need to know that it's not designed like the majority of appliances on the market with a set service life and non-replaceable parts in it. /rant
My understanding is the Sette is designed as an espresso grinder. It's substantially more expensive, and some say, quite a bit less reliable the Encore, which should be better for French Press anyway. If you mostly do French Press I don't see the logic in getting an espresso specific grinder.
I agree with the noise factor, I do wonder if there are other possible methods to aiding in noise suppression of active grinding.
Hi James. Detailed and informative review as usual. Indeed a series of best cheaper home electric grinders is in order. Great if you include my Graef cm 702 (I wanted to grind to a v60 without a hopper).
There is a simple modification you can make to the Encore that will enable it to reduce it's grind settings to a much finer range.
How?
My Baratza Maestro(about 5-6 month old) grinds this amount at about the same speed as the Wilfa did here. On the other hand my first generation of Wilfa (4 years old and 80kg of coffee ground with it) grinds this amount in about 35-40 sec but did in the beginning grind it more around 12-15 sec.
Thank you for this honest comparison ..
Thx James for your test. Tested the encore today.
The sound is very loud, the mechanical noise is not very "healthy"
The hopper top is hopping around while grinding. The powder department is very pressed into the machine. It needs a lot of power to pull out the drawer.
Grinding time for 35 gramms needs a lot of time.
Quality of grinding seems ok, adjusting the grade / steps of grinding is ok.
The rubber part (sealing?) is a bit tricky to put on / into the mill.
Price tag is not cheap. Priceworthy ness seems ok. not great.
Thx and have a good one,
Fx
I bought the Baratza Encore after your review and it was a nobrainer. Just look at the homepages for spare parts. Baratza offers EVERYTHING. They even have guides to hack your encore with Virtuoso parts. Wilfa on the other hand.. doesn't even offer any support for Europe. Let alone spare parts. Nothing. After a little research I found that the Wilfa is just a relabeled Chinese machine. It's also sold by Gastroback and many more. No wonder they don't offer spares.
How did you find out that Wilfa is a relabeled Chinese machine? I can't find any source saying that.
Not sure this was intentional, but bravo for the fines test results being exactly 10 seconds apart!
Terrific. I would’ve like to see you extract the coffee from the Wilfa bin because you thought it was less good. Also, Kruve says that the majority of the grind should be in the middle chamber.
He was using the kruve for a different purpose.he was trying to show the amount of fines at different sizes not isolate a certain grind size
Overall a pretty good comparison video and one that made me wish I saw it before I bought my encore. That said you only looked for particles that where smaller than your grind and not larger than your grind settings. Also if you could have done a disassembly for clean up or repair I would have appreciated to know which system was simpler to maintain.
Getting the Wilfa shipped to the US ends up costing the same as the Encore with the risk of getting your package lost in the mail. If there’s a US source/seller its usually out of stock, for me the Baratza wins.
Great review, one thing I’m interested in that you didn’t cover is how to easy/difficult it is to get to the burrs, (if even possible) for cleaning. I like to give my burrs a cleaning when I get some superior beans compared to what I drink most days.
Craig Taylor I have the Encore and it’s pretty easy.
@@xXAnEmptyShellXx I've cleaned my Encore last week. Had no problems accessing the burrs ar all. I'm not a Mr. Fix It machiney type person.
As others have mentioned being repairable is important which is exactly why I won’t buy any appliance from Braville. I love my Encore.❤
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but Breville owns Baratza
Very good review. Thank you for a good comparision
I can attest that Baratza has good customer service. 3 or 4 months after we bought our encore, it developed a dead spot in the motor. It would turn on if I gave it a good smack. I called them and they sent us a new one. They had us send the bad one back (free of charge) after the new one arrived. 5 years later, still going strong.
As far as cleaning, I blow it out with compressed air about once a year but there's never much debris built up in there. Perhaps this varies depending on type of coffee?
Faster is better? I understand Baratza slowed theirs down to prevent overheating/burning the grounds. Is this not true? Is this not important? I'm confused.
if the grind goes through fast enough, within reason, its not a problem. I think fast grinders means grinders that rotate very fast, thus creating a lot of friction heat without it grinding the coffee equally fast and then the coffee can get hot enough to change flavor or even get burned.
Come for the coffee. Stay for the aesthetic.
Nice review James, maybe one other test could have been to check the larger end of the grind size as there could have been a difference there?
It's likely they'll still be fairly close, but given only 7% passed through the 400 sieve, it may be an idea to use that as the smallest & 1000 (or 1100 if you have one) as largest, even then you may only just be past the average at the setting tested above.
I would like to see a comparison for the wilfa svart vs brim coffee grinder they both have extremely similar designs but the brim is slightly cheaper
One other aspect I would've liked to see in this video is serviceability of the grinders. My mothers Baratza Encore is 6 years old and I just replaced the cone and ring burr for 15 dollars minus shipping (came to 40 dollars altogether) and for my first repair of a grinder ever it was relatively easy; I did it on my day off at a leisurely pace and had only a few hangups. How expensive and difficult is it do the same on the other grinder?
The Svart has no user serviceable parts. Even the screws used to open it up are custom. If it breaks, and it will break (more later), it's a brick and you'll need to replace it. I replaced mine with an Encore. It was 50€ more, but I can fix it if there is a problem. As an aside, I took the Svart to a Makerspace repair event and we opened it up. the motor has a metal drill bit-resembling post that spins. Unfortunately, the gears that connect to this post and drive the burrs are plastic, so they WILL strip-it's only a matter of time before they do.
James, you are generally so articulate. When comparing two units, you test which grinds quicker, not quickest. Finally, a tiny error on a perfect site. Just messing.
Richard Patronik That should have been “I’m just messing”. I’m not messing.
the Wilfa grinder has a weak motor, it is faulty by design. It stops in the middle of grinding. My solution is to start grinder before pouring in coffee beans. Then pour slowly and steadily, and everything is OK.
James, as I’ve been shopping for coffee equipment lately I’ve been looking at ton of reviews. Your channel appears in almost every coffee related search. I’ve notice you don’t review too many Fellow products though. At the moment I’m looking for an honest review of their new ODE grinder, most of the videos seem to be paid for by Fellow in some way!
Baratza Encore works well, but it is extremely messy. Coffee grinds get all over the place. Quite a bit of grinds get stuck in the upper chute chamber during each grind, so cumulatively you are losing coffee each day. To get all residual grinds out of the Encore you must disassemble it to properly clean it, if you don't you'll get a stale flavor from the old grinds mixing with the fresh grinds. Really enjoy my Encore, but it is a lot of upkeep to ensure a great cup each time
I bought the Wilfa which failed after 12 months of single daily use. Wilfa Customer support just fobbed me off and told me to speak to the retailer. I will never buy another Wilfa product, which is why I'm back on James's channel trying to find a new decent grinder.
We used a Baratza for nearly 6 years. It worked flawlessly and then the discharge chute began to clog occasionally. In the end, every time we ground coffee it would clog.
it's easy to unclog. they have a video on their channel
So appreciate your review. Thank you
Very good video. However I think you could go into this comparison much deeper. For exmple what happens if you fill both grinders up with beans and leave them running for 10-15 Min.? Does the Wilfa grind all the beans or does it clog up? I know from experience the Baratza Encore will clog up before it finishes grinding all the beans, if the hopper is full. The Baratza Encore is a poor design from that perspective. I have never owned a Wilfa Svart so can't comment on that grinder. I bought a Baratza Encore earlier this year - maybe 10 months ago. I really like how it operates and the grind quality. The one problem I have found is the Baratza clogs up easily. It is very difficult sometimes to unclog it. The last time I used my Baratza Encore it clogged up really bad and a little paddle wheel inside broke. Baratza likes to say their grinders are easy to repair, as if that is a desirable feature. I say grinding coffee is not Rocket Science. The last grinder I owned, made by Cuisinart, lasted 15 years without breaking. I didn't buy a coffee grinder so I could fix it every 6 months. If you fill the hopper on a Baratza Encore and turn it on, it will definitely clog before all the coffee beans are ground. And the hokey little paddle wheel inside will probably break. Then you will have to watch a dumb CZcams video where a hapless Baratza presenter will instruct you on how to bend that brush that came with your grinder in order to poke out the coffee grains that have turned into cement. After you have done that (estimated time = 3 Hrs), you might discover the paddle wheel inside has a broken tooth. Your $150 Baratza Encore is now in perpetual clog mode. You will have to get some special Vice Grip pliers and wrench away at the lower burr. I am trying to decide if the best option is to throw the Baratza Encore I bought 10 months ago in the trash and then buy a cheaper yet better coffee grinder.
This comparison was based, in part, on price point. But because the Baratza is an American product, it's considerably cheaper here: It's listed as £150 in this video, but which sells for £98 ($139) in the USA. I don't think the Svart sells in America at all, but if it did, it'd surely cost more than the Encore.
astute observation on the cheap plastic on/off knob on the Encore - to this day that's the only thing i've had issues with. I had to super glue the knob back on.
Nice review. Thanks!
One of the main things I considered when buying a grinder was, if it was a conical burr type, as it purportedly gives a more consistent grind and they last longer. I believe both of these grinders are a conical burr. Apparently, the Wilfa doesn't grind as fine as espresso. If that's true, it makes the choice between them a no-brainer. For another 30 quid, it's the Encore hands down!
Baratza doesn't grind fine enough for espresso either...
Thanks so much for posting your review. While the Wilfa is certainly better built, my £100,000 question is: Will the Baratza produce a better expresso?