Baratza’s new coffee grinder promises its most precise grounds yet – but the price surprised me

Baratza, the US coffee and espresso grinder manufacturer, has just expanded its popular Encore range with a new at-home coffee grinder. The Baratza Encore ESP Pro promises its most precise grinds yet, thanks to its stepless grind adjustment and micron-level precision – but is it worth the cost?

Upgrading your coffee-making set-up isn’t just about picking the best coffee machine – it’s all about the beans you use. Good quality coffee beans are easy to come by, but if you’re not grinding them properly, you could be making watery, bitter-tasting coffee rather than rich, flavourful cups of joe.

As experts in espresso grinders, Baratza has introduced its latest model, the Encore ESP Pro. While it looks similar to its Encore predecessors, the Baratza Encore ESP Pro has been upgraded with new design features and technology, which should make it Baratza’s most precise grinder yet.

The Encore ESP Pro still uses the Baratza M2 precision steel burrs, but these have now been combined with a new stepless grind adjustment mechanism. This gives the grinder 2.2 microns of vertical movement per degree of rotation.

Now, I’ve covered coffee machines and grinders for years now on T3, and I wasn’t completely sure what this actually meant, so if you don’t either, join the club! But essentially, most coffee grinders have pre-set controls or ‘clicks’ that allow you to select between fine or coarse, which gives you a minimal amount of control over your coffee grind.

What the Baratza Encore ESP Pro does differently is it gives you consistent control over your coffee grind size and style rather than having to select a fixed ‘click’. It has a dial on the front which gives you more choice over your grind’s fineness or coarseness, and a digital display which shows grind setting and time, and dose method.

Speaking of method, the Baratza Encore ESP Pro has two modes to play with: Single Dose mode and Timer mode. The former will automatically stop the grinder when it’s ground the last bean, while the latter accurately does to a tenth of a second.

Within the matte black design of the Baratza Encore ESP Pro is a flow control disk and hopper. It also comes with a 54 / 58mm dosing cup for espressos and a cleaning brush. Although the Baratza Encore ESP Pro has been given Ion generating technology which reduces mess and static during grinds, so you should have minimal spills to clean up.

Now onto the cost which I found surprising. The Baratza Encore ESP Pro is priced at £249.95 / $299.95 at Baratza. Coffee grinders can be tricky to estimate a price, as some cheaper models will be around £50 while you can get professional-level ones that get up to £1,000.

The cost of the Baratza Encore ESP Pro is definitely in the middle of this price average, but it’s still on the higher side than what I was expecting. But its design and materials should make it last for decades, as the brand states.