shopaholic_man's Full Review: Breville BCG450XL Manual Burr Grinder
There are all kinds of beans in the world; lima beans, string beans, black beans, green beans, baked beans, and jelly beans. My favorite beans though come from the arabica coffee tree. From Kenya and Ethiopia, to the mountains of Brazil and the Blue Hills of Jamaica, from Hawaii to Guatemala and Honduras, I love Coffee Beans. The world apparently shares my passion, coffee is only exceeded by Oil as the worlds most widely traded commodity. For the perfect cup of coffee, you need to get the freshest roasted beans, and then brew them right after grinding. Breville Manual Burr Grinder.
The Breville Burr Grinder, unlike a conventional blade grinder, uses a series of metal grinding plates to grind up coffee beans with consistency and without generating excess heat. It is said that conventional blade grinders don't give a consistent grind and that the heat they generate can burn the beans from the grinding process. I had long used a Cuisinart blade grinder, and I do know that it was tricky to get the beans ground to a proper consistency.
The Breville Manual Burr Grinder is a large stainless steel and plastic affair that is as tall as my coffee maker and it does use up a fair space of kitchen counter real estate. It certainly takes up more space than the old Cuisinart grinder. At the top is a large cup with no bottom. You can twist the entire cup to remove it, and rotate it to select various bean grinds from French Press ( a course grind) to Expresso ( a very fine grind). At the heart of the machine is a large conical shaped metal contraption that looks like the nose cone of some elaborate drilling machine. It is here that the beans fall down and are ground into ground coffee collected in a removable square plastic catcher at the bottom of the machine. There are only a couple of buttons on the machine, an on off switch on the side, and a timer and an on/off switch on the front.
It is called a manual bean grinder although the only thing manual about it is that you have to dump the beans in the top and remove the ground coffee from the bottom. It does the grinding.
Using the Machine
Make sure that the master on off switch is ON. You set the timer for the amount of time you want it to grind beans up to 30 seconds. I always set it to the max, because I only put in as many beans as I want ground. When you are ready, hit the on button on the front to start the grinding process. Hit this same front on/ off button if all the beans are ground before the timer runs out. I measure out the amount of coffee beans I want and dump them into the large cup at the top (about two scoops for a good size 12 ounce cup of coffee), then cover it. I rotate the entire cup to the grind I want. Usually I select a medium grind for my Bunn Coffee maker, but occasionally I set a course grind for a French Press that I own. (Messy, but very flavorful coffee). I don't have an expresso machine, so I don't use the fine grind.
For the French Press, I dump the ground coffee in the French Press and steep in boiling water for five minutes, press down on the grounds with the press, and pour the now very rich coffee. For the Bunn, I simply dump the ground coffee into the coffee filter and brew as normal. For Expresso, I believe you just read the 20 page instruction manual or take a barista class and go from there.
Clean Up
Clean up can be tricky. Although the cup and the grounds catcher can be easily removed and rinsed out, the grinding parts are not removable, and you just have to sort of knock loose grinds out or use an air blower on it. Also the coffee grinds tend to stick with static cling with the Breville. I have read this about other Burr grinders as well, I don't know what causes it. A quick wipe will remove the statically charged grounds from your counters.
Taste
With a good bean and a good coffee maker, coffee beans have a taste that many people have never experienced. Honestly, there is a lot more flavor in those beans than the average coffee drinker knows. The Breville Burr Grinder helped to deliver it. Using Peets Jamaican Blue Hills coffee beans with the medium grind, I experienced an absolutely delicous cup of coffee. One of my friends said it was the best cup of coffee he had tasted. My usual favorites, Peets Sumatra and Major Dickason's Blend, also tasted outstanding. I also tried Good Earth's Mystic Blend Coffee Beans (a medium roast aribica bean) and got an amazingly delicious cup of java.
I also tried the course grind for my French Press (a French Press is a large cylinder of glass with a sifter mounted to a plunger on it. You put the coffee grinds in the bottom, and fill with hot water, letting the grinds steep directly into the water for about 5 minutes. Then you push the plunger slowly down, pushing all the grounds to the bottom of the cylinder. Then pour out about 2 cups of the most flavorful coffee you have ever had. Morever, you get a French Press for about $20.00)
I literally experienced coffee anew, it was so full of flavor. It would be akin to drinking Coors and then ordering a Guiness, or eating generic jelly beans and then trying Jelly Belly jelly beans, driving a Honda and then taking a Porsche for a spin. All the subteties of various beans really come through. Enjoying a cup of coffee takes on a whole new level.
It doesn't matter if you get a good $9.99 a pound coffee bean or an $80.00 a pound coffee bean, the Breville will make sure that it is made into an excellent ground coffee for immediate brewing and maximum flavor and enjoyment.
General Coffee Advice
1. Get the beans as close as possible to the roasting date. You could either make friends with a South or Central American dictator and have the beans shipped directly to you after roasting, or do what I do and order them from your favorite coffee company. Mine happens to be Peets, and they ship the day they roast the beans. I know several coffee companies also offer this service.
2. Only grind the amount of beans that you are going to use immediately Use a Burr Grinder like the Breville reviewed here for the best consistency. Most mornings I only grind 4 tablespoons of beans, enough for two good size cups of coffee. The most flavor is lost from coffee after it is ground. By using the ground coffee immediately, you know you have preserved the flavor of the beans.
3. Use good water. Coffee is about 10% bean and 90% water. You could have premium Jamaican Blue Hills coffee and destroy it with bad water, or actually really enjoy a good cup of most decent aribica beans by just using good water!
4. Brew and Enjoy! There are many ways to brew your ground coffee. I swear by my Bunn Coffee Maker, which cost $100.00. I was rather surprised and chagrined that a $20.00 French Press actually delivered an even tastier cup of coffee (although it is a bit more work).
5. DON'T USE THE HOT PLATE! Nothing destroys the flavor of a cup of coffee quicker than sitting on a coffee burner. I don't even use the warmer on my Bunn. Brew enough to drink immediately and if it has gone cool by the time you need a second (or 3rd or 4th) cup, put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. I don't know why, but the microwave process doesn't destroy the flavor like letting the coffee sit on the burner.
Summary
I love my Breville Manual Burr Grinder. I love the sound of the beans as they fall into the grinding cone and come out as fresh ground coffee. The only thing I like better is the delicous cup of coffee that I make from that ground coffee. This is a well designed product that does what it is supposed to do and does it well. I gave it five stars.
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