Good grinder, but makes Intercontinental Ballistic Coffee Grounds (ICBGs)
Written: Dec 31 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good grinds, makes tasty coffee, nice looks, good price
Cons: Oh-my-gosh-the-static!!!! Duck! Small ground coffee basket
The Bottom Line: Good entry-level grinder doing what it's supposed to: grinds beans well. It does seem to make more mess than necessary. Worth trying due to price/value relationship.
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| photorick's Full Review: Starbucks Barista Burr Grinder |
I received the Barista Burr Grinder as a Christmas gift and have used it approximately a dozen times. When it works, it grinds very well and allows for very tasty coffee. It's also a good bang for the buck - better quality than Capresso, but costs more; cost less than a good Solis, but marginally lower performance. All said, it does what it's supposed to, but it does have a few annoying foibles.
It does have a propensity to get stuck when a small bean gets wedged between the burrs, and there doesn't seem to be enough torque in the motor to get past that silly bean - I've had to empty the hopper and remove the stuck bean. The burrs keep moving, but coffee isn't being ground. This has happened 3 times, but only when the timer stops while there are beans still in the hopper. The 'work-around' would probably be to not let the timer time out until the hopper is empty. Very annoying, but could probably be prevented by watching over it while it grinds.
The biggest drawback is the static. I'll throw in the caveat that I live in Colorado where the humidity is usually something like 2%, but, wow, open the ground coffee basket and stand back (or duck). Those grounds are PROPELLED out of that basket like little Intercontinental Ballistic Coffee Grounds; so far, NORAD hasn't called, but it's only a matter of time. Less than 10% relative humidity in your area, and you should consider eye protection. Something has to be useful about the velocity with which those grounds move, but I'm still working on it....
Compounding the static issue is the fact the that the basket has a tendency to vibrate out of position while the grinder is grinding, and that allows the grounds to reach escape velocity and fly out of the basket, clinging to the front of the grinder. It's a relatively small amount, but contributes to the mess.
I'd prefer a larger ground coffee basket for a couple of reasons. One, I like strong coffee and use about 1 TBS per cup of water for my drip machine; the basket barely holds enough grinds for a full pot. Of course, my wife accuses me of making 'drip espresso', so if you like your coffee a little less potent, this may not be an issue. But the other issue is trying to get the grinds out of the basket. Because of the static, it's tough to just empty the basket directly into my coffee machine - I have to use a measuring spoon to get it out and the small basket makes it a bit of a challenge.
The negatives don't outweigh the positives, but they're worth mentioning. Other sites have commented on the stuck bean issue, but it seems to be instrument-specific, and so I'm going to exchange mine for a new one to see if that takes care of the problem.
I do like the matte finish that hides coffee bean oils and oily fingerprints - it's a small thing, but significant. I also like the cord 'hide-away' that hides whatever extra length of cord that's not needed.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
photorick
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Reviews written: 2
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