Baratza Encore ESP review

Fine clicks in the espresso half of the dial, wider ones for filter7.9/10

Dialing in is the Encore ESP's best feature, and it is consistently praised. You turn the hopper, and the finer half of the 40 grind settings moves the burrs in much smaller steps than the coarser half. The Bean Radar calls it "very easy for beginners to dial in coffee".1

Each click in that espresso zone changes shot time by a few seconds, which is enough resolution to land a recipe without endless wasted beans. It is still a stepped grinder, so it cannot split the difference the way a stepless collar can, and the dial has no numbers at every click to help you find your way back.

The trade is at the coarse end. The filter half of the dial has fewer, wider steps than the original Encore, so pour-over drinkers have less room to fine-tune.2 A second caveat concerns the finest settings: most found plenty of range for espresso, but The Coffee Chronicler could not grind fine enough for a medium roast in a precision basket without fitting the supplied shims.

Sweet, syrupy shots from grounds that need a whisk first7.2/10

The espresso is widely liked, and the common thread is body and sweetness. HomeGrounds Coffee describes its shots as "very sweet very rich very syrupy".3 Lance Hedrick credits the M2 40mm conical steel burrs as a big step up from the original Encore, and in side-by-side tastings the ESP tends to win on texture and lose a little on clarity.

The grounds themselves are the catch. They come out clumpy at espresso settings, and Whole Latte Love calls them "noticeably clumpy" and recommends a whisk distributor before tamping.4 Grinding is also unhurried at the fine end, so a shot takes a little longer to prepare than on a faster espresso grinder.

Filter coffee is the weaker side. The cups lean toward body over clarity, and Eric the Coffee Guy finds his pour-overs "pretty muddy" and slow to draw down.5 Light roasts for espresso also show the grinder's limits sooner than dark ones do.

A tidy dosing cup, and no agreement on how much coffee stays inside5.3/10

Retention divides opinion more sharply than anything else about this grinder. Whole Latte Love and Lance Hedrick each weighed only a small fraction of a dose left behind, and several others report little to complain about.6 Eric the Coffee Guy saw something very different.

The middle ground is probably the useful picture. Daddy Got Coffee found grounds "kind of caked in around that Paddle Wheel at espresso settings", which explains how a grinder can look clean at the chute and still hold coffee inside.7 Fitting the shims to grind finer made retention worse for The Coffee Chronicler. Regular cleaning of the burr chamber, which needs no tools, keeps old grounds out of fresh doses.

The workflow around the dose is better liked. The dosing cup fits both common portafilter sizes and the grounds do not cling to its walls, and there is a pulse button on the front for single doses. Static varies with the coffee and the kitchen, and a gap between chute and cup can drop some grounds on the counter.

A loud plastic body on a slim footprint3.6/10

Noise is the clear weakness. The ESP is as loud as the original Encore, and the plastic shell adds a hollow note to the motor. The Coffee Chronicler put a number on it: "I measured it to around 92 decibels."8

Not every kitchen minds. HomeGrounds Coffee never found it too loud around the house, and it is quieter than Baratza's own Sette.9 The fair summary comes from coffeeroastco.com, which finds it fine in daytime and "noticeable in early morning" if you share walls.10

The footprint is the easy part. The grinder is slim, the same size as the regular Encore, and at 7 lb it moves in and out of a cupboard without effort.

Plastic that rattles, burrs that twist out by hand and parts you can order6.2/10

The build suits some buyers and not others, and the split is between how it feels and how it is looked after. The body is mostly plastic, sounds hollow when knocked and has a cheap-feeling switch. The Bean Radar notes a hopper that shakes and a lid that "can fly off while grinding sometimes".11

Serviceability is the strong side. The burrs twist out without tools, which Tom's Coffee Corner singles out, and Baratza sells replacement parts for the grinder; Nadia and Rob found them easy to order even in Canada.1213 The motor has a thermal cutoff that resets itself, and Lance Hedrick fed it a large dose of very light roast at espresso settings without stalling it.

A few specific faults are on record. Epic Product Test had the knob holding the burr work loose during grinding, and reports that Baratza sends a revised part free. Nadia and Rob saw the top of the body ripple with repeated adjusting. The Coffee Chronicler also questions how the plastic impeller under the burr will wear over years at 550 RPM.

Among the cheapest ways into espresso grinding at $199.95, with an upgrade in view8.2/10

Value is consistently praised. Few grinders at $199.95 can grind properly for espresso and also cover drip and French press, and coffeeroastco.com calls it "the strongest option in that price bracket" for a first espresso grinder.14 The box includes the dosing cup and the standard grounds bin.

The dissent is worth hearing. Eric the Coffee Guy, who measured the worst retention, concludes that "this grinder is not worth it".15 Whole Latte Love, a store that sells it, expects some buyers to outgrow it and want a faster, quieter flat-burr grinder.16

Two smaller costs sit outside the box. The single-dose hopper is sold separately, and the clumping makes a whisk distributor close to essential for espresso.

Our verdict

Buy the Encore ESP if you want a first espresso grinder at $199.95 that is easy to dial in, makes sweet, full-bodied shots and can be cleaned and repaired at home. Skip it if noise matters in your kitchen, if you chase light roasts and exact doses, or if filter coffee is the main job. Add a whisk distributor to the order and clean the burr chamber regularly. In a shop, run it empty and listen before you decide.