You cannot make good coffee with a bad grinder, but your grinder should also be a joy to use.
The Smart Grinder Pro features stainless steel conical burrs and 60 grind settings that are actually easy to dial in. If your grinder is rocking blades instead of burrs, it’ll probably still look cool falling from a great height.
The Smart Grinder Pro is packed with thoughtful, premium features like a swappable bean hopper with a lid that seals and magnetic portafilter holders. Even the grind catcher is beautiful to look at, with a lid you can quickly close if you start grinding before you were really ready to brew, or just accidentally grind too much.
The obvious competition here is the Baratza Virtuoso, and let’s be clear, the Virtuoso does actually offer a more consistent grind relative to the Breville, for about $30 more.
But that’s not all that goes in to buying an appliance. The grind bins on Baratza grinders make a mess every time, situating the rubber gasket back into place after cleaning the burrs is a huge pain, and the built-in “timer”? It’s just a plastic knob on the side. In fact, “push to grind” and “turn knob to grind” are the only controls on the Baratza.
The Smart Grinder Pro’s digital display and intuitive controls allow for easy adjustments to grind size, grind time, and shot count, as well as the option to press-to-grind with your portafilter.
One thing the Breville lacks is a built-in scale, but so does anything else we’d recommend in this price range. A good kitchen scale is a great thing to have around anyway though, and we post deals on them pretty often.
If the Breville is outside your price range, the Capresso Infinity comes in around $90, and is the cheapest option we’d recommend.
The Capresso Infinity was your pick for best burr grinder. The step-down model of the Baratza took fifth place while the step-up model took fourth. The non-Pro version of the Breville got the honorable mention.
What are you using for your daily grind, tell us in the comments!