Electric Coffee Grinders Compared: From Entry-Level to Single-Dose

Eight electric burr grinders compared from their makers' own specs: burr size and type, how each one adjusts, which can grind for espresso, and where to find each maker's grind settings.

By Jay Arr Updated

This article accompanies our video from September 2020.

This is a research comparison of eight electric burr grinders, built from what each maker publishes about its burrs and adjustment, plus a few independent measurements. Prices move too fast to print here, so check them when you buy.

Our 2020 video predates this revision and covers an earlier lineup; for current specs, use the table below.

Why the grinder comes first

Writing about espresso, Scott Rao calls a fresh, high-quality grind “the most important prerequisite for great espresso”, and he advises putting the grinder ahead of the machine in your budget.

A burr grinder crushes beans between two burrs set a chosen distance apart, so you can return to the same setting tomorrow. A blade grinder chops for as long as it runs and has no setting to return to.

No grinder makes particles of one size. Rao treats the spread of sizes as the main sign of grind quality: a narrower spread puts more of the coffee near the size you chose, while in his account the finest particles over-extract and the largest under-extract. Our grind size guide covers which size each brewer needs.

Eight grinders, by their makers’ specs

Each grinder’s name links to its maker’s page or manual, checked October 15, 2026. The specs are as published by the maker; where a maker doesn’t publish a figure, the table says so.

GrinderBurrs; adjustmentEspresso?
Baratza Encore ESP40 mm conical steel (M2); 40 settings: 1–20 for espresso, 21–40 for filterYes
Breville Smart Grinder Pro (BCG820)Hardened stainless steel conical, size not published; 60 settings, plus an adjustable upper burrYes, settings 1–30
Fellow Opus40 mm stainless steel conical; 41 settings from 1 to 11, plus an inner ringYes
Fellow Ode Gen 264 mm stainless steel flat; 11 settings with 31 stepsNo: “not intended for espresso”
Baratza Sette 27040 mm conical (S1); macro steps plus a stepless micro ringYes, and pour-over
Turin DF64 Gen 2.764 mm flat, steel or Red Titanium; stepless collarYes, and filter
Eureka Mignon Specialità55 mm flat, hardened steel; steplessYes; Eureka rates the burrs “All Purpose”
Niche Zero63 mm conical; stepless dialYes, and filter

Two notes on the rows:

What the specs tell you, and what they don’t

Burr size

Rao’s rule is simple: bigger burrs are better, because larger sets make fewer fines and a narrower spread, and heat the coffee less. Jonathan Gagné’s 2023 analysis of 24 espresso grinders, measured by the Kaffeemacher team and the ZHAW, found less to go on: within that sample, larger burrs did not systematically grind more evenly, and burr geometry and coating looked like bigger factors. Treat burr size as one clue, not a score.

Conical or flat

In the same analysis, conical burrs were on average less even than flat ones, but the overlap was large: Gagné notes you can easily find a specific flat burr that is less even than a specific conical one. Our conical vs flat burrs post goes further.

Steps or stepless

A stepped dial lets you return to an exact number. A stepless one lets you stop anywhere between. Some grinders split the difference:

Single-dosing and retention

A single-dose grinder is built to grind exactly the beans you weigh into it, so you can change coffees every cup. Makers describe retention in words more often than numbers:

Independent numbers are rarer. In a 2021 espresso comparison, Gagné measured his Niche Zero’s retention at an average of 0.18 ± 0.04 g.

Static makes retention worse. Turin recommends misting the beans with one or two drops of water before grinding, the Ross Droplet Technique. Méndez Harper and colleagues (2024) found that added water suppressed the charging of ground coffee without causing clumps, and that with fixed espresso settings, less charge went with higher extraction. Our RDT guide covers the method.

Matching a grinder to how you brew

These pairings follow the makers’ own specs and descriptions; they are not a test result.

If you mostly brewLook forFrom the table
Pour-over, drip or French pressA filter grinderFellow Ode Gen 2
Filter, with some espressoA fine range for espressoBaratza Encore ESP, Fellow Opus, Breville Smart Grinder Pro
Espresso firstStepless or micro adjustmentBaratza Sette 270, Eureka Mignon Specialità, Turin DF64, Niche Zero
A different coffee each timeA single-dose designNiche Zero, Turin DF64

Finding your grind setting

A grind setting only means something on one grinder. Baratza’s chart for the Encore ESP suggests these starting points, to adjust coarser or finer for your recipe and taste:

Other makers publish their own: Fellow suggests starting the Ode Gen 2 at 5 for its 22 g pour-over, and Niche’s guide puts a V60 between 35 and 45 on the Niche Zero.

Grinding findings that changed how I brew

Two published findings changed how I brew:

Hand grinder or electric?

Capacity is the practical difference. 1Zpresso lists 30–35 g for its JX-Pro hand grinder and Timemore 20 g for the standard C3, enough for a cup or two. Baratza lists the Encore ESP’s hopper at 300 g, though single-dose electrics hold less: about 50 g in the DF64, by Turin’s figure. If you grind for several people every morning, an electric saves the cranking; for one or two cups, see our manual grinder comparison. Building an espresso setup? Our espresso machine reviews cover the other half.

Where to buy

Turin and Niche sell direct from their own sites. For the others, each Amazon search below names the exact model:

These are affiliate links. If you buy through them, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Sources

Makers’ pages and manuals were checked on October 15, 2026.

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