Baratza Vario Ceramic Burr Coffee Grinder

I spent way too much time looking for a good burr grinder and decided on the Breville Smart Grinder (Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder). As detailed in my review of the Breville, one of the contenders was the Vario, which I borrowed from a friend to try out. I loved it, but the price was a bit too steep.

Low and behold, I got a Vario as a gift! Absolutely love it, but now that I've been using it side-by-side with the Breville for a few weeks, there are a few trade-offs:

Build quality: Both are good, but the Vario feels more substantial. Less plastic, more metal. I uploaded a picture of them side by side.

Burr quality: although the Breville has a decent set of conical burrs, the ceramic flat burrs in the Vario are far more meaty and substantive.

Ease of changing grind: draw. Both are simple to use.

Degree of control over the grind: the Vario wins hands down. It's about a close as you can get to a stepless grinder while still retaining the ease of use of a stepped design.

Mess when not using the cup: the Breville is much, much less prone to over spray when grinding directly into a portafilter or filter basket. The Vario is not horrible, but you need to clean up after it.

Mess when using the cup: Again, the Breville has zero over spray. The Vario is pretty close, however. Both have nicely anti-static cups. The Breville has a nicer design with an air-tight cap.

Controls: The Breville's display is very clear and easy to read. The Vario is easy to use, but the timer display is totally unreadable unless it's right at eye level. It desperately needs a back lit display.

Changing beans: Breville wins hands down. The hopper has a gate lock so you can take it off when full and only have to dump out what's in the grinding chamber. I keep a second hopper filled with different beans for quick change-over. The Vario has no hopper lock, so you have to dump the whole hopper when you want to change to a different type of bean. The hopper lid on the Breville is also much nicer, with a rubber gasket and a handy handle loop.

Consistency of grind: this is the big one, and the reason we spend money on grinders and put up with all the fuss and muss. This is also where the Vario pulls ahead strongly. No matter what the setting, the grind is spot on uniform. Just perfect. Now, the Breville is pretty good as well, but there are size variations in the grind that you just don't see with the Vario.

So, if I had to do it again, would I buy the Breville? My pocketbook says that's the one, but my coffee cup wants the Vario. It clearly produces a better grind.

I pulled a series of espresso shots using the Breville and the Vario. Same beans, same espresso machine. Both were dialed in to produce the best they could. In a taste test after a dinner party, the shots from the Vario won each and every time. Same with a pour over test, although that was a lot closer with a few people unable to tell a difference.

So, if you are absolutely limited to $200, must have a fancy-looking display, and can't tolerate even a small amount of stray grinds, the Breville is the way to go. If, however, the main goal is to produce a cup of coffee or espresso that is the best you can produce, spring for the Vario. You will taste the difference, and the taste will ease the pain in the wallet and the mess on the counter top.

If the Baratza people read these reviews: please, please, PLEASE improve the display! Keep everything else the same (although a gate lock on the hopper for easy change-over of beans would be nice). It's no use to have a fancy display that times the grind length to a tenth of a second when you can't read the numbers!

Update: Sept 2012 I had a problem with the grinder not responding to grind level changes. The Baratza website explained how to calibrate the grinder, but unfortunately that didn't solve the problem. I'm pleased to report that their customer service is outstanding. I got a same-day reply to every email I sent, and Baratza replaced my machine without any fuss or bother. Plus, they paid 100% of the shipping costs both ways! The rep I worked with was helpful, polite and responsive it's so nice to get an actual reply to a question rather than a boilerplate email. I remain very pleased with their grinder, and am especially pleased with their customer service.

I agonized for a long time before spending over $400 on a grinder. I started off thinking that I would spend no more than a quarter of that amount but after reading numerous reviews, I came to the conclusion that the cheap grinders just don't work very well. The Vario is so new that I didn't find any meaningful reviews but I took a chance based on its specifications. I'm very satisfied with it. It looks good, it grinds extremely fast (at least compared to anything I have used before, 20 sec. for enough coffee for a 32 oz French press), there are lots of different grind settings (macro and micro giving lots of combinations), and there are no static problems to throw grounds over the kitchen worktop. The grind appears to be uniform as far as I can tell.

I use it for grinding coffee for a French press. I find setting it a little finer than filter gives the right results for my tastes -I don't know whether that means its pre-settings are too coarse or whether I just prefer a rich, dirty cup of coffee (I think probably the latter as I'm a Greek/Turkish coffee fan as well as a fan of French press). I have tried it for Greek/Turkish coffee on its finest setting but it did not get it fine enough for that purpose -that does not matter to me as I already have an Athena brass hand-mill. I use the Vario twice a day to make coffee for my French press and it works just great albeit I set it finer than the manufacturer's setting for French press.

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Seems to grind pretty much flawlessly, without jamming. I think beans have stuck in it twice in the year I've been using it, and I like a nice oily roast. Other grinders jam constantly.

I like the preprogrammed time settings. I just use this thing for daily drip grinding. I like the electronic timer much more than spring-wound timers.

I have found the grind to be consistent and uniform. I am hoping the ceramic burrs last as long as they are supposed to.

Dislikes:

I had to file down the housing a little to get the hopper to slide in and out smoothly. I am disappointed but not too surprised as high end coffee grinders have got to be on small production runs, with inconsistent quality.

I find the blue LED indicator lights to be piercing. I would prefer a more low-key color, like amber.

By far my biggest gripe: The time display is an LCD panel. It's cheap, and its main characteristic is that unless you are facing it directly, you cannot read it. Therefore, to read the display, I have to crouch down to countertop level, or tilt the grinder back. A $450 grinder should certainly have been made with an LED, not LCD, display that is visible from any angle. This is a full-on design flaw, in my book.

All in all I am happy with it. I feel like I have a workhorse of a grinder that will last.

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I rarely post reviews but I have to agree with the other one star reviewers here. I have a lot of experience with espresso machines and grinders. In fact I use a commercial Rancilio S27 for my home machine, plumbed in to the water and drain line. I wanted a smaller grinder with adjustability and the ability to grind directly into the portafilter. The Baratza got good reviews and because it can also grind into a container and is programmable, I thought I could replace my two larger burr grinders with this one unit.

Well, like the other reviewer here, I was able to grind beans at espresso fine for about 20-30 seconds. I pulled a couple of shots, then went back to grind and the grinder jammed up. I tried everything. After taking it apart and putting it back together I was able to grind again for another 20-30 seconds, then had the same problem. Basically, in the end, what was happening is that the belt on the belt drive was slipping. I actually had no idea this was a belt driven grinder or I would not have purchased it. Commercial grinders are direct drive. There may be some good reasons for a belt drive design here related to all the adjustability, but at the end of the day the adjustability and features don't do you any good if you can't actually grind espresso.

After fiddling with the thing I was able to get it to grind consistently at a coarser setting for say french press or drip. But every time I took it back down to espresso (with the grinder running as instructed) I ended up with the belt slipping and the grinder stopping. So back in the box it went. Very disappointing. I love the look and design concept, but for this price I can get a commercial grinder that will run all day long and grind out Turkish if I want... so what's the point of trying to get this thing to work?

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This grinder is a little pricey compared to so many that you can get for less, but fully worth it. It is solidly made, easy to use, will last for many, many years, and comes from a great company. I have had mine 2 years, and use it almost daily. The grind is extremely consistent, and the adjustments allow going from espresso grind to french press and back very easily. Recently, mine suddenly stopped working, and it is a full year out of warranty. I called Baratza, and within 10 minutes they confirmed was was wrong, and sent me a replacement powerboard with two days shipping for no charge. Their customer service is amazing. I purchased a Virtuoso grinder for my parents, and they have loved it for years, and have had similarily excellent customer service from Baratza.

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