# Baratza Vario for Espresso and V60 pourover?



## foges (Apr 22, 2018)

Hi!

I've been doing a fair bit research on coffee grinders and was hoping to get some feedback on my findings.

Background: My fiance and I make roughly equal quantities of espresso (Fracino Cherub) and pourover coffee (V60). We have the Baratza Encore, which works fine for the V60, but produces inconsistent results for Espresso (either coming out too quickly or gushing over the top of the portafilter). So we'd like to upgrade the grinder for better espresso, but due to limited counter space we only want one grinder. We frequently make both espresso and pourover in the same morning, so it should be easy to switch between grinder settings (we weigh out beans manually and just fill however much we need).

So far my findings suggest that we should be getting a Baratza Vario as decent all rounder. Does this seem like a good choice, or would people recommend something else?

Thank you!

-Chris


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## Jony (Sep 8, 2017)

If it was me I wouldn't be buying another Baratza that's for sure. What is your budget MAX.


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## the_partisan (Feb 29, 2016)

It's not out yet, but I think Niche Zero seems like it would be a good fit to your needs.

Vario can do both espresso and pour over with ceramic burrs, but it's more suited to espresso. For pour over you would want to have the steel burrs. However the steel burrs can't grind for espresso.


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## Nikko (Aug 20, 2014)

foges said:


> Hi!
> 
> I've been doing a fair bit research on coffee grinders and was hoping to get some feedback on my findings.
> 
> ...


Sounds like the seal is not working


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## Dumnorix (Dec 29, 2017)

How about a hand grinder for the pourover- will take up less space. Then you can upgrade the Encore.


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## Nod (Sep 7, 2013)

I agree - I have had Vario home and it is fantastic for brew with the steel burrs but I found it inconsistent for espresso. I used to dial in and then it would 'slip' and need to dial in again if I made a load of shots. Looking back it might have been distribution technique and I think I would get Glenn opinion ... he knows this grinder well. I suspected the burrs heated up and changed the dial in as you made multiple shots but it could just be I was a crap barrista who had no idea what they were doing...


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## Nod (Sep 7, 2013)

Also it is really annoying to have a coffee totally dialled in for espresso and then have to switch to brew and then dial back in the espresso - can waste a lot of beans...

I would get a good enough grinder for brew - or just use the encore for brew and get an espresso grinder...


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## foges (Apr 22, 2018)

Thanks for all the great replies and sorry about the slow response on my part!

It sounds like the first thing I should do is to replace the seal (seems pretty cheap and easy).

As far as the price goes, I don't really have a max, it's more a question of how much of a difference will I notice if I get a better grinder. I'm not convinced I'll be able to tell the difference between a £250 grinder and a £500 grinder.

Why is it that you want ceramic burrs for Espresso and steel burrs for pourover? Does steel cut and ceramic grind?

It sounds like people here aren't super excited about the Vario, or even Baratza as a whole. What would people get instead (for either espresso+pourover or just espresso)? The Niche Zero looks interesting, but I'd prefer going with something that's a bit more tested (and available ). I used to hand grind my pourover coffee, but it took forever and I was very glad when I got the Encore


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