something below $100? or I can go above
Ascaso used might be worth looking at. I’ve had one for over 15 years and its still going strong. I can see a few on ebay for under 100.
I’ve had my Baratza Virtuoso since 2014-ish and was able to replace the burrs last year. Recommended.
It’s too early for me to really recommend it as I’ve only used my current burr grinder for coming up on 5 years, but I’ve had a good time with my De’longhi KG79. I was using it up to multiple times a day at a point, and at no point have I had problems with it, except that it’s not exactly precise both in measuring coffee amount or very fine control of coarseness. If those factors are important to you I suspect you need to go above $100, otherwise you’ll have weigh the coffee yourself like I do.
One thing is certain, those cheap plastic blade grinders you can get for real cheap, they’re definitely not “for life”.
find a good hand grinder. nothing really to go wrong on them especially if you get a sturdy metal one. ive had plastic ones break when dropped. still works fine tho.
I love my 1zpresso grinder. Great value for the price.
The only thing that beats my 1zpresso is my Pietro and that’s in a whole other price bracket. Highly recommend if you are into coffee though.
Damn I that looks sweet. Maybe if i ever got a ridiculous influx of cash i could waste.
2nd hand eureka
Please note that burrs will become dull after some hundreds of kg of coffee. But that’s okay, they are made to be replaceable and there are companies selling high quality replacement burrs.
For espresso or drip?
The only (finely adjustable) espresso grinders < $100 are probably going to be used or maybe Baratza brand. Baratza does sell many of the replacement parts online, but occasionally the designs get updated and older models can be hard to repair without having to change lots of internals. The models share a lot of their internal designs however and they are quite durable. Used baratza is around $60-75. Burrs can run $40.
Hario makes some good simple hand grinders that you can get new burrs for. The skerton model can screw onto a mason / ball wide mouth jar if you break the glass canister. They can usually make an okay espresso grind but definitely a tier below an electric machine for quality and speed. Hand grinders take about 3 minutes a shot if you are grinding finely. For drip grind levels these are fast enough.
There are plenty of good higher end grinders. I had a Rancilio Rocky that I got second hand, made in 1985, used multiple times daily for years and only needed a small repair to the Doser lever spring. I changed the burrs a couple of times and gave it to a friend and it’s still running perfectly as a 40 year old workhorse. Not fancy but quite solid. The only real weak point is some plastics on the case, but they sell replacements. The designs have been fairly maintained over the years and parts are available. I’m pretty sure that if I bought a new Rocky it would outlive me today. A used rocky is about $125 USD @ eBay, street price for new is about $275. They are not the most finely adjustable if you want to fully nerd out on espresso but you can make a damn good shot.
Baratza’s lower models work ok when they are new but I wouldn’t call them durable. Hario Skerton is crap. If I can find mine, you can have it for free. I’ll give OP first dibs though, and will say I don’t recommend it except as a backup. Rancilio Rocky is a reasonable choice I guess.
What would you recommend that not Baratza for a, sub-$100 grinder that’s repairable and maintainable?
Baratza grinders are not the nicest grinders known, but they do sell every part and you can replace the burrs.
Like I recently sold a KitchenAid double burr grinder that runs double the price of a Baratza Encore. New burrs are not available and all the parts of the KA are breakable glass and unobtainable for repairs. That to me seems crazy, but the flip side is that a $60 Encore is a screaming deal at that price level, for the features of being 100% repairable.
I’ve refurbished about a dozen Baratza grinders (many old and heavily used) but I have only ever seen one with a motor issue (worn brushes). The most common issues are damage to the plastic exterior parts from being dropped. The main mechanism is surprisingly durable.
Is there a better $60 grinder you’re aware of?
https://www.baratza.com/en-us/landing/product/parts
Part cost is VERY reasonable and they ship cheap and fast
As far as I can tell, the top line Baratza models use the same gearbox and motor as the base models
Baratza will sell you the main circuit board for under $15 and the gear box rebuild for like $10. In my opinion that’s admirable. Talking like BIFL ethics, the company obviously wants you to be able to repair any issues, versus being disposable.
( Silly question: why do you own a Skerton, and why isn’t it broken?)
If you’ve had to refurbish a dozen Encores, that doesn’t sound very durable. Bunn G1 = buy once, use forever. It’s a commercial grinder like you’d see in a grocery store. No home user will ever cause significant wear on one of those things. I’ve seen them on craigslist in the 300 range fairly often. I don’t have one because it’s too big for my tiny kitchen.
I don’t know where to get a Baratza Encore for $60 even used. They are $150 new. Hmm I do see one on Craigslist for $75 right now, so that’s pretty close. It’s a good value in a cheap grinder, but it’s not BIFL in any meaningful sense of the word that doesn’t include “keep fixing it forever”.
Re Skerton: I don’t remember exactly how I got it, but I didn’t understand at the time what crap they were. I used it a few times and got an Encore which I still have, which has broken twice so far (once replaced under warranty, once I bought a repair part from them). The Encore doesn’t suck but it’s light duty and semi-disposable IMHO.
Again if you think of spreading the grinder cost across say 5 years (that’s not long for a BIFL item) and compare it to the cost of the coffee you’re going to run through it, that helps put the initial price tag in perspective.
I resell electronics and a lot of related stuff so I have gone through a lot of items over my career. My insight into what breaks and what doesn’t comes from seeing hundreds of used items weekly. I’ve handled many many brands of grinders and refurbished a bunch of them. I have 2 Baratzas I’m selling right now and sold a Hario earlier today. I also sold another Baratza part this week.
I never claimed the Baratzas don’t ever break, but the motors last decades and everything else is cheap and simple on them, they are made to be serviced, which makes them extremely good value. This is why they are a good recommendation for the super cheap price. I know iof no sub $100 grinders that don’t have some problem eventually. Think of the price tag. A $60 grinder is dirt cheap.
Baratza Encores currently cost about $60-75 on eBay on the lower side of the price range That would be a used working machine covered by a money back guarantee. A couple have sold for just $50-55 in the past 90 days.
I don’t dispute some of what you’re saying about a commercial grinder like that $1200 Bunn G1, but that grinder only has 7 grind adjustment settings. It’s really not comparable to an espresso grinder. The special feature of the Bunn is grinding a pound of coffee in 30 seconds. Like you can’t get an espresso shot calibrated with that style of machine. Of course, that’s not a home machine and it’s not really designed for the purpose of a careful grind size / weight. However, end of the day, that grinder is $475 for a used model. If a Baratza lasts 20 years for $60, is a Bunn 10X as good?
The OP question wasn’t about seeking a cheap grinder, it was about seeking a BIFL grinder. I can accept that there’s no realistic way to get both without being lucky.
I seem to remember there is a way to get stepless adjustment for the grind size in a Bunn. Also the Encore isn’t much of an espresso grinder either.
Skerton is good for a backup and camping / traveling and the like.
Exactly. I use one during camping and when the power is out.
At that price point, you’re probably looking at a Chinese hand grinder. The good news is that these are actually really solid products. I have a hand grinder from Timemore that I’m more than happy with, and have been using for 4+ years without issues.
Chinese for less than $100? You should be able to get basically any hand grinder for less than that. Plus if you’re willing to do a little restoration, I see tons of them at antique stores in the US for like $20.
Of course you can get any hand grinder for less than that, but if you’re specifically looking to get a high-quality grind and want something that lasts for a long time, your options become more limited. This is where the Chinese brands come into play.
We have an older version of this (so take this with a grain of salt, maybe the fixed some of the problems):
https://madebyknock.com/products/aergrind
And I can’t reccommend it. Grinding fine coffee is very hard and exhausting and the bottom bit is not screwed on but has some kind of mechanism that makes that part always almost fall of when grinding. Thanks to it being round and metal it would also be very hard to hold tight without slipping when the plastic ring around it at some point breaks. Would not but again but we have it and I’ll keep using it.
I picked up a handheld burr grinder maybe 20 years ago. Not even sure what I spent but I’m pretty sure it was under $50, no apparent brand.
You can’t get a buy it for life coffee grinder under $100, or even under $200 unless you buy a manual one.
For a manual one: Burr grinder, steel conical burr instead of ceramic (still will likely last longer than a ceramic one) and because grinding by hand absolutely sucks, get one you can attach a drill into instead of using the manual handle.
If you want a quality bifl electric, you’re going to have to find used or spend over $200
Um it’s difficult at that price level, but monitor craigslist for a used Bunn G series. $100 is unlikely though. If you’re caffeinating multiple people with it, you might grind 100lb of coffee a year at $10+/lb, so $300 up front for a grinder spreads out quickly.
I got a cheap Secura burr grinder that has lasted me years without issue
