Baratza Encore ESP Review

What the Encore ESP actually changes

The original Baratza Encore built its reputation as the default first electric grinder for new home brewers, but it had one stubborn blind spot: espresso. The ESP fixes that by remapping the lower end of the adjustment range.

The first 20 of the 40 stepped settings move in roughly 20-micron increments — fine enough that you can actually dial in a shot, not just hope for the best. The remaining 20 steps spread out for AeroPress through French press, so you don't lose the grinder's all-purpose character.

That dual-resolution approach is the whole pitch, and it's genuinely clever. In the espresso range you get usable clicks, and in the filter range you don't have to crank the dial forever to jump from pour-over to plunger.

Grind quality

The 40mm conical steel burrs (Baratza's M2 set, designed with Etzinger) are a meaningful step up from the M3 burrs in the older Encore. Particle distribution is tighter than you'd expect at this price, and the flavour clarity in pour-over is a clear improvement over its predecessor.

For espresso, the grinder is competent rather than exceptional: you can get a balanced shot, but you may find yourself nudging back and forth between two adjacent settings, with nothing in between to land on. That's the limit of a stepped system with 20 microns per click at the fine end.

At 550 RPM, the grind is on the slower side for this class. That helps with heat and a bit with flavour separation, though the trade-off is throughput — around 1.2 g/s at espresso settings, roughly 2.4 g/s coarser. Not slow, but not a Niche.

Build and everyday workflow

The body is plastic, and it feels like it. At 3.6 kg it has enough weight to stay planted on the counter, but the housing is the kind of thing you'll want to keep out of direct sunlight.

The 227 g hopper is a sensible size for one or two cups and is easy to remove. Retention sits around 1 g, which is average for a hopper-fed machine — owners commonly add a small bellows to push the last grinds out, and that trick works here too.

There is no anti-static treatment on the chute, so a quick tap or a few purging grinds into the bin is part of the routine. The dosing cup that fits 54mm and 58mm portafilters is a thoughtful inclusion, and Baratza's quick-release burr collar makes weekly cleaning genuinely quick.

Stepped adjustment is easy to teach to a partner or housemate. Turn the hopper, count the clicks, remember the number. If you live with someone who will not appreciate "turn the collar a quarter millimetre left of yesterday's setting", this is a real advantage.

Who it's for

This is the grinder to buy if you are moving up from a blade or a cheap conical, and you want one machine that can handle V60 on Saturday and a flat-white shot on Sunday.

It is also a sensible second grinder for someone who already owns a hand grinder for filter and wants a set-and-forget electric for espresso mornings.

It is not the right pick if you chase single-digit gram retention, or if you want stepless adjustment for fine-tuning a light-roasted Ethiopian on a flow-profile machine. For that audience, the 1Zpresso K-Ultra (manual, but genuinely stepless) or a dedicated single-dose electric is the more honest answer.

The 120W motor also means heavy back-to-back doses for a dinner party will push it harder than a more powerful unit.

Value and the competition

At roughly $200, the Encore ESP is the most affordable grinder on the market that can honestly claim to grind for espresso and filter. Hand grinders like the 1Zpresso Q2 match or beat it on grind quality and cost less, but they don't satisfy everyone — grinding 18g by hand before work gets old fast.

Within the electric category at this price, nothing else offers the same combination of stepped resolution, Baratza's spare-parts ecosystem, and a real warranty behind it.

The compromises are the ones you'd expect: plastic body, modest retention, and stepped rather than stepless adjustment. None of them are deal-breakers for the target buyer, and all of them are honest trade-offs against the price.