OXO Brew Conical Burr Grinder Review

Grind Quality

The 40mm conical steel burrs are the headline feature at this price, and they deliver grind consistency that punches above what most people expect from a sub-$130 electric.

In side-by-side testing against the Baratza Encore, the OXO produced visibly similar particle distribution for filter ranges, and one long-term Encore owner on Reddit went as far as to say the OXO "performs far better" for drip and pour over.

Medium grinds come out clean and even, which is the sweet spot for V60, Chemex, and batch drip.

It is not perfect. The coarsest settings are noticeably less consistent than the middle of the range, and fine grinds tend to clump. Multiple reviewers attribute the clumping to static and the absence of any anti-static measure, which matches the spec sheet.

For filter coffee, where most of the grind range lives, this is a minor annoyance. If you ever want to pull a shot, the burrs simply do not go fine enough and the stepped adjustment makes dialling in espresso essentially impossible.

Build and Design

At 1.8kg the OXO has a decent footprint on the counter and the bean hopper holds a generous 340g, which is more than enough for a week of home brewing. The tinted hopper does a good job of protecting beans from light, and the stainless steel grounds bin feels solid.

Where the build shows its budget roots is in the plastics. Coffee Review noted "lightweight materials raise longevity concerns," and user reports back this up over multi-year ownership. The grounds bin does not lock into place securely, which means it can shift during grinding and scatter a few grounds.

The fixed 450 RPM motor is modest at 100W, but it grinds faster than the Encore in practice, about 9 seconds for 30g in one test, roughly half the Baratza's time.

Workflow in Daily Use

This is where the OXO earns its beginner-friendly reputation. The one-touch timer starts the grind and stops it automatically, and the 15 macro settings with 28 micro positions in between give you 43 total steps. In practice the stepped adjustment is a non-issue for filter, because you pick a setting once and rarely move it.

The downsides are real but manageable. Grind retention runs around 1.6g in testing, which is higher than the Encore's 0.5g, and getting the last grounds out usually requires shaking the machine or running a short purge.

Static is the bigger daily annoyance, since there is no anti-static treatment, fine grinds stick to the bin walls and the chute. The motor produces a high-pitched whine measured at 92 to 97dB in Coffee Review's testing, louder than most rivals and noticeable in a quiet kitchen.

Who It Suits

The OXO is built for someone who drinks filter coffee daily, wants a real burr grinder rather than a blade chopper, and does not want to think too hard about the machine. It rewards pour over, drip, and French press with consistent results and stays out of the way.

It is the wrong pick if you drink espresso, want to single-dose, or care about ultra-low retention. For those cases, the Fellow Opus offers single-dose workflow in roughly the same bracket, and the Baratza Virtuoso+ steps up build quality and grind refinement for only a modest premium.

If you want grind-by-weight automation and are willing to spend more, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro is the obvious upgrade path.