Baratza Vario-W Burr Grinder

I was very impressed with the complete details on this grinder, including a video on operating it, that Seattle Coffee Gear provided on their website, so went ahead and ordered this grinder. It works just fine; the weighing feature is particularly good and the grind is consistent. I am entirely satisfied with it, and with the service offered by Seattle Coffee Gear. They were very helpful when I had a problem with another grinder I now use for decaf. A customer service rep walked me through taking it apart, fixing the problem, and getting it back together. I am used to getting such good customer service from Apple - but not from many other retailers. I will certainly do business with Seattle Coffee Gear in future.

(Posted on 5/1/13)

I use my Vario-W one or two times a day for french press coffee. I had no idea how much difference a good grinder could make! Totally worth the money.

I've had a Vario-W from SCG for about 3 months. Before this I had a KitchenAid grinder, which at the time I thought was expensive, because it was an upgrade from a cheap blade grinder.

I'm also very very glad that I bought the "Vario-W" version, instead of the "Vario", since the "-W" portions the coffee out by weight. I mean really, you want to grind a certain _amount_ of coffee, right? All the other grinders, which grind by _time_, are just using time as a poor proxy for weight.

I keep different coffees in the house, so I usually put just enough into the grinder for whatever I'm drinking at the time. Grinding by weight helps with this: if I put in too little then the Vario-W just keep spinning because I haven't hit my goal weight. So I add a bit more. Then a bit more. Etc. Once you've used this grinder you'll be asking "why don't all grinders work this way?"

There's much less static buildup on the grinds than my previous grinders, but occasionally there is a wee bit of static.

And there's no "dust" from there grinder. Just consistently the size of grinds you set it for.

The weird thing with the grinder is grinding into the included bin. The bin seems to teeter precariously on top of the scale. Once you're used to it, it's no big deal. And, frankly, I'm not sure how else to design this thing: it measuring tenths of a gram, so it's not really possible to have the bin in contact with something else.

If you're interested in grinding straight into a portafilter you will have to hold the portafilter yourself. There aren't any forks for supporting your portafilter.

And finally, when I was trying to decide on grinders I sent a couple of questions off to the Baratza folks as well. They replied promptly, were very friendly, etc. Great people to deal with.

So, to sum it up, it's 11X more expensive than my previous grinder, what I would have used to considered insane to pay for a grinder, and TOTALLY WORTH IT. Hands down the single best thing I've done to improve my coffee.

Pros:
Easy To Use, Great Taste

Cons:

(Posted on 3/3/12)