Grinder Burr Test: Medium Roast vs. Dark Roast Beans

While you won't find us purporting that cleanliness is next to godliness, you will hear us talk about keeping your gadgets clean for the good of all involved. Because darker roasts (such as French or Italian) bring so much of the bean's natural oil to the surface, we wondered how this impacts a grinder's burrs: Does it clog more easily and quickly? Do you need to clean your grinder more often if you're using this type of bean/roast? What kind of residue does it leave in comparison to grinding medium roast beans? To determine this, we put two Baratza Virtuosos to the test. Over a month period, we ran the timer on each of them twice each day, using Velton's Treehouse drip coffee in one and some particularly intense French Roast Gail picked up at Costco in the other. Then we opened them up to find out what kind of residue was left on the burrs. Watch as Gail takes them apart, meticulously studies them and then tests how easy it is to clean them (using Grindz).