As the title says, what are your grinder recommendations for a Bambino Plus?
Recommendations for a Grinder to Use with Breville Bambino Plus
SuperFly 420 on 29/05/2021 - 20:29
Comments
Agreed. I have a Bambino Plus and a Smart Grinder Pro and I'm very happy with the combination.
From what I've read, it's the only grinder in its price range that's capable of grinding for espresso, but coffee enthusiasts advocate for increasing your budget to get something like the Baratza Sette 270 (roughly double the price).
For $250 grinder, isn’t it better to just get the breville barista pro, which has all capabilities of the bambino, plus a grinder, plus other features from the barista range?
I believe the price of the barista pro would be the same of the bambino + grinder pro.
Any other suggestion a bit cheaper than the grinder pro?
Coffee gear is subject to covid pricing. The smart grinder pro has never been upgraded, and over the years has been semi-regularly priced down to $160-170 where most of us sourced one. For that price, it beats everything else, including the Baratza Encore. Any semi-decent burr grinder will be $200+. Any cheaper, and you're either buying a disposable blade grinder, or sweating it out with the Hario Skerton.
For $250 grinder, isn’t it better to just get the breville barista pro, which has all capabilities of the bambino, plus a grinder, plus other features from the barista range?
Lots of people, including myself, don't like all-in-ones, because it's more points of failure, and harder to replace individual components as you upgrade machines.
My understanding is that there aren't any electric grinders cheaper than the SGP that will let you grind for espresso in a non-pressurised basket. You used to be able to get one regularly for around $160, but since the pandemic the minimum has been $180-200. Similarly you used to be able to get a Bambino Plus for around $350 but recently the lowest I've seen has been around $400 (excluding Good Guys Commercial).
Re. the Barista Pro, I liked the idea of keeping the espresso machine and the grinder separate in case I wanted to upgrade one or the other separately, or if one of them broke.
I also get value out of the automatic milk frothing of the Bambino Plus that the Barista Pro seems to lack because I use the time to clean the portafilter and get a wet towel for the steam wand.
That's just personal preference and I know there are lots of happy Barista Pro owners.
@SuperFly 420: sjtem's comment is great, and has some thoughts on manual grinders.
The main benefit of a manual grinder is that because you're not paying for an electric motor, a manual grinder that costs the same as an electric grinder can have higher quality burrs, and therefore grind better.
The disadvantage is that they're slower and take physical effort (45-60 sec to grind 20g for espresso). A good hand grinder is also likely to cost about the same as a Breville SGP so they're still not cheap, e.g. the 1zpresso JX-PRO is currently around $240
@SuperFly 420: con is your time sitting there to grind ~16-19grams of beans every time you want to drink a cuppa lol
Barista Barista Express / Pro lacks the automatic milk texturing of the Bambino Plus. The Touch has it - but the cost jump of it over the Bambino Plus plus grinder is considerable.
Eureka mignon. People said grinder is more important than the machine.
Anyone looking for one can try https://www.espressocoffeeshop.com/eureka-coffee-grinders and email them using https://www.espressocoffeeshop.com/discount-coupon to get a ~10% coupon. Should be a $100 or so cheaper than buying locally if you're okay with that.
It depends heavily on your budget and your taste in coffee. If you can use preground coffee from the supermarket in your pressurised basket and really genuinely enjoy it, then the argument is kind of irrelevant - you likely dont even need a grinder, or if you do then get a very very cheap one.
If you want coffee that tastes like a cafe has made it, or if the hobby is important to you then you'll need to invest more.
The minimum I see recommended for decent coffee is a breville smart grinder pro, with even that having some controversy and mixed reviews. There are hand grinders that work better in that same lowish price range, but I'm not a fan of hand grinding - it wears on you over time.Where you should be aiming for high quality coffee is slightly above the breville range - things like the mignon suggested or many others, but I'm mindful of the exponential price increase.
The thinking is that the higher quality grinders tend to do a job that the cheap ones simply cant, and that (hopefully) they last much longer than the appliances.My personal recommendation is always to look for a better grinder than a SGP - for a similar price you can often snag a good cafe quality grinder from gumtree if you're patient. It's spooky shelling out 200+ for a used machine when you cant really tell what condition its in, but the better grinders have replaceable burrs, and are built like tanks so likely very durable. For someone new to the game I'd try to buy a used one, and insist that the seller make a coffee with the grinder in front of you. When I was new to coffee I did exactly this - bought a Mazzer Super Jolly from a bloke who agreed to show me how it runs for $250. Ended up with a superb machine which has run like a dream and got to learn some things from him. Was an excellent experience, but your mileage may vary.
Moral of the story:
If you like the coffee you make from preground then dont buy a grinder
If you want better a breville SGP is acceptible
If you want consistency/value look for a used machine - coffeesnobs is a useful resource to explore whether a grinder is capable.
Breville Smart Grinder Pro. Its the most recommended grinder to pair with the bambino plus. From what i have read and researched, it does a better job at grinding at the espresso consistency.