OXO BREW Conical Burr Coffee Grinder (8717000)

(I am an ex professional barista.)CONS:-The grounds container doesn't lock into place and will sometimes vibrate out during grinding. This is the only serious flaw with the product, and I feel it's a minor one. I've gone through many of the reviews and it seems that it's simply a matter of construction inconsistency. Most people's containers "click" into place; a minority do not. I was just unlucky enough to get one of the ones that don't.-You can't remove the bottom burr to clean it. They really did do their best to make this easy to clean and I appreciate that you don't have to undo a bunch of microscopic screws just to clean your burrs, but I really wish I could remove BOTH burrs to give them a thorough wipe-down. It's difficult to clean the one that's stuck inside the grinder. The other lifts out easily by a cute little handle.PROS:-High quality, consistent grind. The brewing methods I use most all hover around the medium grind range, so I haven't really tested the extremes of coarse and fine. Can't speak to those. But as far as the medium ranges, it grinds beautifully and consistently. That's what matters in the end, right?-The beans feed very well, even for single dosing. Never an issue.-As mentioned above, the ability to clean the grinder is taken into account in the construction. No need to delicately deconstruct the whole thing and keep track of a bunch of itty bitty screws and springs. The top part of the grinder and the top burr simply turn-and-lift out, and then turn-and-lock back into place. So nice.-It's aesthetically pleasing and takes up little room on the counter. All the materials have a quality feel.-It isn't super noisy. All grinders are gonna make noise, to be sure, but as far as grinders go, this one has a pretty gentle sound. I've definitely used my fair share of grinders that made me feel like my brain was going to vibrate out of my skull, and this one has a polite hum by comparison.-The price for this level of quality is unbeatable. I can't even believe I paid less than one hundred dollars for this. Real talk, folks: these are steel conical burrs. Solid construction. 40+ grind settings. Did I mention steel conical burrs? I never thought I would own something like this for less than $250. You cannot beat this price point/quality intersection. You just can't. This grinder is price-meets-quality king.USAGE:You're working with three variables: time, grind, and amount. There are two popular approaches to working out your dose.Method 1: You leave 'amount' as the open variable. With this method, you dump all your beans in the hopper and store them there. You then adjust grind and time until you're getting the right dose at the right grind level.Method 2: You leave 'time' as the open variable. With this method, you only deposit the amount of beans you plan to use for each dose, adjust the grind as needed, and let it take whatever amount of time it takes. You're adjusting the amount and the grind, rather than adjusting the grind and the time. (This is called "single dosing.")Go to any coffee forum, and you'll be pages of debate about which of these methods is superior. Honestly, you should use the method that feels best for YOU.The reason I bring it up here is because people seem anxious that Method #2 will damage the burrs over time, since you run them all the way to empty every time you grind.Here's my take: I use Method #2, because I feel that the beans start to taste stale if left in the hopper. (Everyone's tastebuds are different; there's no right or wrong.) This means that I let the burrs run until I hear the sound change from a low growl to a high pitched growl, which indicates that the burrs are grinding empty, and then I manually stop the grind.I honestly don't see any issue with this, and I don't feel any anxiety about it. Think about it: if you're cleaning the burrs between bean swaps, you're letting them run for several seconds on empty anyway. Even the manufacturer instructions tell you to do this when cleaning the burrs! The only difference here is that instead of intentionally running them on empty for several seconds to clean them, you're running them on empty for one single second every day/dose. I'd never recommend doing that on a fine espresso setting, but as long as you're in the medium-to-coarse range, I don't see any possible ways the burrs could damage each other. There's no way the burrs are touching at that distance, regardless of variables like heat expanding the metal and other things coffee nerds like to debate about.I hope this review was helpful. I'll update in a year to let you know if this grinder held up through daily use.

My 10+ year old Encore began grinding eberything incredibly fine (we're talking espresso level) regardless of the setting. I've cleaned it weekly for years, and finally decided the solution is either to pull it apart, buy parts, and replace them (something easy to do but costing about $100 in parts for the new burr and other items). I decided it was time to try the OXO while it was on sale for $90, and I'm really happy with the choice.I can easily see the complaints about the timer wiping off easily. I grind about 1oz for my pour-over, so at 20 seconds it runs with a little extra for cleaning, and I don't think I'l touch it much.I was nervous about the height, but it turns out it's the same height as my encore, and fits perfectly.Pros:- Effortless to use, and cleans itself out versus my Encore that always has some grinds left- Catch bucket gets everything without spilling on the counter when pulling out- Very large bean bin that I could grind 8 ounces for cold brew without refilling- Grind size is accurate for cold brew, espresso, Moka pot, and pour-over- Filling the top is great with a twist knob that makes sure beans won't fall out when the bin is removed from the grinderCons:- Metal catch still keeps some of the grinds stuck to the size (though it's better than plastic)- The numbers around the timer will definitely wipe off and I'm trying to figure out how to protect them- Directions are idiot proof, and really explain cleaning needs- As much as the bin is big, the directions make clear you shouldn't leave beans in itI'm keeping the encore, since it'll now be my backup, and someday I'll replace the parts. But for now the OXO is doing great.

The media could not be loaded. After reading a lot of reviews and noticing the people who are complaining, maybe trying to take this grinder to its maximum level of fine powder grind like Turkish coffee.I use this machine daily and grind up to four espresso shots every day for the last year and a half. We discovered that if you Take a little time and figure out how long you have to leave the timer on you can make an exact amount of grinds perfectly for each time you use your machine. Every cup of espresso is fresh!We leave our beans in the machine because it’s empty every five days so we don’t believe that the beans are stale and the coffee taste delicious.You could leave the grinder on timer unlimited, and then pour in the beans you want to grind, but imagine having a car running, and you throw a bunch of marbles into the engine. Those birds in the grinder are gonna take a little shock when you throw beans in there. And yeah, that might gum things up. When it’s full and the beans are already there it’s easier for the machine to just keep grinding! For those that like to take it all apart and clean it every day and I’m worried about their grinder not working properly, we’ve had no issue and I’ve just used the machine for a year now would never cleaning the birds at all.It just works perfect every time.It’s interesting that if you just move the line above or back a little bit on the timer, you may or may not get the exact amount to make a perfect espresso shot so watch what you’re doing when you push the on off button because if you turn your finger, you might increase or decrease the time. Other than that, it’s a fantastic machine!For all those people that are hooting and hollering that it’s not as good as a $200 machine, I wouldn’t know because I won’t spend $200 on a grinder.And for all those that are dissatisfied that it’s not as good or better than a $50 machine when I hear ya because a $50 machine is 50 bucks And you’d hoped that a $50 machine would work good. But this machine for the price we paid is absolutely fantastic.I’ve also heard some people say that there didn’t click in and lock in for those folks. I say I’m sorry and why didn’t you return it as soon as it got in and it didn’t work perfect? As a matter fact for anyone is complaining, why didn’t you return it as soon as it didn’t work properly? Seems as though 9099% of the rest of the people who purchase this Had an excellent machine.And for those that got a machine was built on a Monday or a Friday where the folks were either ready to go home Friday or too tired on a Monday, well if your machine doesn’t work, you should return it.Everyone should be purchasing things with some kind of credit card that would give them an extra #Warranty, and of course you know that you could always just reverse the charges if it doesn’t work right within the first 90 days.