The Sage/Breville grinder is very good for the money, I have the slightly cheaper and more basic version the Dose Control. Which is fine as it's internally the same just without the digital controls. Which I'd never use anyway.

reason retention on the Sette 30 was because you were holding the plate up too high causing the grounds to back up into the machine. very minimal retention on this with normal use i find.

Got a refurbished Sette 30 for home, and a used Rocky for the office. Rocky is quieter, slower, and produces static clumps. But it is hefty, and it allows realignment of gap between its burrs easier once you remove just 3 screws. Sette is fast, loud, and consistent, but I am not sure if it will last as long as Rocky. Timer on the Sette is a plus too.

my rancilio rocky still rocks after 18 years. i don't brew espresso, so for me it is ok from the pour over to the french press passing trough aeropress and dripping. for sure there are better grinder in consistency but it is really a tank and behind there is a real big company with customer support and a huge availability of replacement parts.

How did you read my mind? this is EXACTLY what I was looking for today and it gets posted mid search from other channels, thanks!

I think you’re not being fair on the Sette because looked at how close you put the plate to the grind exit thereby blocking a lot of the coffee grind from falling properly. The Baratza Sette whole design is about achieving minimal to zero retention and it works.

Very nice breakdown of all the grinders!

I've had my Notte for a month and I gotta be honest...I love it. It's exactly what I need. I know you can spend hundreds more for timers and displays...but why? I single dose because I like alternating what kind of coffee I drink, so the hopper is always empty anyway, and weighing grinds takes all of 6 seconds. After a few weeks of research, the Notte made the most sense. For half the price I'm sacrificing a timer and a metal portafilter holder. Makes sense to me.

Agree with not being fair. You only used about 2.5 seconds on the Rancilio Rocky. It also looks like you have the Rocky set at a finer grind, which promotes clumping more than slightly coarser grinds.

I get loads of retention on the rocky. Show me a close up of the rocky dispenser please. I use a baster balloon to clear out the retention.

thanks for this, will buy the Rancillo Rocky

Great review. Very clear. Useful info.

I’ve had the Breville Smart Grinder Pro for about a month, found my dials for espresso, siphon and French Press and very happy with it.

Very useful review thank you so much. Very articulate, to the point. I think you're one of the best reviewers out there on coffee matters, if not the best. You might even be a better reviewer than James Hoffmann. In all fairness, the huge retention on the Sette was due to the fact that the plate was touching it, in such a way that the heap of coffee was forming inside the burrs. This shouldn't have happened otherwise. The Sette is designed to produce very little retention with its burrs at the very end. Thanks to your review, I'm making my mind for the Mignon Notte. Even if you're doing a lot of efforts to be objective and nuanced, it's visible that the Mignon is your favorite ;)

How did this guy manage to mess up the grind retention test on the sette so much? The fact that he wasn’t surprised at all makes me think this is the first time he has used it.

Your retention test method really favors chuted units as that wont clear the grind chamber or the bend of the chute and will make the straight thru desing of the sette look worse as you will clear it completely with a little tap or two. the sette is the best if you are single dose grinding because of its straight thru design

Been looking at espresso grinders and trimmed our list down to either the Sette 30 or the SGP. I think for ease of purchase and serviceability in our country, we'll prolly go with the SGP.

The Breville is actually stepless. There are consistent/repeatable clicks and the display registers whole numbers, but the burr is mechanically linked to the dial and the dial is stepless -- you can stop between clicks. So the clicks are not true steps as much as they are cues for repeatability. Bonus -- the burr inside actually has additional steps (actually stepped) so that you may further refine your grind range between the clicks.

Does the Eureka grinder do a Turkish grind or is that too fine? If so, will it also do on the other end pour over courser type of grind?

That was a very good comparison.

Which one is best for a Moka pot?

does anyone have any experience with the eureka mignon perfetto? I have someone selling one near me and might be able to get them in a price point I can afford. Will it do ok with a flair 58? Is it adequate on the espresso grind front?

I had that Breville for espresso. I had to dose high to make up for its lack of fine grinding ability and it wore out after a couple of years. I am currently single dosing use a hand grinder with very low retention and very fine stepped grind adjustment. I cannot imagine going back to any of the grinders in this video for espresso. The Sette has a reputation of not being very durable. Not having a hopper and keeping my beans in an airtight container keeps them so much fresher, and rock solid consistent dosing is a really nice feature to have.

Just in my experience, when you test for retention, you cant just tap the machine to see what comes out ... On a lot of machines, there is a lot of ground coffee between the hopper and the spout, which doesn't come out until you run it again. So what you need to test is with a fixed amount of coffee beans. Grind all the beans until the pitch of the machine tells you theres nothing left in the hopper. Then after 1 minute, start grinding again, with nothing added to the hopper. On a ton of machines, a substantial amount of coffee will come out... Usually, some will try to dismiss this effect as "the machine just needs a lot of coffee in the hopper to continue applying weight". But that unfortunately doesn't change the fact that when you grind, the first bit of coffee comes out faster, and thats because its left over ground coffee from the last time you used the machine... In my experience this doesn't happen with all grinders, but its a massive shortcoming which I would have liked to have seen tested here.

Is the Mignon Notte the same as the Manuale?

Any thoughts on the Lelit Fred? Currently considering it and the Breville SGP as a first espresso grinder.

I don't think you can test retention by just tapping it. Grounds can get stuck in there and you won't get them out through percussive maintenance. The only way is really to weight the beans and ground on a clean machine.

Sette retention is due to static. Spray of water on the beans and it’s like magic

Many other reviews/how to videos of the Baratza Sette 30 showed almost zero retention. Not sure why your results were so vastly different.

Does someone can recommend which of them is enough good for expresso but also is the most grind widerange (from expresso to French press) capable?. I really want to have good shots of expresso (main objective) but not sacrificing dripper or French press methods as I don't want to spend in two grinders.

What are the names of these machines?

It seems that the retention in the Sette was due to static/coffee backing up due to the plate position?

Baratza Encore ESP or Breville Smart grinder?, I want for espresso shots and in my country the price is almost the same

How does the coffee taste?

I'm really curious to know what the basis is for the Breville's shorter life expectancy? Is it that the burrs are made of a lower grade steel and will wear out sooner? Or is it that the device itself will just malfunction? If it's just the burrs, they are replaceable, OEM for $40. I have had my Non-Pro Breville Smart Grinder for over 12 years and I just replaced the burrs. It has worked flawlessly. As an added bonus, the adjustable burrs from the newer "PRO" model are compatible in the older Non-PRO, so that is a nice upgrade for the Non-Pro -- also kind of a thoughtful design by Breville.

The notte is the same burr set and motor as the filtro and crono . The filtro grinds for espresso the same as the notte

I own Mignon Crono ....and it’s a perfect home grinder....

My Pavoni kube died this morning so I've ordered a Rocky.

The Sette 270s supposedly have very low retention. Why is the 30 so much worse?

if you know this machine can grind coffee to make turkish or greek coffee? means to grind coffee into the finest powder

Are those t-shirts available?

If an entry-level grinder alone is $400, most of us can't afford a home espresso setup.

Admittedly it's a different Sette model, but my 270Wi has close to zero retention consistently. I'm puzzled how you got so much retention on a straight through vertical grind path model. I've ground 3 doses this morning and just went in and did your tap test and got a barely visible output on the rubber pad. I had way more retention on my previous Vario. Update: Reading further in the comments it looks like this was already pointed out.

i dont drink espresso, nor will i ever buy an espresso machine (i have no room for it in my tiny apartment). how are the coarse grinds for a simple french press on all these grinders?

The Notte clumper - I mean grinder!

How do you think the Vario compares?

hmm I have to say the SGP sounds like its huffing and puffing. I really doesn't instill confidence in the motor the way the Rocky and Eureka do.

Breville works great until it doesn’t after about a year

They maybe entry level grinders but why an entry-level description? Without any confusion you could have included additional information. For sure the Build and features have a lot to do with the price. The big miss is the type of burr and size. That is what allows the grind to bring out the flavor notes in the coffee. Are they all flat burrs? I know there is much more that can be discussed but I believe a disservice not to start to explain why burrs are so important. Speed is complicated. Are the beans heating up, is the motor DC, is the motor straining? These things can be touched on because understanding why they are entry level is important. From the demo one can make broad and incorrect assumptions as to why they are entry level grinders. My biggest beef is the retention demo. Many high end have bellows. Tapping the grinder to show retention is the same as using the bellows on high end machines recognized as zero retention grinders. The only way to test is to put x grams in and measure how many grams out even after the tap.

Honest question .. I *never* drink any coffee straight period. I make a ton of espresso drinks they're all drowned in sugar, milk or you name it including iced frappuccinos. Under that use case how much should I spend on a grinder and what do you recommend if I also make pour overs? Thanks ☺️

Thus the Note is the best grinder.

I’m getting really frustrated with my breville smart grinder pro. Retention is awful

Would you use the Rancilio coffee grinder to grind black pepper?

Actually in my experience rancilio worth every penny, cant say the same to the others: baratza and breville dont really worth what you are paying, very cheap components, as more "electronically" complex as easily focked up. I've had both baratza and breville

Your grind time was off, the first one was about 4 to 4 1/2 seconds, the second one was almost 6 seconds if not 6 seconds, almost 7 on the third one, and the last one was about 6.

Longevity would be worth noting, common knowledge breville exit fan wear and no replacement part. Success of new fan design not known. Breville are doing themselves a disservice

Perhaps espresso is relevant? -Evaluation by Drinking it...

Stay away from the Baratza. Mine just died shy of three years. Tried replacing the fuse and still nothing. The control screen just blinks every 10 seconds. And it wakes the house up every morning- very loud. Was hoping to get more years out of a grinder for the price. Will not be buying that one again.

Theres is virtually no retention from the sette, you just goofed a little.

Y

The amount of coffee you can get out of the grinder by smacking it does not even slightly equal retention. To actually measure retention you need to grind until empty and then open up the grinder and weigh how much is left inside of it, by that test the Sette would probably do the best as it's a straight through conical burr setup. If the Breville SGP is set up like the Barista Express's grinder, which by looking at how it grinded based on my experience, it almost certainly is, it will have a tonne of retention. Retention is really not a huge issue once you get dialed in and are having at least one coffee a day, but getting dialed in can be tricky. The Rocky is just so old at this point and is way too expensive for what it is, I also think it's ugly as sin. The Baratza Sette 30 is so loud you will wake the neighbours, sure it's fast but does that matter? Also stepped and only 30 grind settings, big oof. The Breville Smart Grinder Pro is a Breville grinder, take with that what you will. And the Eureka Notte, the one actually worth buying. A great entry level espresso grinder, actual step-less grind adjustment, flat burrs (for which you can find replacements!), it's metal, and you could reasonably keep it around for a long while without feeling the need to upgrade. I don't really feel like I learned anything from this video, maybe because I already knew all this stuff about these grinders as I did quite a bit of research getting my Silenzio, but that kind of feels like a trend with this channel. "Look! Things!" *audience is confused*

"...getting that tricky single origin dialled in..." And that there tell me that this isn't a review for people just starting out in home espresso, unless you're targeting the 'all the gear but no idea' crowd, as a beginner I'd be happy with something that at the end of the process tastes better than instant and I still have my eyebrows.

Jamming the plate up into the sette disqualified your test. Thumbs down.

"entry level" and you start the video with a 450$ machine...... dude

I don't like the green screen studio

Why do you add the word "point" to the word "price"? "Pricepoint" has become a jargon term recently for no good reason. It's the classic waste of breath used by those who know no better to make them sound as if they know what they're talking about. A complete waste of a syllable, I think. The price is the price. End of. Good video though! ;-)