There is a lot of discussion around espresso grinders, but what do you think the best grinder for home for strictly pour over use is, regardless of cost? I currently use a Made by Knock Feldgrind, but curious about other options, which aren’t as big as an EK43 and have good a WAF (wife acceptance factor). Baratza Forte BG comes to mind, but I have no idea how it would perform with respect to a Feldgrind.
Baratza Sette 270? Seems to have excellent reviews.
I have heard that Sette is better for espresso as it produces too many fines? Anybody have experience with Forte BG?
I’ve had pour-overs using Forte BG. They produce very good results. I’ve never used the Feldgrind before but compared to my Lido 2, the Forte BG tasted a tad cleaner especially on the finer settings.
Sette CAN be good for pourover, but it is problematic due to the fines. V60 dripper works well, but technique needs to be high and dry, grind setting needs to be roughly 5 more than what is recommended by Baratza. There is a reason for that.
Kalita Waveset needs to be at the most coarse setting including micro adjustment coarse as well. Also can’t have dosage higher than 20g since bed depth becomes a significant flow restrictor. Also pour technique needs to allow for fines to not concentrate in the bed, which was a big adjustment for me.
So it does make for a very well balanced cup, and is recommended. It is just that there may be coffees and combination of dripper which will not work, no matter what you do.
I still really like my Baratza Preciso for pourover, works great just need to clean it every few days. And that is with just home use.
The Vario with the steel burrs will give you the same burr set as the Forte BG for about half the price. The Vario isn’t built like a tank like Forte, but a home user isn’t putting the kind of duty cycle on the grinder like a cafe might.
the comandante c40 mk3 has been perfect on the pour overs. it has an extremely impressive particle size consistency at all settings from very fine to french press, with small enough increments between settings to dial in specific v60 recipes precisely. this grinder is probably one of the best grinders you could have, short of the EK.
How does it compare against other hand grinders such as Feldgrind or Lido?
Feldgrind is what I have at the moment.
i haven’t used the feldgrind or lido. i can tell you that the comandante grinds 18g of beans in well under a minute at medium coarsness, without difficulty. the only other grinders i’ve had are the baratza preciso with the newer burr design, and the porlex hand grinder. the comandante mk3 is much more consistent in partice size than either of those two grinders.
I’ll drop another vote in for the Forte BG. We’ve used them at the shop and I now have one at home. Beats out all the grinders I’ve compared it to other than the EK, which is 3x the price and far too big for the average kitchen.
Baratza Sette 270 is a awesome grinder hands down.
I am using the sette 270 but it does indeed produce some fines and, therefore, I would not reccomend the Sette for pour overs. You might want to consider the Eureka mignon filtro.
BARATZA ENCORE
This is a great entry-level grinder for the enthusiast who wants accuracy and consistency
I’m also using Eureka mignon filtro which offers decent performance.