The Baratza Encore ESP Pro grinder is great for coffee connoisseurs, from espresso to cold brew

As a former barista with three years of experience grinding coffee beans almost hourly while on a shift, I’m well versed in the perfect coffee grounds for all different brew methods. Bean quality is usually the easiest element to control, while grind size and uniformity are more difficult to achieve without the right grinder. 

Now, away from the hectic atmosphere of a coffee shop, I relish my at-home coffee setup that takes me from bean to brew. I’m partial to espresso for my morning pick-me-up, so I start nearly every day by creating a well-balanced latte or americano (typically iced) with the help of my espresso machine. The built-in grinder gets the job done just fine. But after several weeks of testing the Baratza Encore ESP Pro, it’s clear that this machine is a meaningful upgrade that deserves counter space for at-home coffee connoisseurs looking to upgrade their brewing setup.

Encore ESP Pro

$300 AT Crate & Barrel

$300 AT Amazon

Specs

Dimensions: 13 by 15 by 34 centimeters when fully assembled

Hopper capacities: 300 grams with hopper installed; 45 grams without (single-dose)

Grinder: Conical burrs with a stepless adjustment

How’s the coffee?

Unlike a blade grinder, which chops coffee beans like a blender and creates particles of varying sizes, the Encore ESP Pro has conical burrs for greater uniformity. These metal burrs rotate to crush the beans until they fit through the gap between them, whose size is translated into numbered steps. Because the grinder is truly stepless, it approximates “steps” from 0 to 60 on an LED screen to help you better understand where the grinder is set. The smaller the number, the smaller the grind.

Thanks to these conical burrs, the Encore ESP Pro grinds beans with near-perfect uniformity. This is especially true when working within the grinder’s designated espresso range (0-40). These grounds feel smooth to the touch like crushed velvet. This allows for the water in an espresso machine to properly build enough pressure to get the creamy, honey-like crema desired of an espresso shot. (During my testing, light roasted beans had to be ground just outside of the espresso range to get the best results.) 

When grinding beans outside of the espresso range, the grounds rapidly increased in size between the digital “steps.” These settings accommodate almost all other brewing methods, from drip coffee to cold brew. For drip coffee, Baratza’s recommended range (48-54) produces sand-like grounds that allow the coffee to bloom, capturing all the tasting subtleties that the beans have to offer in your cup. For cold brew, the recommended range (53-59) yields coarse grounds resembling large sea salt crystals. This is perfect for cold brew’s long extraction period where anything finer would produce an unwanted acrid flavor profile.

A few grinder grievances

If you like to switch up your brew method throughout the week, or even the day, switching between settings on the Encore ESP Pro can be somewhat difficult. Adjusting the grinder required more force than expected, like trying to open a slightly loosened jar lid. Additionally, the built-in LED screen occasionally had difficulty settling in on a particular number after adjustment. For example, when switching from setting level 50 for drip to 25.5 for espresso, the LED screen might oscillate for an extended time between 24 and 26 before landing where you want it. This is a result of the grinder’s stepless adjustment feature; the digital display can get “lost” trying to find the precise setting.

The Encore ESP Pro offers two different grind-timing options: single-dose, which is supposed to grind all the beans in the hopper, and seconds-based. In practice, the former option didn’t always clear out the beans, which may throw off your coffee recipe. It’s instead easier to just run the timer for longer than it takes to finish all the beans; you can tell the grinding is done when you hear a higher-pitched whirring sound

Is the Encore ESP Pro right for you?

The Encore ESP Pro is best for those who want to dial in their espresso making skills and have a little bit of extra time in the morning to perfect their cup of joe. Instead of settling for preset burr settings that stepped models usually have programmed with a notched and numbered dial, the machine’s stepless adjustment allows for endless precision to find your perfect grind size, as the gap between burrs continuously adjusts as the dial is moved. Although a bit more time consuming initially, this allows you to truly perfect your cup. If you’re particular about your coffee, this grinder has all the ingredients to ensure your morning starts right.

What about the standard Baratza Encore?

Encore Coffee Grinder

The Baratza Encore is a no-fuss burr grinder that gives you the best range of coffee grinds compared to similarly priced, and even more expensive, competitors.

Although we haven’t done any recent testing of the standard model, the Baratza Encore was recommended as the best coffee grinder when we covered the category back in 2024. It’s still in daily use for drip coffee by one Buy Side editor nearly 10 years after he received one as a wedding gift. The standard model is half the price of the ESP Pro, so if you’re more focused on drip or other styles of coffee than espresso, it’s worth considering instead.

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