Hello, I had a new Baratza Vario which stopped working after about a month of use - I had no issues with it until one morning when it just didn't turn on. Baratza replaced the unit with no questions asked and sent me a new Vario grinder. This new Vario works just as well as the other I had except that it's making a huge mess. With both I freehand the portafilter under the grinder and dose right in using a funnel attached to the pf to help keep things clean. This worked great on with my first Vario, there was very little mess and stray grinds. However now, still using the same dosing method, there is quite a bit of stray grinds that shoot out all over my counter and it's making quite a mess. The only thing different is that before I was using Counter Culture's La Forza beans and now I'm using Passalaqua's Harem beans. Wondering if there is something maybe off with the grinder, or if its the change in beans that are making the mess. I'm going to have to add an extra step to my process and grind into the Vario bucket attachment to keep things clean, then dose from there into my pf, a step I'd rather not take, but it'll keep things clean and I won't waste coffee on the counter top.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advise.

Dunno. Mine works fine with the orphan espresso funnel

Is the grinder shooting grinds out all over or is static electricity doing it?

Shooting them out all over the place.

Hi,

you changed the key subject of the grinding process, namely the coffee, and you really think that the grinder is the reason for the mess?

It's the beans. Passalacqua, from Naples, is a dark roasted robusta laden southern espresso blend. My mom and aunt brought me a bag directly from Naples last year. My aunt said the espresso she had at a Bar Mexico (where Passalacqua is sold and used), pulled on a lever machine was the best she has ever had.

I would bet my Vario that the grounds shooting all over your counter is from the static generated by the beans. Try going back to a 100% arabica, lighter roasted coffee and your problems will disappear.

Good luck.

You might want to try the Ross Droplet Technique for reducing or eliminating static.

Thanks, I'll try the water drop technique, but will probably switch to grinding right into the Vario bucket as I really love my Passalacqua beans.

Where may I ask do you buy them? Do they offer their other blends as well?

If you haven't already done so, you should remove the top burr carrier and clean out the exit hole from the grind chamber....mine, at least, gets blocked fairly quickly (within a few weeks of grinding) and the smaller hole seems to cause grounds to shoot out at a higher velocity...i.e., spraying instead of just dropping into the basket. Usually when I unblock the exit hole, the grounds drop out cleanly w/ no spraying.

Using the hopper also avoids the late spin-up of the burrs at the end of the dose which also tends to cause more spraying. If you must single-dose, you could over-dose the bean load slightly and cut off the grind just before the near-end-of-grind "spin-up" starts.... to further avoid spraying. Then when you add the next dose, just do a short purge of the stale grinds and repeat.

Pat