For me, it's espresso about 99% of the time. But I recently bought a French Press (Espro) for guests who prefer brewed coffee. I have been using an espresso grinder with a doser for the French Press - an older Mini Mazzer (58 mm flat burrs) that I acquired before I invested more in this hobby.

The Mini Mazzer doser is messy for this type of preparation. But I am not sure what grinder I could get that would be better. I have seen the Baratza Forte BG. It has 54 mm flat ceramic burrs. Will I be unhappy based on what I am using for espresso, which is a HG-One (71 mm conic) -- or when serving lots of guests, a Mahlkonig K30 -- matched to a Speedster? In fact, for the French Press would the Baratza Forte BG be any better compared to the Mini Mazzer? The Mahlkonig EK43 seems a little overkill for something I would use ten times a year. Any option I am missing?

Thanks.

Same boat here. I was looking at getting a Vario or Preciso, but decided on a hand grinder (Lido 2) since that 1% of the time was infrequent enough that a hand grinder wasn't too inconvenient.

For FP, why not one of the less expensive Baratza grinders like a Virtuoso?

AndyinTexas wrote:I have seen the Baratza Forte BG. It has 54 mm ceramic burrs.

Correction, the BG has steel burrs.

AndyinTexas wrote:In fact, for the French Press would the Baratza Forte BG be any better compared to the Mini Mazzer?

Yes the forte BG would be better @ FP or any brew grinding... The Mazzer is made for espresso

The Baratza Virtuoso and Breville Smart do a good job for press. The Baratza Preciso won't do anything for any type of brew that the Virtuoso doesn't except cost more.

The Baratza Vario BG is the next step up. By the way, BG grinders have steel burrs, not ceramic and are MUCH better for press than the AP ceramics. The Forte BG is faster than the Vario, and I've read some people who say it's slightly better for press.

There are a few bulk grinders which are a great deal better in the cup than the Forte and in about the same price range -- but they're large.

Our experience was that when we improved our brew grinder to a Bunnzilla ($750 - $1200, depending on the Bunn donor grinder) we got a lot more enthusiastic about drinking brew.

Rich

boar_d_laze wrote:Our experience was that when we improved our brew grinder to a Bunnzilla ($750 - $1200, depending on the Bunn donor grinder) we got a lot more enthusiastic about drinking brew.

Rich

I'd change that to $400 to $1200 considering I bought two perfectly good G3s for $50 and $100 and the burrs were $340 delivered. A bit more if you need to pay someone for the spacer. Doing it for $400 means a lot of looking and some luck, but it's possible. $600 should be easy.

Ira

How do you find the HG-One for brew grinds? Maybe just use that.

Skip trying to make an espresso grinder work for anything other than espresso. Get a bulk grinder designed for drip/press preparation like one of the Bunn or Ditting grinders. There are plenty of threads on the subject.

This one is 12 pages long....

Why do bulk grinders produce a superior grind for non espresso preparation?

AndyinTexas wrote:For me, it's espresso about 99% of the time. But I recently bought a French Press (Espro) for guests who prefer brewed coffee.

I'm similar too, 99% espresso & 1% brew drinker.

I would suggest a Baratza Virtuoso (does perfectly acceptable job for the brew) or Vario BG steel burrs (if you want to go all out). Bulk grinder is not justifiable for the occasional use, not to mention the dust it gathers while not being used & the counter top it occupies. That'd be my choice if I'm in the market for a non-espresso grinder anyway.

I'd consider the Lido 2 for 1% of your brewing needs. I'm pretty impressed with it for brew grinds.