I am looking to upgrade my 7 year old Baratza Vario W.
My biggest issue with the Vario is lack of consistency and precision of adjustment. When I adjust it, it is too coarse, too coarse, too coarse, then way too fine. I have owned the grinder for a long time, but only been back brewing espresso for a few months after a couple of year break. I don't remember these issues before, but I also think I'm brewing more precisely these days.

I have a La Spaziale Dream, and I make a couple of espressos every weekday and maybe 4 on the weekends.

Criteria:
- Must fit under my 18.5" cabinets
- Grind consistency and precision
- Ease of dosing - I really like the weight based dosing on the Vario W

My budget is ideally under $1000-1200.

Thoughts:
Baratza Forte AP
Mazzer Mini
Compak E5

The Forte appeals but I'm worried that it may have the same issues.
I know that there are lots of grinder threads and I've searched, but none seem to apply exactly.

thanks for any thoughts.

Niche Zero?

No weight dosing/hopper. But that would still be my recommendation at the price, if the rave reviews are correct...

Weight based dosing- decent grinder. That is, if it's short enough, can't swear to that. https://www.decentespresso.com/pro_grinder
Keep in mind- I don't know the height and you are the start / stop for the motor, so you are determining when to stop not the grinder. If you like the set up you can upgrade to SSP burrs.

The Niche is by definition weight based AND no waste (virtually). I'm in the habit of putting in .5g more than I need and then weighing again after grinding where I remove excess but that's not necessary. I am using a LWW shaker with it, in case that matters.

Weighing a dose before grinding is crazy easy and relatively quick. The rewards are virtually no retention or wasted coffee when adjusting grind setting (always run a hopper grinder when changing settings!).

I can't speak to the Forte AP, Mazzer & Compak grinders will do fine. I sell Compak & Mahlkonig but recommend the Niche for home users. So that says something!

jldc wrote:I am looking to upgrade my 7 year old Baratza Vario W.
My biggest issue with the Vario is lack of consistency and precision of adjustment. When I adjust it, it is too coarse, too coarse, too coarse, then way too fine. I have owned the grinder for a long time, but only been back brewing espresso for a few months after a couple of year break. I don't remember these issues before, but I also think I'm brewing more precisely these days.

You may want to clean and check your Vario. When you adjust the Vario from fine to coarse, the burr drops by gravity alone, so it's best to adjust while the grinder is running. Adjusting finer lifts the burr up so there should be no problem, but sometimes when adjusting coarser the burr doesn't move right away. When I go from espresso to pour-over, I like to overshoot my adjustment coarser and then bring it back up to finer (with the grinder running) so that the burr has an opportunity to drop all the way and then bring it back.

I'm not sure if this might be affecting you, but you might keep this in mind and maybe with a good cleaning can get better performance out of your Vario.

I will give it a try.

I will also look at the Niche. Is it in actual production? Online it looks like a kickstarter rather than an actual production item.

Remove the top burr & clean. If you remove the lower burr, the grinder needs to be spotless before you reinstall the lower burr again to make sure it is properly seated.

Eureka Zenith 65E

K-30 with the short hopper is 17.5in.

Eurika atom is 17.25" and nice and quiet


Randy