Baratza Vario

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mhoy
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#1: Post by mhoy »

An interesting new grinder coming our way in Aug 2008.



Info from:
http://www.baratza.com//products.php

Vario
digital, ceramic burr grinder

Mahlkönig 54mm ceramic flat burrs:
* Stay sharper longer. Ceramic is 10x harder than carbon steel.
* Keeps the coffee cool by limiting the amount of heat transferred from the burrs to the grinds.

Innovative dual-cam grind adjustment:
* The right hand lever let's you choose what type of grind you'd like.
* The lever on the left lets you fine tune the grind within the range you've selected for a perfect extraction.
* Over 150 grind settings available.

Programmable digital controls with LCD display:
* The grind duration is set using the up/down arrow buttons.
* Three, user programmable grind time buttons with LED indicators for Espresso, Filter, and Coffee Press.

Super quiet operation using belt drive.

Powerful DC motor turns slowly resulting in cool, quiet operation and permits extended grinding time. The circuitry is equipped with an automatic reset thermal cutoff switch.

Available in August 2008

=-=-=-=-

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another_jim
Team HB
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#2: Post by another_jim »

This could be what the Versalab promised to be; a high end home and lab grinder. It'll be interesting to see how it performs. I'm sure we're looking at $400 or more price tag, anything less would be very cool.
Jim Schulman

CGP4
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#3: Post by CGP4 »

According to Mark Prince (CoffeeGeek), the price they're targeting is $450 list, with $399 minimum selling price. For those interested, CoffeeGeek has a fair amount on this grinder from the SCAA show coverage and the associated threads.

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mhoy (original poster)
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#4: Post by mhoy (original poster) »

Ah, right here. Funny I had read about it but had forgotten about it until I saw the image on the Baratza site.
https://www.coffeegeek.com/opinions/sho ... 05-05-2008

Very curious about this indeed. It could stall my DIY Grinder project. :?

Mark

ppopp
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#5: Post by ppopp »

One of the strengths of the Maestro/Virtuosos series was the very short "grind path" allowed by the conical burrs - the coffee just fell straight down through the burrs and out the chute. I still have my original Maestro at work and use it for brewing single cups with my Melitta cone. It works great for that.

Seems to me by going to flat burrs the grind path on this new grinder will be a little more complicated, because the grinds can't fall straight down. They have to be ejected along the circumference of the flat burrs. It will be interesting to see how the new grinder achieves this.

Definitely looks interesting.
Peter

Know beans, know coffee. No beans, no coffee.

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Bushrod
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#6: Post by Bushrod »

That looks pretty good.

I'm really excited about the PortaHolder!

http://www.baratza.com//products.php?itemid=32
Rich A

LMWDP #131

jbeecham
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#7: Post by jbeecham »


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mhoy (original poster)
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#8: Post by mhoy (original poster) »

It's also interesting that the bigger Mahlkönig K30 Vario seems to be sitting next to it, (29 seconds). Can't afford the K30, still hoping to see some reviews of the Baratza....

mark

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mhoy (original poster)
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#9: Post by mhoy (original poster) »

At least someone has used the prototype:
http://coffeecollective.blogspot.com/20 ... inder.html

Mark

rmongiovi
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#10: Post by rmongiovi »

I don't think I can agree with their claim that ceramic burrs "Keeps the coffee cool by limiting the amount of heat transferred from the burrs to the grinds." If the heat is being generated by the friction of the grind, then I'd expect ceramic burrs to be much worse than metal. Metal would act as a heat sink and transmit generated heat away from contact with the beans by keeping the burrs cooler. Ceramic burrs are going to heat up and stay hot since they won't conduct heat away from where it was generated. The only place that heat has to go is into the next beans being ground....

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