I need to know if it's worth for the price (I found it for USD 199), i need a expresso capable grinder but I don't have enough Budget for a expensive one

Looking to break into the world of espresso as I am now a working adult and thinking about what exactly to buy to get started.

I’m considering the Breville Bambino + a separate grinder after reading through this sub but I can’t find a budget grinder that fits what I’m looking for (<$200). I’m considering going manual but not sure if manually grinding my beans every morning will drive me crazy. Anyone have insight to offer here?

How bad are the Breville Espresso built in grinders really? I found a great deal for a Breville Barista Express on fb marketplace (~350) and wondering if that will keep me satisfied for the next year as a beginner or whether I’ll deeply regret it.

Otherwise any recommendations for more affordable grinders for a beginner?

EDIT: Thank you everyone for your helpful, detailed responses! First time posting in this sub and very grateful for all the help.

Hey guys,

so I just got a Breville/Sage Smart Grinder Pro to go with my BDB. It was in sweet discount and I thought I'd give it a go, even though I knew people literally hate this grinder.

Now, the main theme of the hate is mostly the clumps. So I tested the grinder with some supermarket Lavazza beans. I put the grinder on its finest settings. The outcome I got is... pretty good.

Yes, there were some clumps, but a few swirls with a toothpick pretty much broke them up (not to mention if I got a WDT tool) and the grind was pretty consistent. See the picture.

I was very much amazed with the retention, too. Around .5 grams on most of the tested samples.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but can SGP actually be a decent grinder, can this be a new model? I come from Europe, so maybe here they use better manufacturing? I don't know. Or do I not see anything?

Thanks for your opinions!

I’ve seen a lot of comments saying that the built-in grinders in Breville machines aren’t good. Why is that?

With the finest setting I seem to choke the machine (Breville Barista) with the standard double filter, so it shouldn’t be a problem with getting a fine enough grind. What am I missing?

I’m worried I wasted 60 bucks downgrading. I’m a newbie using the Sowtech Conical Burr Grinder from Amazon to use with my Breville Bambino. I really like the convenience of grinding directly into the portofilter and assumed it would be an upgrade from what I currently have but the reviews on here are making me think twice. Thoughts? Sorry if this question has been beaten to death!

Hi!

I’m just starting to scratch the surface of the beautiful world of espresso and have a question regarding the first grinder I’m planning to buy.

Is the Sage(breville) smart pro grinder any good for making espresso? Felt the size was quite suitable for my kitchen.

I've been using my breville barista express for a few years but i want to up my esspresso game. I see a lot of hate for the built in grinder on the BBE, why is that? It took some adjustment with the grind but I can get 25 second extractions.

I've been using my stock Breville Barista Pro for a couple years now. I've been generally satisfied, but find shots do come out a bit sour from time to time.

I'm thinking of upgrading my grinder game. I've been looking at several different one (D64, Varia VS3, Niche). While I can find plenty of videos and articles comparing them to each other, I really haven't found any information on how they compare to the built-in grinder in the Breville.

My question: Will upgrading my Breville grinder make a noticeable difference? Or is that just an assumption on my part?

I wanted to give you a detailed rundown of my experience with the Breville Grind Control Coffee Maker, especially regarding its brewing performance.

Quick Look at Features: Integrated Adjustable Burr Grinder, Programmable Auto Start, LCD Display, Calibration Mode, Multiple Brew Size and Strength Options.

Check Latest Price Here

When I first started using the Breville Grind Control, I was really excited about the idea of having freshly ground coffee every morning. The built-in conical burr grinder is impressive and does deliver a rich, aromatic brew when everything is working smoothly. I appreciated being able to adjust the grind size and strength settings, which allowed me to customize each cup to my liking. Brewing a full pot was consistently strong and flavorful, which was perfect for those mornings when I needed multiple cups or had guests over.

However, I quickly ran into some frustrating issues with the single-serve brewing. Despite tweaking the settings and trying to calibrate the machine, my single cups often came out weaker than expected. It was disappointing because I was expecting the same quality as the full pot, but it just didn’t deliver. In contrast, when I brewed a full carafe, the coffee was robust and stayed hot longer than I anticipated. This was a stark difference compared to my old Capresso grind-and-brew machine, where the coffee maintained its temperature much better.

Another major hiccup was the inconsistency in the brewing process. There were multiple instances where the machine dispensed the wrong amount of water, leading to either overly strong or surprisingly weak coffee. On a few occasions, the machine stopped brewing before it had used all the water in the reservoir, leaving me with a partially filled carafe and a wasted batch of coffee. These interruptions were particularly annoying during busy mornings when I didn’t have time to troubleshoot.

The grinder itself also posed some problems. It would jam frequently, especially when I used darker roasts or finer grinds. This not only interrupted the brewing cycle but also required me to spend extra time cleaning and unclogging the chute to get things moving again. Additionally, I noticed that the grinder seemed to use an excessive amount of coffee beans for each brew, which was both costly and affected the flavor negatively. To cope with this, I ended up “tricking” the machine during calibration by entering incorrect values to reduce the amount of coffee it used, but this felt like a workaround rather than a proper solution.

Cleaning the machine was another area where I faced challenges. While some parts were easy to clean, the grinder and brewing assembly had multiple crevices that required thorough attention. It took more effort than I had anticipated to keep everything in good working order, especially with the frequent clogs and grind jams.

Durability has been a mixed bag as well. After about a year of use, I started noticing minor leaks and the motor wasn’t running as smoothly as it did initially. When I reached out to Breville’s customer service for support, the response was slower than I’d hoped, and it felt like older models didn’t get much attention.

Conclusion:

While the Breville Grind Control Coffee Maker offers some fantastic features like freshly ground coffee and brewing flexibility, the brewing inconsistencies and maintenance issues significantly impacted my overall experience. If you’re someone who values a perfectly consistent single cup every morning without much hassle, this might be a bit of a gamble. On the other hand, if you primarily brew full pots and don’t mind putting in a bit of extra effort to maintain the machine, it could still be a worthwhile option.

Just be prepared for some potential headaches with the brewing process and grinder maintenance. It’s a great machine when it works as intended, but the inconsistencies and extra maintenance can be a bit of a letdown over time.

Cheap grinders. My Smart Grind Pro broke after 2 years. The plastic impeller, (moves grinds away from burrs to container), wore down. The second one had the same plastic impeller that wore down as well. Breville has poor support. Last time they offered me a small rebate on a new grinder. This time they wanted me to send the grinder away and pay over $100 to get it repaired.

I'm trying Baratza this time because they sell replacement parts on their webpage.

Edit: as I've found out newer models replaced the plastic impeller blade with a stainless steal impeller blade. So, after having my Smart Coffee Grinder fail after two years, Breville sold me another model off their website with the same faulty blade, and today the best they offer is a $100+ repair job.

Edit 2: tbh I'm kind of surprised by the ratio. It's an inferior product with known defects and poor support. Just because they fixed the problem eventually doesn't mean they did not knowingly burn customers with a cheap machine.

My buddy recently told me his wife ordered him an espresso machine, and I asked him what grinder did he get. I don't think he bought a grinder, so I told him I'll give him my old grinder. Which is this Breville Smart Grinder Pro that I bought years ago. I figured before I give it away, I'll come and quickly review the grinder, and why I still kinda like the thing, and could recommend it with some reservations.

So first of all, let's talk about the taste of the coffee this thing grinds. It's not the best - but hey, it is a cheap grinder that you can find on sale all the time. For espresso the taste profile is really classic conical burr - and not a really good conical burr like you'd find on a Niche Zero. On the bright side, the espresso it turns out is rich and full bodied, but you don't really get that much clarity to it. It does a very good job with the classic medium to medium dark espresso roast, but don't put in a really dark, oily roast, since at finer grind settings, it could choke with an oily bean. A smack usually solves the problem, but that interferes with the "smart" part of the grinder. Back in the day, I'd probably be generous and give it a B- score on taste, but with today's increasingly tough competition, it's probably C+ level - the espresso it turns out isn't bad by any means of the imagination, but it isn't great.

Ahh, but this grinder does everything! And Breville uses the burr set in everything! And I really think is one of the biggest strengths of the grinder. The outside adjustment has 60 positions, but inside the hopper, on the upper burr there's an additional 10 positions to adjust. If you're willing to play with both adjusters, you can adjust the grinder to do everything from French press all the way down to coffee dust for Turkish coffee. I've been using this grinder over the years for French Press, Drip, AeroPress, Espresso, and even Turkish style dust to rim drinks and garnish desserts. And it really is the stereotypical jack of all trades, master of none, putting out C+ to B- level work for whatever style you want. Primarily, the problem is that there's always a bit too much fines to be considered great when your grinding coarser.

I guess there's the first major advantage to this grinder. It does a passable job grinding for everything. I'm sure nowadays you can find a grinder that does better espresso than it in its price range, and I'm sure you can find a grinder that does better French press than it in its price range, but a lot of those grinders can only do one or the other, not both.

Now some other positives I like about the grinder are: the timer actually turns out consistent grind amounts as long as the hopper is decently full - Decent enough that if you're lazy, you can skip weighing the grounds every time. It's decently fast, and doesn't sound horrifying. There are some touches to the design that I enjoy (IE: the big loop on the hopper lid, the removable tray under the hopper).

And then there's the stuff I don't like: Retention is a constant problem (if you notice carefully, there's a constant "swapping" of grinds), and the static and clumping is just horrific. Now to be fair, most grinders in this price range have horrible clumping and static issues, but since you're supposed to pre-load the hopper, you can't spray the beans to help with it. If you get this grinder, you cannot avoid the WDT tool to break up clumps and avoid channeling. As an aside, this is also why I think the Barista Express Impress is such a terrible, terrible idea. Going straight from grinding to tamping with this grinder is guaranteed channeling.

I don't really want to comment on reliability here, since I have a sample of 1, but it seems like back when this grinder was first released, it had impeller problems, but Breville fixed it sometime down the line, and I've gotten a solid half decade out of the grinder.

In conclusion, if this grinder turns out mediocre grind quality, and has a few annoying downsides, why wouldn't you go with something like a Fellow Opus or DF54? I actually think I can make a case for the Smart Grinder Pro for a certain type of user.

You see - Back when I bought this grinder 5-6 years ago, the hyped up model that everyone recommended was the Sette 270 - on paper the Sette 270 is a $400 grinder while the Smart Grinder Pro is a $300 grinder, but since the SGP is sold everywhere, you can always find it on sale somewhere, so I think the SGP is a $200 grinder while the Sette 270 is a $400 grinder. For $200 more than that, at $600 there's the Sette 270wi, that ground by weight. The assumption for both the Sette 270/wi, the Smart Grinder Pro, and all the grinders popular in that era was that you filled up the hopper with beans, and you get a consistent amount of grinds every time.

In more recent years, single dosing became really popular (can we credit the Niche for that?). All the new popular affordable grinders seem to be effectively single dose. Whether you're talking about the Fellow Opus, the DF54, or even the Baratza Encore ESP (The Encore ESP has a large hopper, but you have to annoyingly manually time your grinding. You might as well single dose).

Look, I get all the arguments for single dosing, how the beans stay fresher in an airtight container, how clearing out the retained grinds every time with bellows makes sure you don't get any stale beans, how spraying the beans helps with static. But like, there's millions and millions of people out there who's primary use case is just "give me a latte better than Starbucks with minimal work", and who are willing to sacrifice some quality and clarity of flavor for the convenience of just putting the portafilter into the progs and pressing start.

For that segment of customers, none of the new popular grinders like the Opus, DF54, or Encore ESP fits with their workflow. These new grinders are forcing you to single dose. I get that by forcing you to single dose, you can save some costs by cutting the "smart features", and thus, can spend a bit more money on a better burr or something. But I'm sure there are tons of guys out there willing to sacrifice some quality there, for the convenience of avoiding single dosing.

And if that is you, the most popular grinders on the market are still pretty unchanged from a few years ago? You're still choosing between this and the Sette family. So if you're willing to sacrifice some quality, for convenience with the full hopper instead of the single dose, then the SGP is still your best choice for around $200.

Of course, this grinder has been out for years and years and years now, and I'm hoping that Breville could update it and make a Smart Grinder Pro 2 or something. It would be a damned shame if it was discontinued and replaced with the Baratza Encore ESP. If Breville is going to update this for a second generation, I would like to see a few key changes:

• Make the adjustment easier, instead of the current two step system with inner and outer grind size adjustments

• Do something about the retention

• Add an anti-static device to help with the static and clumping

Is there a big difference? I know some of the built in grinders have more grind size options than some of the other built in grinders.

I'm so excited to start my espresso journey! I am about to purchase a Bambino Plus which I use at my brother-in-law's home all the time to make lattes and americanos.

I know that the grinder is arguably more important than the espresso machine itself. I also know the Breville Smart Grinder Pro is NOT the greatest grinder, but I was wondering everyone's thoughts about the price for this one and if it would be a good place to get started? Thanks in advance!

i’ve heard online and seen some reviews that the built in grinder in the breville isn’t exactly the best,is this true ? and if so what grinder would be better that’s somewhat affordable? is the built in grinder in the breville part of the reason dialing in different coffee beans can be so hard and complicated? is there a seperate grinder that can automatically dial in best grinding size or is that not a thing ?

Thinking about buying one for a drip coffee machine.

Will it do espresso? Just curious.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OXGXW8O/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_pardFb2WXME9C

Hello, A few years ago for Christmas I got a Breville Duo Temp. It’s sat around until recent and I’ve been learning a lot about espresso. I plan on keeping the machine for for awhile.

To the grinder. I ordered the Smart Pro and shipment is delayed. I like the looks and ease of use. However I see some reviews that people don’t have the best things to say. I paid around $200 after taxes and shipping and that is my upper price point. I plan on using the grinder daily switching between French press and espresso.

I’m having second thoughts since it’s still in the mail and I can return it. I have read Bartaza are more consistent but I really don’t like the way they look. I do like the Acaso Mini but adjusting seems like such a hassle between the espresso and French press.

Any inputs?