I currently have a Dualit burr grinder but I can’t get the coffee fine enough to get a slow extraction for my espresso (finest setting, tamped as hard as I can and it still pours a shot at <10 seconds.

I don’t want to spend a load – I have £75 in Amazon vouchers which would be a perfect amount to spend if I could – but willing to put a bit more in if I need to.

Cheers

What coffee machine do you have?

Gaggia Classic

I use a Cuisinart grinder with my Classic. I have a similar problem. My understanding is you need to spend £150+ to get a really good fine grind, so my advice would be do what I’m doing, wait till my grinder dies and save up!

As a rule of thumb I’ve always worked to budgeting about half the price of the coffee machine on a grinder (more here if you want)

The Gaggia is a half decent machine, you’ll need a decent grinder to get the best from it. I’d suggest the Baratza Encore which is about £140 new, you may be able to get it for less second hand.

My parents have the same machine as you, they messed around for ages with rubbish grinders that didn’t get the best out of their machine (including the Dualit one you have), they now have the Encore and are happy with it.

This isn’t coffee snobbery speaking, I just think you will genuinely you’ll struggle to find anything for cheaper that will go fine enough for the Classic.

I had Rancilio Rocky for years which did a fantastic job and the Mazzer Super Jolly I have now is only a bit better. Keep your eyes open and you can find SJ’s for £150. Might need new burrs (£30) but they are “industry standard”. Anything less and you’ll get variable espresso at best.

To totally minimise cost you could go with one of those Japanese ceramic hand grinders (£35?). Slow but apparently they deliver reasonable grind.

Home barista forum is your friend for advice. They’re massive geeks and frequently do controlled trials of equipment.

ProTip – dont arse about with different coffees while dialing in a grinder/espresso machine. Choose one you like and stick to it for months.

I got a Baratza Encore for Chrimble and the range of grades on the grind is really good from espresso to French press and everywhere in between. Not cheap at £140 but well worth it imo.

From here

With that Encore how do you measure a grind? Do you just grind a batch then manually measure?

My current one has a timer so I set it to the desired setting and it automatically switches off.

I currently have a Dualit burr grinder but I can’t get the coffee fine enough to get a slow extraction for my espresso (finest setting, tamped as hard as I can and it still pours a shot at <10 seconds.

I believe that the Dualit can be modified to grind finer.

the Baratza is a good place to start if limited in budget, there is also the Iberital MC2 which is good value if you have the worktop space.

they are “industry standard”. Anything less and you’ll get variable espresso at best.

they are not ‘industry standard’ people in the “industry” use a Ditting/Eureka/compak amongst others.
there are loads of good grinders around the price point of a super jolly some with a smaller footprint/height for kitchen use. (like a mahlkonig vario)

ProTip – dont arse about with different coffees while dialing in a grinder/espresso machine. Choose one you like and stick to it for months.

wel seeing as you will have to dial-in each batch or bag and the beans will change over the duration of using them post roast how about choosing whatever beans the your fancy? even a favourite blend will change it’s source of beans as the harvests come and go throughout the year.

With that Encore how do you measure a grind? Do you just grind a batch then manually measure?

My current one has a timer so I set it to the desired setting and it automatically switches off.
Weigh the beans before you put them in.
Mine has a timer (mahlkonig vario) but I still weigh each grind individually as I find it much more accurate than the timer.

I use a Porlex Hand Grinder with my Gaggia Classic.
It grinds plenty fine enough and you can’t really beat the regularity of the grind with any machine under £150 as noted above.

Much more effort than an electric grinder though so if you drink a lot, it would become quite a hassle.

I’ve got a sage dose control, £150 in John Lewis, it’s nice and simple. Goes fine enough for espresso I think but I only use it for filter

Little brother to the £200 sage which has a digital thingme, but I thought is kinda massive for a home grinder, and a bit too gadgety

Certainly a lot better than the hand grinder I was using

Vario is the daddy but over £300, the cheaper Baratza/Mahlkonig are meant to be good too but look and feel a bit naff IMO

I’ve heard very good things about the Iberital MC2 grinders

this one’s good for home use.

Call them up for a chat though. They are helpful.

I was thinking die grinder rather than coffee opps

ade9933 – Member

this one’s good for home use.

Call them up for a chat though. They are helpful.

Ya, I bought one from them in a different colour 😛

Thought the title was about proper grinders, the ones you grind metal with, ain’t coffee poncey?

Trailrider Jim – Member
Thought the title was about proper grinders, the ones you grind metal with, ain’t coffee poncey?

😆

I’ve got an Iberital MC2. Takes a while to set up, as far as timer and grind fineness goes, but once set up it’s very consistent, and grinds fine enough for a Gaggia Classic. Only problem is if you want to grind any other beans for a cafetiere etc, it’s not really an option, as what you’ve just spent hours setting up will all be out of the window.

I’ve bought Eureka Mignon from Germane eBay for $200, it was a hard choice between E Mignon vs Mahlkonig but chrome shinyness was a clincher.

Use bottomless portafilters, so spent a bit of time to fine tune grind and my coffee pours out like a honey nectar.

Well pleased.

I use a Gaggia MDF for my Gaggia Clasic, but the’re often difficult to find in the UK.

Also, whilst the fineness of the grind can be varied, its a discreet variable rather than a continuous one and unless I tamp hard…the #4 setting is too coarse and the #3 setting can choke the Gaggia.

First. World. Problems.

I went from little Krups (tiny burrs) to an MC2 (small conical), both for a Gaggia Classic. The grind adjustment is a pain and you’d need to get some digital scales to weigh dose. Big improvement in quality though.

Then I switched to a lever machine, first using a La Pavoni Jolly (50mm burr), then a big old commercial (64mm burr). Currently using an on demand 64mm which is more convenient than the beast and has similar output IME. I didn’t test the Jolly out with the classic but there was a noticeable step up from that to the 64mm grinders.

The beast was bought on ebay for about £75, then I replaced the burrs. If you’re comfortable with a grinder bigger than the classic, then ebay is a winner really.