MarkPrince Moderator Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 5,427 Location: Vancouver, BC Expertise: Professional
Espresso: KvdW Speedster Grinder: Compak K10 WBC Vac Pot: A bit too many Drip: Clive Coffee Drip Stand Roaster: Hario Glass Retro Roaster
Posted Sun Feb 8, 2009, 3:29am Subject: Re: Baratza Vario infocast
JVBorella Said:
to have is that it will REMEMBER the settings -- from espresso to French, and thereby allowing an "ease of adjustment" that isn't all that easy on other $400+ grinders.
Unless someone unplugs the Vario or the power goes out briefly which happens in my area regularly. Having to regularly reprogram the Vario could get old fast. If it can do a good espresso grind & a good press pot grind it will be the first. If it can't then the "ease of adjustment" doesn't mean much.
It's one of my main gripes with the Vario - unplug it, and it goes back to default. Baratza feels it's a non-issue, hence not spending the extra few bucks on an upgraded control board.
I will suggest to consumers that, while this is definitely not a deal breaker on the grinder, it's something you should all write to Baratza about, suggesting that in future revisions, the ability to remember settings when unplugged is important.
MarkPrince Moderator Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 5,427 Location: Vancouver, BC Expertise: Professional
Espresso: KvdW Speedster Grinder: Compak K10 WBC Vac Pot: A bit too many Drip: Clive Coffee Drip Stand Roaster: Hario Glass Retro Roaster
Posted Sun Feb 8, 2009, 3:44am Subject: Re: Baratza Vario infocast
on the subject of espresso...
First, I'm in the (small I guess) camp that believes the Maestro, Maestro Plus and Virtuoso are capable espresso grinders. They don't offer the precision of an Anfim Best or Mazzer Mini, but they are certainly leagues better than say, the Breville Ikon or the Capresso models. I've done a lot of head to head testing on these three models against pretty much every grinder under $200, and in every test, the Baratza models come out on top on espresso grinding.
They can also be tweaked to grind finer and the instructions are readily available online.
On to the Vario. I'm now past 60lbs on the test unit, about 45lbs of that exclusively for espresso. Except for the problem discussed on the podcast about losing the fineness ability because the burr mount isn't spotless (ie, no ground coffee to make it sit higher) this what I'd currently rate as a "very good" espresso grinder. Here's my ratings (pulled from a future site feature for the new CG site) for the typical models in both commercial and consumer classes:
Anfim Super Caimano - current "best" model I've ever tested or used. This is the baseline. Mazzer Robur - "excellent" Mazzer Major - "excellent" Elektra Nina - "excellent" Macap MX Conical - "excellent / very good" Mazzer Super Joly "very good"
Consumer models. Baseline is currently the Mazzer Mini, by a hair - that's "best" Anfim Best - "excellent" (almost beats the Mini) Macap M4 Stepless 'excellent" La Cimbali Junior - "very good / excellent" Anfim Haus - "very good" Baratza Vario - "very good" Rancilio Rocky Doser - "very good" Nuova Simonelli MCF stepless - "very good" Gaggia MDF - "good" Baratza Virtuoso - "good" KitchenAid Proline - 'good" Baratza Maestro / Maestro Plus - "acceptable / good"
Posted Sun Feb 8, 2009, 6:55pm Subject: Re: Baratza Vario infocast
Mark, should we assume that the commercial class is better than the consumer class? So, a "very good" in the commercial class bests an "excellent" in the consumer class?
-Scott Coffee smells like freshly ground heaven. ~Jessi Lane Adams
MarkPrince Moderator Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 5,427 Location: Vancouver, BC Expertise: Professional
Espresso: KvdW Speedster Grinder: Compak K10 WBC Vac Pot: A bit too many Drip: Clive Coffee Drip Stand Roaster: Hario Glass Retro Roaster
Posted Sun Feb 8, 2009, 9:45pm Subject: Re: Baratza Vario infocast
sweaner Said:
Mark, should we assume that the commercial class is better than the consumer class? So, a "very good" in the commercial class bests an "excellent" in the consumer class?
The mazzer Super Joly beats the Mazzer Mini hands down - so yeah, it would be excellent or better.
The Vario might get a boost though soon - it's faster than any of the grinders listed above it for espresso, from my testing so far (no longer have a Mazzer Mini to try, so I'm going by memory and old numbers from the detailed review).
Espresso machines haven't been compiled yet, and the listing is still in flux. I'm trying to define a cross-border style rating system that would apply to anything coffee related, including coffee and blends themselves. I'm thinking of tossing "good value", "great value", "excellent value" into the mix, as well as others.
For eg, "good value' would be below "good" but above "acceptable"
Posted Wed Feb 11, 2009, 7:33am Subject: Re: Baratza Vario infocast
SkydiveGuy Said:
Ok, so I listened to the podcast about this grinder and I was wondering something... For the $430, aren't there other grinders out there that will work just as well?
No one really knows yet how well this will or will not work. So far there have only been a few preproduction models reviewed out there. Mark's seems to be serving him well while there was someone else with one over on home-barista.com that was grinding huge boulders into the espresso grind...not good.
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