I purchased the DeLonghi DCG59 Retro Burr coffee grinder a year ago. I had been using blade grinders, and was getting tired of the mess and inconsistency of the grind, so I wanted to try a burr grinder without shelling out a lot of cash. I found this one on Costco.com. It had decent reviews so I gave it a try.
The unit is black and silver, and not bad looking. It has settings from fine to coarse, however, coarse grind is still pretty fine, which was ok for me since I like my coffee fairly finely ground. The timer button is lettered, which is supposed to correspond with the number of cups in the plastic receptacle. Why they didn't number the dial (as opposed to letter it), I don't know (example, A=1 cup, B=2 cups, and so on). The receptacle cup must be fully clicked in for the unit to grind, and any grounds that may have fallen to the bottom of the unit will keep the cup from fully engaging (yet still clicks in). The cup is numbered with the number of cups of coffee that the grind is supposed to make, but it's hard to see the measures when the coffee is being ground because the measures are black (the same color as the coffee). Also coffee sprays to the sides of the cup, so you can't really see where the measuring lines are. You still have to measure using a coffee measurer from the cup. Additionally, the cup always spills some grounds when taking it off the grinder.
After about a month, the timer worked but the grinder stopped. I took a look at the unit, and the hole where the coffee dispenses into the cup was plugged with coffee grounds. Additionaly there was coffee stuck in the burrs. I unluggled the unit, took it apart, scraped the coffee out of the hole and the burrs, plugged it back in and the unit magically started again. For the past year, this has had to be done at least monthly-a bit aggravating. An even more aggravating thing about this unit is that the beans don't always fall right into the burrs, so you have to shake it, beat it on the counter, move it around, turn it upside down and back right side up, etc. to get the beans to feed into it. I'm finding the older the unit gets, and the fresher the coffee (oily coffee beans are the worst), the more I have to do this dance to get it to grind. This makes the measuring options on the unit useless, since the unit starts to grind, then stops, then I beat it, then it starts, etc., all the while the timer continues. The beating can't be good for the motor, and now I'm secretly wishing I will beat it so hard I break it to justify spending more money on another grinder.
I am actively now looking for a new burr grinder, and will likely spend a good deal more to get a decent quality grinder. |
