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In this guide
The Encore ESP pairs Baratza's 40 mm conical burr with a grind range the maker tunes toward espresso, in one machine built for two audiences: pour-over households that want even grounds, and espresso-curious ones who would rather not buy a second grinder.
Everything below stays on the buyer's side of the counter: what the published specs promise, what the shims and the hopper demand in return, and who should stop at a cheaper bag of pre-ground.
Our verdict
At $199.95 the Baratza Encore ESP is a sound first burr grinder for a filter-coffee household, and the reasonable way to try espresso without owning two machines; skip it if pre-ground beans or a blade grinder still make coffee you like.
- A good fit for
- A pour-over or AeroPress drinker who changes beans often and wants grind quality off the list of things to blame.
- We would skip it if
- Pod machines and pre-ground routines: no setting on this grinder improves coffee you have not decided to take seriously.
Reasons to consider it
- The 40 mm M2 conical burr and shim system cover filter and espresso ranges on one motor
- Quick-release burr mount makes cleaning a tool-free job
- A parts store and a simple design keep it repairable rather than disposable
The compromises
- A 300 g hopper over a 120 g bin works against the bulk-bean habit the hopper seems to invite
- The one-year warranty is short next to the price
- Espresso readiness is the maker's claim, backed by its published specs rather than independent shot testing
What we have not verified: Baratza publishes burr speed and grind rates but no retention figure for the chute, and the espresso workflow is Baratza's own description — how the stock calibration actually pulls a shot is untested here. Both gaps matter most to espresso-first buyers and could move the espresso half of this recommendation.
The things in this guide
A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.
Encore ESP · Conical Burr Grinder
Filter range out of the box, espresso range tuned by the same hopper adjustment, at a price that leaves room in the budget for better beans.
Before you buy: Warranty: a single year. The espresso end is the maker's claim, and retuning the range with shims means opening the burr.
Price checked September 14, 2026. Retailer prices can change.Even grounds are a recipe fix, not a luxury
A blade grinder smashes beans into a mix of dust and boulders, and both extract badly in their own way: dust turns bitter while boulders stay sour in the same mug. A conical burr cuts the beans to a narrower spread instead, which is why the same bag can taste more even before anything else in the routine changes. Baratza specs the ESP with a 40 mm M2 steel conical burr turning at 550 RPM.
That resolution matters most to whoever already brews by hand. A V60 or AeroPress owner adjusts a recipe every week, and grind size is the biggest single lever they own; on the ESP the adjustment lives on the hopper itself, a lift and turn to the setting rather than a hunt through menus.
For a drip-machine household that buys pre-ground, none of this changes a cup enough to justify the price. The upgrade belongs to people who already own the brewer and the scale and are tired of blaming the beans.
The espresso claim, and where the shims fit
Baratza puts espresso in the ESP's headline: its copy promises the grind resolution needed for creamy, syrupy shots from simple turn-of-the-hopper adjustments, with the included dosing cup smoothing the handoff to a portafilter. The shims play a supporting role — adding them moves the high-resolution range finer, removing them coarser — a retune of where the precision sits rather than a gate between filter and espresso.
Read all of that as one maker's account of its own machine. No number on the page proves how the stock calibration pulls a shot; the grinder's espresso story is promised by the page and unproven here. Filter-coffee buyers lose nothing to that gap. Espresso-first buyers gain a reason to try, not evidence it works, and they should budget patience for the dialing-in the claim glosses over.
The 300 g hopper is a trap you can decline
Baratza fits a 300 gram bean hopper above a 120 gram grounds bin. The mismatch only bites if the hopper becomes storage: beans sitting in an open hopper stale within days, and stale beans undo the entire grind-quality argument that sold the machine.
The fix costs nothing. Keep beans sealed in their bag, weigh a dose into the hopper per session, and let the included dosing cup carry the grounds to the brewer. Single-dosing this way also sidesteps the bin's modest 120 g ceiling for anyone brewing more than a couple of cups back to back — Baratza sells a dedicated single-dose hopper for exactly this routine, but the free version works.
Who should not buy this
Three readers should stop here. If the machine on the counter is a pod system, grind quality is not in the chain. If the current routine is pre-ground drip and no one at the table has complained, the money buys a difference smaller than the price suggests. And if a warranty of a single year reads as a risk rather than a formality, weigh that first — the parts store makes the machine serviceable, but only for a household willing to open it.
Everyone else in hand-brew country can start here rather than above it. The ESP's compromises are mechanical and visible up front; the compromises on cheaper grinders only show up in the cup, where they cost more to diagnose than the shims cost to swap.
How we put this together
Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.
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