Baratza Virtuoso+ Electronic Coffee Grinder, Stainless Steel Plastic, Silver/Black

Product Information

Alternatively, the most cost-effective option for you could be getting the Baratza Virtuoso refurbished, since the motor is of high quality and will last you a lot longer anyway.

These plastics are also a bit more clear and transparent compared to the darker brown-tinted hopper and catcher on the old Virtuoso. This is especially helpful since the grinds area is now lit by LED lights. The grinds bin also has a horizontal line on it to show recommended maximum grind volume. The Encore might sit at the bottom of the line-up as far as Baratza grinders go, but don’t let that put you off. The Baratza brand is known for its professional-grade equipment, so what you’re getting here is one of the best entry-level grinders on the market. Baratza is a big name in home coffee equipment and has a reputation for making reliable, consistent grinders and providing excellent customer service. They also support their customers by providing easy access to replacement parts if your grinder breaks and use interchangeable burrs that let you upgrade your grinder when you feel you’ve outgrown your current model. Both of those decisions make Baratza grinders excellent investments that will improve your coffee-drinking experience for years. Let’s take a deeper look at just what this machine has to offer in our Baratza Virtuoso+ review.

Our Verdict on this Coffee Grinder

As an entry-level grinder, the Encore is designed to be incredibly user-friendly. There’s nothing to learn here – you turn the switch on the side to start the grinding process and turn it off to stop. If you need a short burst to get just that little bit extra or to grind into a portafilter, there’s a pulse button on the front. Grind size is adjusted by twisting the hopper, with the sizes from 1-40 marked. There’s no way of timing or measuring your grind, but this can be easily solved by weighing your beans before you add them. Winner: Virtuoso Plus. This is a close one. You could argue that it’s a tie for the most important parts like the motor and grinder, but the addition of the metal body parts gives the additional Virtuoso sturdiness. Grind settings and grinding speed The Baratza Virtuoso + is a big setup up from the Baratza Encore coffee grinder and replaces the original Baratza Virtuoso grinder. The quality of the materials that Baratza used to make the Virtuoso + are is evident when you handle the grinder. The plastic hopper, grounds bin, and the chassis have a solid feel to them, and there’s hardly any flex. The sculpted metal top and base add rigidity to the machine, making it feel like it can last several years of use. Since the Vituoso+ doesn’t measure by weight, it will take a bit of fiddling to get precisely the amount of ground coffee you are after. But, once you know, it becomes a touch-of-a-button job each morning for the perfect grind of your beans.

When it comes to coffee grinders, the Baratza Virtuoso+ is one of the most popular. It’s been a favourite of filter coffee brewers around the world for over a decade and has recently been upgraded with a digital display and timer. There really is not anything significantly negative to state here. On a surface-level observation, the Virtuoso+ gives you the stylish, sleek look that you can expect at their price point. The metal base and top give it the feel of a prime high-quality machine. Burr and Internal Components Quality Their products are built to support the specialty coffee community. Whether you are a seasoned barista or just learning about coffee, they have products that will meet your needs. Their goal is to innovate with every product. The number one complaint is the grind retention we discussed previously. It is easy enough to work around, but many people find it bothersome to weigh their coffee twice, and inconsistent dosing can be a problem if you’re not careful and aware of the problem. The Virtuoso+, like the Virtuoso before it, has a DC motor; in fact the Virtuoso was one of the first mainstream consumer grinders to use one. Why is this important? DC power motors are just better for coffee grinding, even though they cost 2x more than a similar power AC motor.An innovative burr calibration system ensures that each grinder has the full range of grind. If necessary, the grinders can be user calibrated. SPEED CONTROL

This grinder still retains all the features that made it so popular: 40mm conical burrs, 230g hopper and 40 grind settings from espresso fine through to French press coarse. Grind consistency The Virtuoso Plus can produce excellent, consistent grounds. The machine features a durable and stylish build and is easy to use. Cleaning is simple as well. The grind settings provide plenty of different particle sizes for your brews. While pricey, this grinder produces close to professional results. Overall, The Virtuoso is a great investment for any home, office, or kitchen. The Encore offers a grind range from 250 to 1200 microns, making it the perfect grinder for pour over coffee and other manual brewing methods like the AeroPress. The grind range on Virtuoso Plus runs from 200 to 1200 microns, making it slightly better at grinding for espresso and, at the other end of this scale, also better for coarse grinds for French press cold brew. The Baratza Virtuoso+ is a 40mm conical burr grinder that’s adjustable across 40 degrees of fineness. Its updated digital timer allows you to program grinding times within 1/10th of a second with a new “pulse” feature which allows you to add time to your grind to get exactly the right amount of coffee. The Virtuoso+ utilizes a simple and efficient direct drive gear reduction transmission to move power from the DC motor to the rotating cone burr. A thermal overload cutout protects the motor from overheating due to excessive use - remember, these grinders are designed to grind a dose at a time for home use!

In late 2020, Baratza introduced the first major update to the Virtuoso since 2012, when they changed the grinder’s burr set and adjustment collars. Baratza retired the original Virtuoso, and introduced the Virtuoso+ grinder, with a super simple to use digital timer and one control interface for the entire machine. Another one to consider if you want to explore another brand is the Solis Scala. It is slightly more affordable than the Encore. We think it’s also more user-friendly because of its one-touch timed dosing. Read our Solis Scala coffee grinder review to learn more. The grinder is easy to use, even for beginners. To adjust the grind size, the user simply needs to turn the hopper in one direction or the other. There are no preset functions on this grinder. Whatever time you have set for the grinder at a given time will remain, until you turn the dial to change the grind time. I have to give kudos to Baratza for the user interface of this grinder. Super simple and very easy to figure out. I really do think Steve Jobs would be proud: everything is accomplished through one control knob (except for the grind fineness changes).

This machine comes with 40mm steel burrs manufactured in European standards with a DC motor. That means you can simply rely on this machine for years of consistency as well as durability before even thinking about going at any replacement parts. Even then you won’t have to substitute the whole machine itself. Baratza Customer Service The great thing about the Baratza Virtuoso+ Conical Burr Coffee Grinder is that it will be as simple or as sophisticated as you want to make it. If you don’t want to tinker much with this machine, you can use it on its 40 grind settings with the base 450 rpm speed. It’ll perform just fine. Customizable Burr Rotation The grinder is quiet, measuring 78db in our initial testing. Baratza says the DC motor, combined with the mounts, rubber feet, closed lid on the bean hopper, and the amount of metal in the construction contribute to this being one of the quieter grinders on the market. I have done some extensive testing of this grinder compared to other models on the market, but will save that evaluation for the full review for the Virtuoso+. Baratza Virtuoso grinder is an upgrade from the entry-level Encore grinder with a slightly better burr, better grind consistency, and more functionality.In contrast, Baratza has purposefully designed the Baratza coffee grinders (including Virtuoso+) to be maintained like a commercial-grade grinder as well as maximize their value. So, we’ve felt that our Baratza Virtuoso+ review this honesty and commitment is a key feature here. With daily cleaning, repair, maintenance, and even rebuilds their grinders can give an accurate, excellent grind for many years. Grind Settings And Coarse Consistency The motor is controlled by a 40-second digital timer adjustable to the tenth of a second, that allows repeatable dosing.