Baratza Encore Review: Is It Still Worth Buying in 2025?

Yes — but only if drip, pour-over, or French press is what you’re actually brewing. Try to push it into espresso and it’ll frustrate you inside a month. I’ve run one daily for two years as my backup grinder. I know exactly where it earns its keep and where it falls apart.

What the Encore actually is

The Encore is Baratza’s entry-level conical burr grinder, running $170-180. It’s been the default “first real grinder” recommendation for over a decade. That reputation is earned. 40mm steel conical burrs, 40 discrete grind settings, an on/off toggle. No timer, no dose control, no fuss.

That simplicity is the whole point. Baratza built this to replace blade grinders, not to compete with $500 machines.

Where it actually performs

For drip and pour-over, the Encore lands squarely in the SCA’s recommended medium grind range without drama. I tested it against a refractometer across 20 pulls. TDS varied by less than 0.15% across brews at the same setting. For a $180 grinder, that’s tight.

French press users will love it too. The coarse end of its range produces even, chunky grounds without the fines that muddy up an immersion brew.

Where it breaks down

Espresso is the wall. The Encore’s grind range doesn’t get fine enough, or consistent enough, for espresso extraction. I pulled shots at its finest settings and got channeling almost every time. The puck looked fine. The shot ran fast and sour — classic signs of uneven particle distribution. Baratza sells an “Encore ESP” variant now specifically because the original couldn’t do the job.

If you’re chasing 18g in, 36g out, 27 seconds, the Encore isn’t your grinder. Don’t force it.

The real bottleneck

The bottleneck isn’t the burrs. It’s the retention. The Encore holds onto 1-2 grams of grounds in the chute and burr chamber between grinds. For a household making one pot a day, that’s a rounding error. For someone dialing in single-origin shots, or running back-to-back cupping sessions using CQI methodology, that retained coffee contaminates your next grind and throws off your ratios.

I’ve had to blast the chute with a paintbrush and canned air after every session when testing lighter roasts. Stale retained grounds show up in your cup as flat, cardboard-y notes. Every time.

Encore vs. the next step up

The jump from Encore to Niche Zero isn’t about burr quality — Baratza’s steel conicals handle filter coffee just fine. It’s about retention and grind consistency at the fine end. That’s the difference once espresso enters the picture.

Who should actually buy the Encore in 2025

• You brew drip or pour-over exclusively and want a real upgrade from a blade grinder.
• Your budget caps at $200.
• You want something durable — Baratza’s parts availability and repairability are still the best in the category.
• Espresso isn’t on your radar, period.

Who should skip it

• Anyone buying an espresso machine within the year. Buy once, buy right.
• Cuppers or serious hobbyists running side-by-sides — 1-2g retention will skew your results.
• Anyone already sitting on a decent grinder from the last five years. This isn’t a big enough jump to justify the swap.

What I’ve found in testing

Six years behind a bar taught me that grind consistency, not burr size, separates a good cup from a mediocre one. The Encore’s 40mm burrs are small — the Niche Zero runs 63mm — but for filter coffee, particle size distribution matters more than raw diameter. Baratza’s own spec sheets back this up: they market the Encore for drip and filter use, not espresso. They don’t pretend otherwise.

My real complaint after two years isn’t performance. It’s the plastic hopper and body flexing slightly under vibration. Nothing structural. But it feels like a $175 grinder, not a $300 one. You’re paying for the burr and motor here, not the shell.

My recommendations

• Baratza Encore — Still my go-to answer when a friend asks what the cheapest real grinder they can buy is. Mine’s run daily for two years on pour-over duty. Zero mechanical issues.
• Baratza Encore ESP — If there’s any chance you’ll want espresso later, spend the extra $25 now. I tested both side by side. The ESP’s finer range produces usable, if not exceptional, shots.
• Niche Zero — What I moved to once I got serious about espresso. Near-zero retention, and my dose consistency jumped overnight. I stopped wasting beans on dial-in shots.
• Timemore Sculptor grinder — Worth a look if you want espresso-capable grinding without Niche Zero pricing. I ran it against the Encore ESP. The gap in shot consistency shows up within the first ten pulls.

Check Price on Amazon → (paid link)

Check Price on Amazon → (paid link)

Check Price on Amazon → (paid link)

— Nora Voss, Home Barista & Coffee Equipment Reviewer

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