REVIEWS

Baratza Virtuoso – Conical Burr Coffee Grinder Review

By Philip Yiga | August 15, 2015

The Baratza Virtuoso is a great Conical Burr Coffee-Grinder that features a classic-style coupled with a consistent, quality grind. The Baratza Virtuoso actually is equipped with professional grade conical-burrs which perform a consistent and fine grind. Additionally, these burrs can even grind your coffee-beans to a coarse-level for a perfect French-press. On top of that, this grinder has a powerful DC-motor which provides a smooth and consistent grind while keeping the beans cool even during extended grinding periods while a combination of electric and gear speed-reducers helps to slow down the burrs up to 450-rpm thus ensuring a smooth grind with reduced noise, heat and static build-up.

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It even has a pulse button at the front which allows the user to grind directly into a filter-basket while the 60-second timer makes it easy to monitor and control the grind-time. All in all, the Baratza Virtuoso is an awesome burr-grinder will ensure consistent grind for both coarse and fine grinds in order to achieve a perfect cup of tea

PROS:

This grinder features wide-range of grind-settings that are even very precise and accurate. In fact, the Virtuoso has over 40 distinct grind-settings that enable the user to create quality coffee from espresso to French-press.
The Virtuoso coffee-grinder provides a smooth and consistent grind because it’s equipped with 40mm steel conical-burrs which are capable crushing through any type of coffee-beans for perfecting your French-press and espresso.
This coffee-grinder creates less noise when grinding the coffee-beans and this is mainly due to a high-efficiency motor that is very powerful and spins at slow rate resulting into a cool and quiet operation.
It features a nice and elegant design whereby the Baratza Virtuoso has a sculpted metal-top and base which gives it beautiful and elegant design which adds quality to your kitchen counter or coffee-shop table.

CONS:

This grinder tends to get warm incase the timer is left to run for long period of time hence heating-up the machine and this affects the natural flavor of the ground-coffee.
The Baratza Virtuoso can become messy during the grinding process whereby the excess grinds tend to drop all over the countertop and onto the top exterior of this unit.
The other weakness is that you need turn the whole unit (coffee-grinder) upside-down in order to empty the hopper because this grinder lacks a removable-hopper. This is actually irritating for people who use the machine for multiple purposes or grind on demand for the best flavor.
The grind-fineness actually shifts after removing and replacing the burr for service. This means that you have to use an expert technician each time you are servicing the machine burrs.

Features overview:

Commercial-Quality Burrs: the Virtuoso is equipped with 40mm conical-burrs which can grind coffee at 1.5 to 2.4 g/sec depending on the grind-setting selected. In fact, these conical burrs can create a very uniform grind across the grinding-range making the Virtuoso burrs exceptional for espresso, drip, manual-brewing methods and Press-Pot. Additionally, these burrs feature a precision mounting system which ensures a stable platform for accurate grinding. Likewise, these conical-burrs are very durable and stay sharp for many years and are also easily removable with no tools making cleaning very easy and quick.

Gearbox: Baratza actually introduced the second-generation Gearbox system in 2012, with this Gearbox (GB 2.0), the Virtuoso Baratza has significantly increased the strength and durability of the drive-transmission while decreasing noise. In addition, this new drive-gear is made of 15-percent glass filled with thermo plastic which it quieter than the previous metal-gear, wears better and it’s even more shock-resistant.

Large Hopper: this coffee-grinder is equipped with an 8-ounce hopper and a 5-ounce ground bin and this means that the user can make plenty of coffee with just one-flip of the switch.

40 Grind-adjustments: the Baratza Virtuoso Coffee-grinder is designed with over 40 grind settings whereby the user can easily adjust from a fine-setting for espresso to coarse-setting for French-Press. In fact, the grind-range is from 250 to 1200 microns.

It supports brewing-methods: The Baratza Virtuoso is a great all around grinder whereby it can do anything ranging from manual brewing to espresso.

Great design: The exterior of Virtuoso is just as finely-tuned as its interior. This coffee-grinder features a sculptured metal-top and base which gives it an expensive and elegant look that adds a sense of class and quality to your kitchen-counter and coffee-shop workspaces. Additionally, the Virtuoso coffee-grinder has an enhanced anti-static design which minimizes messy coffee-dust which usually develops when grinding.

A powerful motor: the Baratza Virtuoso grinder features a powerful and high-torque DC motor which effortlessly drives the burrs when grinding the coffee-beans. In fact, this motor turns slowly resulting into a cool and quiet operation that permits for long grinding duty-cycles. Additionally, the circuitry is equipped with an automatic-resetting thermal cutoff switch.

Speed Control: with this unique speed-control, the Virtuoso uses a combination of gear and electronic speed-reduction to control the rotation of the burr to up to 500RPM. In fact, the electronic speed-controller is adjustable from 405 to 495 RPM which is actually a great for user-conditions that require modification of the speed.

Calibration: the Virtuoso coffee-grinder features an innovative burr-calibration system which virtually eliminates grind-variation and ensures identical-performance from each grinder. In fact, if necessary the coffee-grinder can be user-calibrated for best results.

Timer Switch: The Virtuoso is designed with a 60-second timer with segmented graphics for easily repeatable grind-times.

Portaholder: there is replacement for the grounds-bin that holds the espresso portafilter for hands-free grinding directly. This portafilter also ensures easy clean up after using the coffee-grinder.

Pulse button: This grinder is also equipped with a front-mounted pulse button which makes it easy to grind directly into an espresso brew-basket.

Hopper extender: this is an extension that can add up to 9oz. of capacity to the existing 8oz. bean-hopper. In fact, several extenders can be added to achieve the capacity that you need.

Esatto: this accessory helps to transform the Virtuoso into a grind by weight-grinder. This means that the user can set the weight he/she wants and then the Esatto does the rest weighing the ground-coffee to within +/- 0.2g while grinding and stops automatically.

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Product Quality:

The Baratza Virtuoso is a quality, professional-grade grinder that is equipped with conical-burrs which ensure a consistent fine or coarse grind of coffee-beans. this grinder has a strong and efficient DC-motor which ensures a smooth and consistent grind while keeping the beans cool even over extended grinding-times while the combination of electric and gear-speed reducers help to slow the burrs to a 450rpm in order to ensure a smooth bean-feed with reduced noise, heat and static build-up. The Baratza Virtuoso even has a 60-second timer with segmented graphics and this ensures repeatable grind-times

On the other hand, this coffee-grinder is well-built with a great design whereby it features a convenient front pulse button which allows for direct grinding into an espresso filter-basket. Additionally, this grinder great metal top and base which gives it an elegant and classic appearance perfect for any modern kitchen-counter or coffee-shop. In all in all, the Baratza Virtuoso grinder will actually offer you with function, elegance and style.

Who does it benefit?

Great for people in need of quality and functional coffee-grinder: the Baratza Virtuoso is high-quality, high-performance grinder because it has been professional-grade conical-burrs and an efficient DC-motor which make it capable of grind your coffee-beans smoothly and consistently for both coarse and fine grinds. On top of that, this grinder features a well-sculpted metallic top and base which makes it very durable with an expensive and elegant appearance.

What Else Do You Need?

Aeropress Coffee and Espresso Maker: this is actually an awesome kitchen-appliance that will enable the user to quickly and easily create coffee. Additionally, the Aeropress can also operate as an Espresso-Maker so that you can enjoy a fine cup of coffee.

Hario Coffee Paper Filter: this paper-filter will enable the user to filter coffee from the grinds during the preparation process or when pouring coffee into the mug/cup.

[See price on Amazon….]