Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder Review
Last time updated: 2011 November 29.
 Click on image to enlarge |
Quick Preview: |
Prices vary online: $199-280
|
||
Reliability: |
5.0 | |||
Design and Functionality: |
4.5 | |||
| Value for Price: |
5.0 | |||
|
Technical features:
|
||||
Pros
It's a conical burr grinder and that fact alone tells this is not a cheap product. However the setting and sturdiness of burrs and other facts must be taken into consideration.
- Grinds very well for espresso, percolator, Turkish and other coffee drinks that require finer coffee-grounds;
- You can use a ground coffee container or a portafilter holder. They're both included and are easily swapped - two great things that most other grinders don't have;
- It's tight lid at the top preserves coffee beans from atmospheric effects (humidity and oxygen);
- Great understandable controls and LED display.
Cons
- For such price coffee-grounds for French press could be more even and larger. Breville BCG800XL is not very good in coarse grinding;
- Predefined dosing system produces a bit too much grounds. However it's a good function that most coffee grinders lack and is adjustable manually through front control panel.
In-depth Breville BCG800XL review
Quite a fresh product, Breville BCG800XL, has already earned consumers' trust. Not often if at all will you find a coffee grinder that averages about 4,8 out of 5 stars in consumer ratings.
Who is it for?
Breville BCG800XL is mostly for those who appreciate good cup of espresso, Turkish, percolator, pour-over, drip and other types of coffee that require finer coffee grounds. If you prefer French press, however, this is not the best machine for your needs. Not telling that it is entirely unsuitable, but there are better mills which produce more even coarse grounds.
From the other perspective this grinder is for home or office use. Even though it's suitable for small cafes it's a home coffee grinder that prefers less daily job.
Video bellow shows how to calibrate this grinder for espresso:
Design and durability
Comparatively it's quite a tall home coffee grinder. It's measures are 6 x 8.2 x 15.5 inches. It looks very solid and built to last a lifetime. Both bean hopper and ground coffee container are made of thick plastic but look glassy thus qualitatively. From one point of view it's unbreakable but from the other plastic causes some static. Anyways, consumers of BCG800XL report this issue quite rarely.
Front control panel contains three big buttons/controllers and back-light LED display. Truly very simple layout as you can see in the picture on the right (click on it to enlarge). The display shows grounds size settings, coffee strength and cups of coffee you would like to make.
Lifespan of this grinder is promising. Surely it's quite a new product and no one can tell if it will last 5 or more years but the majority of Breville grinder users are happy. Unhappy customers write a review about product readily but it seems that Breville BCG800XL doesn't have any haters yet.
Grounds quality
As mentioned before this model grinds very evenly for espresso and, basically, is better when fine grind is needed. When you try coarser settings it performs averagely-good but not great. So if you drink French press only or mostly, you might want to look for another grinder.
Price
Compared to other grinders abilities and quality in this price category this model is exceptional. Some coffee enthusiasts reported that they changed their $500-$800 costing grinders into this one.
We have picked Breville BCG800XL as the best coffee grinder in category under $200. It is deservedly in this category since 2011 October and until a better grinder appears.
The best price we have managed to find online was at Amazon store (Click here to check it
What's next?
| I like this item |
I would like to see similar product reviews |
|
Prices change online all the time. Check up-to-date price online:
|
Here are some suggestions: |