The grinder comes in three different colours (Black sesame, silver and  cranberry red). They all have different prices, so you might have first decisions to make about purchase already at this point. Design is very good and looks very “classy.” Quality of the product is quite good, however it is not good for French press coffee. It is small and light. It has an LED screen and 25 steps of adjustment. Another great virtue of the grinder is that you can remove the bean hopper with beans in it. It has a great price to value ratio. The grinder is in slightly higher price range than Breville BCG600SIL.

Check price and availability here

 Specifications

 Burr

Stainless steel conical burrs minimize grinding heat to protect the essential oils in the coffee bean. Conical burrs keep the best grinding, and that’s because it reduces the heat transfer to the ground coffee grinding, which keeps the natural essential oils in the coffee, which gain coffee wonderful and distinctive flavor, other than to grinders blade stainless steel, which transferred the biggest temperature, the grinding coffee, which makes coffee lose distinctive and wonderful flavor that contain them.

Grinder

In order to make ideal performance Breville coffee grinder, you should follow many tips, most important of these tips, the beans are fresh grinding necessary for espresso, you must grind the beans in small batches, avoid beans stored for long periods in silos.  Grinding is consistent after you find the right settings. This might take you some time though, although they give you instructions and tips at the purchase to make the settings right faster. Cannot grind French press, because it cannot be adjusted to grind it.

Bean hopper

Hopper holds 1 pound (450g) of beans and it has an air-tight lid and locking system. The hopper is removable from the grinder base, so can easily be used to store beans at the correct temperature. Another nice feature is being able to remove the bean hopper without having to empty the beans.  You can have another hopper filled with decaf and can switch from regular to decaf beans in a few seconds (another bean hopper costs 10$ though in their online shop).  However, it is worth to mention that hopper is not airtight (and coffee beans degrade when exposed to air) and it is not recommended to store full pound of coffee beans there.

You may also dispense the coffee grounds directly into a double or single-wall porta filter for making espresso by inserting one of the cradles provided by Breville. By using either cradle size of 50-54mm or 58mm, you can have the machine do the dosing hands-free. The same goes for dispensing to a coffee filter.

Functions

With Breville smart grinder, you can find 25 of the settings of different grinding. There is also an amounts setting where you can set up exactly how much you want to brew. It is measured in cups or shots. Therefore you can set exact amount of coffee that you need to brew. It has a LED screen.

Material

The Smart Grinder is made of stainless steel with plastic. It weighs 5.5 pounds which means that it is not too heavy. It therefore does not take too much space. Grain hopper is made of plastic.

Loudness

For a price range of around 200$ you cannot expect very silent grinder. However compared to comparable other products, customers are happy with the low loudness that it produces.

Cleaning

Regular cleaning helps the burrs achieve consistent grinding results which is especially important when grinding for espresso coffee.

Dark oily beans require that the Grind Outlet be cleaned more often than medium brown non-oily beans. Coffee oils can deposit inside the Grind Outlet and become rancid.

A way to clean it is also by grinding a quarter of a cup of white, uncooked rice under coarser setting (make sure it is not instant white rice). General cleaning routine is:

1. Unplug power cord from power outlet before cleaning.
2. Wash the Grinds Container and Lid, Bean Hopper and Lid and Porta filter Cradles in warm soapy water, rinse and dry thoroughly.
3. Wipe and polish exterior of the grinder with a soft damp cloth.
4. Wipe the LCD screen with a soft damp cloth. Apply cleanser to the cloth and not the LCD surface. Cleaning with dry cloth or abrasive cleaners may scratch the surface.

How often you should clean it depends on quality and type of the beans you are grinding. It is best to do checks of cleanliness as often as possible. In general cleaning procedure is simple so there are no major troubles reported with cleaning. It usually takes less than 5 minutes to clean a grinder.

Warranty

Breville offers a 1 year guarantee. Sometimes might be useful to use it if you see it defected when received. In general customer service is good and you will get it fixed easily if something is wrong. After guarantee is over, parts might not be so cheap and also in case electronics dies out you might have troubles fixing it. However customers in general do not have many problems with that.

Consumer reviews

Majority of the customers who purchased this product are very satisfied with it. The average amazon product grade is 4.1, which is very high.

Summary

It is a great value for the money. Removable hopper with beans in it is a feature of high-priced grinders. You cannot store beans in it for long time as it is not airtight, but it is still very useful for coffee enthusiasts. Comes with very helpful manuals and is one of the best grinders for that price. Sometimes comes defected, but warranty and good customer service will fix that. Be careful though if you are making French press, the grinder might not be for you. It also comes in three different colors and has a great design. In general is a goodgrinder.

5.7

Breville smart grinder BCG800XL

5.7/10

Pros

• Stylish and elegant looks
• Basket holds a full pound and can easily be removed with beans still in
• Quiet for this price range
• Adjustable grind settings and options
• Consistent grinding
• Excellent user guide and even YouTube videos provided

Cons

• If you need higher settings then this grinder is not for you. French press might not work because of the lack of settings (25).
• Dark oily beans occasionally get jammed. Also other beans sometimes get jammed.
• Does not save the previous grind settings, so you always have to set it up again
• Bean hopper is not airtight

Buy Breville smart grinder BCG800XL