Breville BCG820BSS Smart Grinder Pro, 18 oz Coffee Bean Capacity, Brushed Stainless Steel

Important to know – disregard some bad reviews
There are many bad reviews here about this grinder seizing or stopping, and a few even that talk of a burning smell… this is an easy problem to get around.Bottom line, this is a truly superb entry level grinder with one major drawback that is easily overcome. I’ll get into what makes this grinder great in a bit, but first, the one thing you NEED TO KNOW if you buy this model.If the grinder slows down or stops grinding before it has run its cycle, PAUSE THE GRINDER. You do this by pressing the button on the right. Then remove the hopper (consult the manual – this is easy to do). Remove the upper burr (also easy to do – read the manual). Dump out any beans inside the grinder (just pick the machine up and turn it upside down – I dump the beans back into the hopper). Brush out the lower burr area (Breville supplies a small brush for this). Put the upper burr and the hopper back together. Restart the grinder (press the right button). It will complete the remainder of the cycle that was paused. You may wish to manually grind a bit more to make up for any lost grounds.Why does this happen? The motor in this model is a bit underpowered. It can get hung up while grinding. It is rare, but there it is. It’s happened to me once in months of daily use. When it happens, follow the steps above and you should have no issues. It’s what I did, and the grinder went right back to flawless operation like it had never happened.Why is this still a great grinder? It’s pretty simple – the ONLY thing that matters about a grinder other than reliability/durability is how consistent the grind is (how uniform is the size of the individual specks of ground coffee). The better the consistency, the better your coffee will be, period.This model **absolutely excels** in consistency. Hands down, independently tested, it blows every grinder in this price range out of the water with more than twice as much “optimal” size grounds as compared to the next best make and model. You can spend 2 or 3 times this amount and still not get a more consistent grind than you will with this guy. Where it counts, this grinder is the king, unless you want to spend far far more for a true professional model.Some additional nice features:—With a bit of experimenting, you can dial in exactly how much coffee you want it to grind per cup (for drip) or per shot (for espresso) and easily program that amount in so you don’t have to think about it again. Once that is done, you can simply tell it 1 or 2 shots, or how many drip cups (up to 12) that you want to make, and then you can ALWAYS grind the EXACT amount of coffee you need. This means you can always make coffee with only freshly ground beans without ever wasting a single bean. That is pretty awesome.—You can experiment with up to 60 grind sizes to dial in exactly what you want. Personally, for espresso, 15.8 seconds at size 14 grind gives a perfectly dialed in double shot on my Breville espresso machine. For drip, I’m liking the mid 40’s, but I haven’t decided exactly where yet. The difference from one setting to the adjacent setting is really hard to taste with drip coffee.—If you don’t need super fine espresso grinds but want courser grounds than setting 60 will give you (to get French Press just so), you can adjust the upper burr (easy to do – read the manual). There are 4 more positions that will adjust all 60 settings and make them coarser. Conversely, if you want even finer espresso but don’t need the coarsest settings, there are 5 more positions of that upper burr that will make the whole range of the machine finer. One video review I saw said this makes for 600 grind settings, but I’m sure most of those 600 are overlapping. It’s at least 69 different grinds possible, at any rate.—Large hopper. Not as big as a professional grinder’s hopper, but you can put a full pound of beans into this grinder with some room to spare.—Cleanly removable hopper. In order to remove the hopper, you twist a knob to “lock” it. This closes down the feed ports at the bottom so no beans will fall out when you take the hopper off. If you want to get crazy, you could buy a second hopper (or more) and switch between espresso and normal coffee easily (although the first few beans ground will be from the previous hopper, left behind in the burr, unless you dump them out when switching). The removable hopper also makes it very easy to clean after it starts to get oil buildup (which can contribute to the machine seizing up).—Magnetic removable catch tray. Grinds get everywhere, and this makes cleaning up of (most) loose grinds very easy.—Magnetic portafilter holders. You get two, one for the standard 58mm PF size, and one for the smaller PF’s found on Breville automatic espresso machines. You can set your portafilter in the holder, and grind right into it without any mess. There’s even a button so you can set the portafilter in, then activate the grinder by simply pushing on the portafilter.Some things that could stand improvement:—More powerful motor… that would make this grinder just about perfect.—Could be a bit quieter. It’s not especially loud, as grinders go, but it’s not the quietest I’ve owned either. But a more power motor would probably be louder, so they may have been trying to find a balance here between powerful and quiet.—The included catch “cup”. It seals airtight, which is nice, but the mouth does not line up with the grinder port when it’s inserted fully. Push it too far back in and the metal lid sticks to the magnet designed to secure the portafilter adapter, but if you line it up just right with the grinder port, the vibration of the grinder tends to make it to slide out of place during grinding. The fix is to just grind directly into your filter, or take the lid off the “cup” and set it all the way in to catch your grounds.OVERALL RECOMMENDATION:—If you mainly make drip or pour-over coffee, and/or espresso, this grinder is unbeatable unless you can afford a true professional model. Stay vigilant if it binds up (again, that’s rare but potentially damaging for the motor). But if you take good care of this grinder, and spend some time customizing the settings, it will deliver superior grinds in exactly the amounts you need, every time.—If you primarily make Press coffee, and really like extremely coarse grinds, then there is probably a better choice for you out there.

Amazing coffee grinder! I’m a Breville Convert!
This grinder replaced my dearly departed Baratza Encore which worked tirelessly for me for 4 years before giving up the ghost. I was leery of switching to something different but now I am glad I did. This unit is a step up in quality, functionality and ease of use!One piece of advice: get the silicone bellows made for it and use it! This solved the only problem I had with the unit initially: that a significant amount of grinds stay in the chute after grinding. That stuff gets nasty and can spoil the next batch you make unless you clean it out. And cleaning it out with a brush is tedious, messy and wasteful. Better solution: install the bellows and give it a couple pumps after each use. The extra grinds are almost completely removed from the chute and are added to your dose where they belong! No waste. No mess.As far as the grinder itself goes, I have nothing but positive things to say. It’s fast, quiet, accurate and produces consistent sized grinds. Plus it’s easy to tweak +/- for any dose level you desire. AND the unit remembers all your tweaks. Very impressive.I cannot sympathize with reviewers online who spend time sifting grinds out, measuring them with calipers or looking at them under a magnifying glass. My questions were probably more like most of you: Is it easy to use and clean? Yes! Do the grinds look consistently sized by eyeball? Yes! Do the grinds look consistent from one use to the next? Yes! Can I tweak the grinds up or down in tiny increments easily? Yes! Does the coffee I make taste awesome? YES!I try not to be swayed too much by those who are over-analyzing and trying to impress you and themselves with their supposed superior senses. In reality they might just be trying to justify the $100s they dropped on grinders that produce identically tasting coffee. That or they’ve crossed the fine line between enthusiast and freak 🙂

This Breville coffee grinder has truly elevated my home coffee setup. I was looking for a compact yet powerful grinder – with some flexibility, and this one checks all the boxes. The design is sleek, with a sturdy build that feels well-made. I primarily use it for espresso, which is every day – as an espresso demands fresh griding, but I also use it for brewing my cold brew – where I grind big and a lot of it – and it delivers a consistent, measurable grind that’s essential for quality shots and good cold brew. The adjustable settings make it easy to customize the grind size, which is a huge plus for someone who enjoys experimenting with different coffee styles.Using the grinder is straightforward, and I appreciate the convenience of the preset grind volumes – it saves time during busy mornings. Cleanup is also manageable, with a removable bottom piece that helps keep stray grounds contained. My only minor issue is the cord length, which could be a little longer for easier placement on the counter. That said, the grinder’s quality and performance definitely outweigh this small inconvenience. Overall, a great addition to any coffee lover’s kitchen!

Personally when I set out to buy a proper espresso burr grinder, cost was an important factor. For something which sole purpose is to just grind coffee beans, it’s a bit painful to see just how expensive the espresso grinder market is and how limited the options are, and as a newbie, I can’t really gauge the true value of something that costs $500+ more than this. Even this grinder I wouldn’t define it as cheap, despite it being one of the cheapest options. If that’s the boat you’re in, definitely put this grinder in your list of considerations.Keep in mind I haven’t used one of the more expensive grinders yet so I can’t quite know for sure what I’m missing in terms of extraction and flavor etc. What I was after were the cost, ease-of-use, consistency, and flavor, and this grinder does just that with a nice fine and fluffy grind that can produce espresso that I think even a coffee enthusiast can appreciate.9 month update: so far this grinder is holding up. The only negatives are the clumpiness, but this is pretty minor as it is easily fixed with WDT. Also had to adjust the inner bur for some coffee beans I had. Still though, it grinds more than fine enough to where you can choke the machine if you wanted. The other slight negative is that it’s hard to fit a dosing funnel on the portafilter while grinding, making spillage pretty common. However, still liking this grinder.