Missives from the 6th Floor

The Baratza is a nice grinder, no mistake - and in my kitchen it produces nearly no static. 'course that probably has something to do with my habit of grinding the coffee when I start the water boiling - most of the static produced by grinding dissipates in a minute or two after the grinder stops.

The Capresso has two features, however, that make it a superior home grinder. First off, twisting the bean hopper dispenses a pre-measured quantity of beans into the burr intake. That quantity is pretty much one cup worth of whole beans. Second, the Capresso has an automatic grind cycle. One button press to grind whatever quantity of beans have been fed into the burrs.

The Baratza is a direct feed hopper, and has a twist-style grind timer.

Since I only drink coffee at home occasionally, I leave the beans in air-tight storage 'till I want to make a cup, at which point, the Capresso works great. I pour "some" into the hopper, twist out the required bean amount, grind it, and pour the remaining beans back into their container. To use the Baratza I have to measure the right amount of whole beans (which took a couple attempts to get right), then set the twist timer for long enough to grind those beans (I still haven't quite gotten that, I always end up finishing off the grind with the pulse cycle, or letting the grinder run empty). Basically, the Capresso is nearly fire-and-forget. The Baratza isn't.

On the other side, the Baratza has a more finely adjustable grind setting, and is a slower rotation grinder which, in theory, is better than the Capresso. Not worth three times the Capresso's price, however.