Baratza Encore ESP Pro Grinder Review

It wasn’t too long ago that Baratza did the unthinkable. In 2023 they announced that they would be releasing an update to their legendary Encore grinder in the form of the retuned and more espresso oriented Encore ESP. If you had told me then that just over two years later they would be doubling down on Encore upgrades, I don’t think I would have believed you. And yet, earlier this year at the Houston SCA, Zach and I were treated to a firsthand look at the new Encore ESP Pro by none other than the legendary Phil McKnight of Breville who walked us through the ins and outs of the latest entry to the Encore series. I've dropped that a little later on in the article in case you want to check that out.

A Second or Third Encore?

For a long time the Baratza Encore was considered by many to be the ultimate entry level home coffee grinder. It was affordable, infinitely repairable, and every barista you knew had one. It was my first coffee grinder and I still use it regularly for filter coffee that I brew at home. Despite that, it was a bit of an open secret that the Encore was not the best grinder when it came to espresso grinding.

Generally speaking, it’s not that entry level grinders can’t grind fine enough for espresso, but instead that they lack resolution when it comes to making adjustments within the espresso range. This limitation is something that Baratza ultimately addressed with the introduction of the original Encore ESP. By changing the pitch of the grind adjustment for the last 20 steps in order to make smaller movements for espresso adjustment, the grinder was much more capable of dialing in espresso than the original Encore. The competence of the Encore ESP is largely responsible for my surprise when I learned that Baratza would be releasing an updated version so soon after its debut.

What’s New?

Grind Adjustment

So, what does “Pro” really mean when it comes to a Baratza Encore ESP? Well, for starters the 20 espresso range steps from the original ESP have been doubled to 40. This includes a fairly large caveat however as grind adjustment on the ESP Pro is actually stepless, meaning you have room to maneuver between labeled “steps” to further refine your grind. Additionally, Baratza added a digital decoder that numerically identifies your current setting to the nearest half step as well as whether or not that setting is within the espresso range.

Single-Dosing Design

Like the original Encore ESP, the Pro comes with a dosing cup for flip transfer of grinds to 58 and 54mm portafilters with a fitted mat that can replace the included ground coffee container. However, the Pro has been updated with additional out-of-the-box single dosing functionality. You can swap out the bean hopper for an included single-dosing lid, and switch from time based grinding to a manual single-dosing mode that automatically stops grinding once all of the beans have been ground. This is helped by the inclusion of a new insert disc seated directly above the burrs which helps regulate the feed of coffee into the grinds chamber and prevents popcorning.

Housing and Design

Aesthetically, the ESP Pro maintains the signature silhouette of a Baratza grinder, though isn’t entirely Encore in my opinion. The color and general shape are a match, but the inclusion of a display and rounded activation button/encoder are more similar to the Virtuoso + while the in-hopper shutoff hints at the infusion of Breville DNA into the design. Contrary to what its black coloration might suggest, the housing is actually a mix of metal and plastic with both anodized Zinc and ABS used in the ESP Pro’s construction.

Grinding on the ESP Pro

As I mentioned, there are two modes of operation on the Encore ESP Pro, single-dose and timed. The display prioritizes your grind setting, displaying it by default when not making adjustments to grinding time or when grinding coffee. The current grind setting is displayed to the nearest half step and the letters “ESP” are displayed on the bottom right beneath your setting to indicate if your setting falls within the espresso range. By pressing and holding the encoder you can switch between operating modes and a clock icon will appear to let you know that you’re in timed grinding mode. Rotating the encoder will change the grinding time within 1/10th of a second increments so when paired with a scale you can reasonably grind by time and achieve consistent doses.

To get a better sense for grinding performance, I set up our ESP Pro at the brew bar in our sales department for testing on both the espresso and filter ends of the spectrum. Compared to the original Encore and Encore ESP, I found the ESP Pro to be slightly more difficult to adjust, and slightly less precise. The tactile “click” feedback of the stepped Encores feels decisive, whereas the ESP Pro is a bit looser being fully stepless, and you adjust the grind size by grabbing and turning the collar beneath the bean hopper. In my experience you have better leverage to turn the burrs when the hopper is installed as opposed to grabbing the collar directly.

Aside from grinds adjustment, the preference of the team was to use the ground coffee container rather than the included single dosing cup because the grinder tends to produce a decent amount of static, even with the included ion generation. Something else that came up was that the ESP Pro lacks a dedicated bellows feature to move coffee out of the grinds chamber, meaning that apart from some forceful tapping, your options are somewhat limited to free up retained coffee. On a final note, the Encore ESP Pro grinds at a rate of about 1.3g/sec for espresso and 2.4g/sec for drip, meaning that you can produce an 18g dose in just under 15 seconds. 

Brewing with the ESP Pro

By far the most important aspect of using the Encore ESP Pro is its performance when grinding for various brew methods. I can confirm that it gets plenty fine enough for espresso, to the point that I choked out the Bezzera LUCE in our kitchen with a 20g dose of Crema Wave ground at setting 2.5. At around 5.5 I was able to pull a nice 1:2 shot in 27.8 seconds (including approximately 5 seconds of low flow pre-infusion). With lighter roasted coffees we found that we had to grind finer to achieve similar restriction and that pushed us to the edge of how fine the Encore ESP Pro can go. It's this limitation that makes me feel that the Encore ESP Pro is still best suited for multipurpose use whereas a micrometric stepless grinder may be less flexible but more precise in the espresso range.

 

ZR - I pulled one surprisingly bright and clear shot with that light roast decaf!

 

On finer settings, shot prep definitely benefits from WDT as the fines have a strong tendency to cause clumping. To that end, the transparent dosing cup is really nice as you can see how the coffee has settled in the portafilter after flip transferring and you can safely move it in the basket to prevent it from spilling over the edge. The Encore ESP Pro is no slouch for brewed coffee either. Our resident pour-over expert John Cannon said that he totally nailed his extraction when grinding on the coarser end of the spectrum for the Brewista Smart Brew.

Our Interview with Phil McKnight

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, we were lucky enough to spend some time with Phil McKnight of Breville on the showroom floor in Houston and he was kind enough to give us thorough overview of the grinder. So for those of you who want to see the grinder in action, I'll let Phil do the talking.

Final Thoughts

For me, the Baratza Encore ESP Pro gets my recommendation, but that comes with some considerations as well. The original Encore was and still is a coffee grinder. The Encore ESP added espresso grinding capabilities while maintaining a low price at just $199.95. To me, the Encore ESP Pro feels more like a general upgrade to the Encore platform overall rather than being a purely espresso focused improvement. The new housing, display, and single-dosing modes are all appreciated, but they aren’t inherently espresso upgrades but just general enhancements. With the same M2 burr as the Encore ESP and the same 550 RPM motor, it’s not surprising that the performance hasn’t changed all that dramatically, but this is still an espresso capable grinder.

At the end of the day it’s also still an Encore and the ESP Pro can still flex as a multi-purpose grinder. Anybody who’s looking for an entry-level all-rounder for all brew methods will be very satisfied with the performance of the ESP Pro and its improved build quality.

Photography by Grace Walker

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