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Bean & Burr

HUB 03 · Grinders

Breville Smart Grinder Pro Review

Sixty settings, a timer, and cradles for your portafilter — the whole-range value grinder, reviewed with its ceiling in view.

By Stephen V.Updated How we research
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The Smart Grinder Pro is Breville's answer to the household that brews everything: sixty settings sweeping from espresso fine to French-press coarse, timed dosing to a tenth of a second, an LCD, and cradles that hold a 54mm or 58mm portafilter under the chute. No other grinder near its price tries to cover this much territory this conveniently — it is the utility infielder of the category.

For mixed-method homes it is genuinely excellent: espresso on weekdays, a press on Sunday, the odd pour-over — one machine, one knob, done. The timed dosing is the sleeper feature: set it once and every morning dispenses the same dose hands-free, which quietly does half of what a scale does.

The honest ceiling: espresso specialists eventually notice the stepped adjustments are just wide enough in the espresso zone to occasionally land between ideal settings, and retention between doses is higher than single-dose designs tolerate. Neither matters to the target buyer; both matter to the enthusiast the dedicated espresso field serves. Below it sits against the Encore ESP and the Eureka Mignon Notte — the two specialists that bracket it.

The short answer

Quick picks

#ProductBest forScorePrice
01
Breville Breville Smart Grinder Pro (BCG820)
Breville Smart Grinder Pro (BCG820)

The grind-into-the-portafilter convenience grinder, and the natural partner to a Bambino.

Breville espresso owners
8.0
$199.95Amazon
02
Baratza Baratza Encore ESP
Baratza Encore ESP

The grinder to buy first. It does espresso AND filter, and Baratza will sell you every part.

The best all-round first grinder
8.4
$199.95Amazon
03
Eureka Eureka Mignon Notte Espresso Grinder
Eureka Mignon Notte Espresso Grinder

The Italian espresso grinder that steps up from 'entry' to 'proper'. 50mm burrs, stepless.

Dedicated espresso, a rung above entry
7.6
$299.00Amazon

#ad · Live prices from the Amazon Product API, as of Jul 26, 2026. Where we have no verified live price, we show none — we would rather leave a gap than print a number that has rotted.

In detail

The picks, in full

01
Breville Breville Smart Grinder Pro (BCG820)

Breville espresso owners

Breville Smart Grinder Pro (BCG820)

Conical burr60 grind settingsDose timerGrinds into portafilter
8.0/10

The grind-into-the-portafilter convenience grinder, and the natural partner to a Bambino.

Grind consistency
8
Grind range
8
Ease of use
9
Build quality
7
Value
8

Pros

  • Grinds directly into the portafilter or a container with a timed dose — the most convenient workflow for a home espresso setup
  • 60 settings span espresso to French press, so it's genuinely versatile
  • Matches the Breville machines visually and functionally if you're building that ecosystem

Cons

  • Stepped adjustment is slightly coarser than the stepless espresso grinders — fine for home, limiting for the obsessive
  • Not built to be rebuilt the way a Baratza is

Don't buy this if…

…you want the most repairable grinder for the money. That's the Baratza Encore ESP — the Breville wins on dosing convenience, the Baratza on lifespan.

$199.95View on Amazon

Price as of Jul 26, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Breville Smart Grinder Pro (BCG820)

02
Baratza Baratza Encore ESP

The best all-round first grinder

Baratza Encore ESP

Conical burrEspresso + filter range40mm burrsFully rebuildable
8.4/10

The grinder to buy first. It does espresso AND filter, and Baratza will sell you every part.

Grind consistency
8
Grind range
9
Ease of use
8
Build quality
8
Value
9

Pros

  • Unlike the plain Encore, the ESP has the fine range to actually grind for espresso — one grinder covers both worlds
  • Baratza's whole model is repairability: every part is sold individually, so this grinder is a decade-long purchase
  • Consistent enough to make the machine, not the grinder, your limiting factor at this price

Cons

  • Not a single-dose grinder — a little retention means a few stale grams between beans
  • For espresso-only use, dedicated espresso grinders offer finer adjustment (at a higher price)

Don't buy this if…

…you will only ever make filter coffee. Then you don't need the espresso range — the cheaper plain Encore does the filter job just as well.

$199.95View on Amazon

Price as of Jul 26, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Baratza Encore ESP

03
Eureka Eureka Mignon Notte Espresso Grinder

Dedicated espresso, a rung above entry

Eureka Mignon Notte Espresso Grinder

50mm steel burrsStepless micro-adjustGrind-on-demandQuiet
7.6/10

The Italian espresso grinder that steps up from 'entry' to 'proper'. 50mm burrs, stepless.

Grind consistency
9
Grind range
5
Ease of use
8
Build quality
9
Value
7

Pros

  • Stepless micro-adjustment gives the fine espresso control the stepped entry grinders can't match
  • 50mm steel burrs from a respected Italian maker, built for shot-after-shot use
  • Notably quiet for an espresso grinder, and it grinds on demand into the portafilter

Cons

  • Espresso-focused — its range doesn't extend as usefully to coarse filter grinds
  • More money than the Baratza or Breville for a difference beginners may not yet appreciate

Don't buy this if…

…you're just starting and also brew filter. This is a specialist — the Baratza Encore ESP is the more flexible, cheaper place to begin.

$299.00View on Amazon

Price as of Jul 26, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Eureka Mignon Notte Espresso Grinder

Who should buy the Smart Grinder Pro

Buy it ifyour household genuinely brews multiple ways and wants one grinder to cover all of it without fuss — that's the design brief, and nothing at the price executes it better. It also pairs neatly with grinder-less machines like the Bambino Plus.

Skip it if you brew one way, seriously. Espresso-only: the Eureka Notte or Encore ESP spend their whole budget on your one job. Filter-only: the Ode Gen 2does the same. Specialists beat generalists at their specialty — the SGP's case is that most kitchens aren't specialist kitchens.

How we picked

We do not run a testing lab

We compiled published manufacturer specifications, computed what each option costs to run where relevant, and cross-referenced aggregated owner reviews, then scored each product against a published rubric. The scores are judgments from documented research — they are not measurements we took, because we do not have a lab and we are not going to pretend we do. Where a number came from a manufacturer or a standard, we name it in Sources.

Questions

Frequently asked

Is the Smart Grinder Pro good enough for espresso?
For most people, yes — it reaches genuinely espresso-fine and dials in typical roasts fine. The caveats live at the margins: its steps are occasionally just wide enough that the perfect setting sits between two clicks, and light-roast chasers will feel that. Daily-driver espresso: fine. Obsessive espresso: buy the specialist.
Does the timed dosing replace a scale?
Halfway. Time-based dosing is consistent while beans, setting and hopper level stay constant — change any of them and the gram weight drifts. Use the timer for everyday convenience and verify with a scale when you change beans or re-dial; that combination is honestly most of a barista workflow.
Smart Grinder Pro or Baratza Encore ESP?
The SGP for breadth and convenience (60 settings, timer, cradles, bigger hopper); the ESP for espresso focus and Baratza's repair-forever culture. At similar money it's a personality test: the SGP is the appliance that covers everything, the ESP is the tool that grows with an espresso hobby.

Keep reading

Related

Receipts

Sources

We do not run a testing lab, and we do not pretend to. Where a measured number came from a manufacturer spec sheet or a published standard, we name it and link it. Where we could not verify something, we say so on the page rather than quietly leaving it out. Read our full method.