Baratza Virtuoso Burr Coffee Grinder: Rated & Reviewed

Since 1999 Baratza has been manufacturing some of the best burr coffee grinders.

Unlike most companies, Baratza has not expanded to other areas.

Any company that can stay in business for twenty years without diversifying into other areas designs quality products.

The Baratza Virtuoso follows this tradition; it is a quality product.

However, there are caveats that should be noted before purchase.

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Best Features Of Baratza Virtuoso 

Aesthetically the Baratza Virtuoso is a nice looking unit, with a combination of traditional black plastic and cool, modern steel.

It fits nicely with most kitchen appliances and interior designs. The Baratza Virtuoso has 40 stepped settings for a range of particle sizes. The steps are helpful for finding your favored grind.

If you only brew one or two ways, once you find your desired particle size, it is a cinch to find it again. All it takes is remembering a number.

A timing knob also allows you to walk away and while the grinder does its job, though the manual states to never leave it unattended while in operation.

We cannot in good conscience recommend against best safety practices.

But let’s be honest, unless you are the type of person who watches your food get nuked in the microwave, you will most likely be leaving it running at some point.

Not to mention that a timing knob is a useless feature if you are supposed to attend to the machine.

Baratza Virtuoso also includes a pulse button mounted on the front. This is helpful for espresso coffee. 

A nifty feature is the expandable hopper.

Multiple containers can be purchased to extend the capacity for whole beans. The conical burr system is helpful in two respects.

First, it takes advantage of gravity to ensure grinds do not get trapped between burrs.

Flat burr systems tend to trap partially ground beans as well as particles in the assembly.

This alters the flavor of ground coffee–it goes stale quickly after use and often spoils your next brew.

Second, flat burrs tend to fling grounds throughout the assembly chamber–a conical system solves this problem, resulting in easier cleaning and maintenance.

Another aspect of the differences between flat and conical systems will be discussed shortly.

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Baratza Virtuoso Grinder: Grind Like a Pro

As with all grinders, it is imperative to clean the machine before use.

Often burrs will have a small amount of rust on them out of the box.

This is easily removed by grinding and discarding a quarter pound of coffee. Cleaning instructions are simple. Remove the bean container by turning it counter-clockwise until it stops.

Gently pull upward to remove it from the body.

The hopper and bin should be cleaned with warms soapy water, then rinsed and dried thoroughly. Removal of the top burr is also simple.

Remove the silicone seal. Pull upward on the tabs to remove the ring burr.

Clean the top and bottom burrs with a stiff brush to remove excess grinds.

Baratza recommends cleaning the burrs every few months if the grinder is used daily.

Replace the burr assembly by lining up the tab on the burr with the cutout on the adjustment ring.

Ensure it is seated properly. Replace the seal by lining up the slots with the tabs on the ring burr. Only adjust the grind settings with machine running.

The calibration screw can be used to alter grind settings along the upper and lower limits of the adjustment ring.

So if you find that 40 is not coarse enough, the screw can be adjusted.

Please note that home coffee grinders, particularly at this price point, lose particle consistency as the grind gets coarser.

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The Amateur Aspects of the Baratza Virtuoso

We promised some caveats. They exist, and they are real. Many reviewers have experienced a particularly galling, disconcerting phenomenon.

Remember that timing knob the manual cautions you against using as intended?

Well it has been widely reported to fall off while the machine is operating. Let that sink in for a moment.

The timing knob seems to have no relation to amount of coffee ground. Similarly an expandable hopper seems cool in some ways.

But it utterly useless in the sense that to protect the flavor of the finished product, one should not keep beans in the container permanently.

And if you are grinding that much coffee beans in one sitting, you probably are better served by a more expensive grinder.

The grind range is narrow. Even at its finest grind settings, it is barely useful for espresso machines.

It just does not go fine enough. Nor does it go coarse enough for a press coffee.

If you are not particularly picky, you can brew espresso or make French Press, but it is certainly not ideal for an aficionado.

The calibration screw can utilized to get it closer to the ideal, but the manual does not even mention this feature.

We found out about it via a technical support article on their website.

Some reviews have found the disassembly process to be less clear than the manual implies and non-intuitive.

The stepped adjustment system is handy, but it also removes finer control over the grind.

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Main Competitor Of This Electric Grinder By Baratza

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