Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #62674 in Kitchen & Housewares
- Color: Black
- Brand: Baratza
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 14.20" h x
4.50" w x
7.25" l,
10.00 pounds
Features
- Weight-based system
- Weighs to within +/- 0.2 g while grinding
- 1.5 g/sec for espresso, 2.5 g/sec for press
- Automatic and exact dosing
- Built-in scale sensor bar
Baratza Vario-W Coffee Grinder - Baratza 985
Product Description
Baratza 985 Vario-W Coffee Grinder.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
By charlesn
I thought that I'd get right to the heart of the matter with my headline question. So let's start the answer here: if you're considering buying this grinder, then you're more than just serious about your coffee. You, like me, are probably obsessed with it, pursuing the best cup possible like some coffee-crazed Ahab hunting his Moby. Let's face it, you'd have to be obsessed to even THINK about dropping more than half a grand on a grinder, an appliance that can also be bought for less than twenty bucks.Okay, so be it. Then for you, like me, coffee is an essential daily ritual in your life, a ritual that may occur a couple, a few, or even more times per day. So when you come across something that has a truly positive impact on your coffee ritual, you're also going to appreciate it each and every day. How much is that worth to you? That's the question only you can answer, ultimately, but here are the reasons, roughly in priority order, that I felt the Baratza Vario-W was well worth its purchase price FOR ME:1) Automatic, programmable weight-based grinding with pre-sets. I'd call it the Holy Grail of Grinding, but that might sound like hype. Hmmmmm... how else can I describe it? No, sorry, I'm going to have to stick with Holy Grail... this innovation is really that good. If you weigh your coffee for consistent brewing (and if you don't, you should!) I guarantee this will bring a smile to your face every time you use it. No more weighing out your beans on a separate digital scale before you grind. Once you (easily) program the three preset buttons with three different weights, you simply press the preset you want, press start, and the Vario-W will grind exactly that weight into its lower hopper. (And yes, you can easily change those preset weights on the fly, at any time.) It has operated flawlessly for me, with repeated accuracy within 0.2 grams. If I haven't been absolutely clear about it yet, this feature is an absolute game changer in coffee preparation. And only the Vario-W has it.2) Grind quality. The ceramic, German-made Mahlkonig burrs in the Vario-W are considered by many to be the best made. And there's a top-quality motor that's turning them. Once you dial-in the grind you want (from over 200 possible settings)--you get a consistent and gorgeous grind that yields, most importantly, GREAT FLAVOR! Plus, because the burrs are ceramic, they'll last about twice as long as the best steel burrs. When you consider the high cost for replacement burrs in quality grinders ($100 or more is not uncommon), the long life of the Mahlkonigs will save you money down the road. However... all that being said... you can get great grind quality from grinders that cost much less, even other Baratzas, And while the Vario-W does allow you to easily choose from 230 grind settings (as does the plain Vario), this amount seems pointless to me beyond the marketing value. A small fraction of that amount, which is what you find on most high-quality grinders, would definitely suffice.3) Baratza warranty and customer service. If I'm spending this kind of money on a grinder, I want a great warranty and outstanding customer service. Baratza gives you both. If there's a problem with the grinder, they ship you a new one in a fresh carton, and arrange for pick-up of the broken one in that same carton. All you have to do is pack it up, they pay for shipping both ways. That's as "no hassle" as it gets. And if you ever have a question or a problem, they have a great reputation for being totally responsive by either phone or email. I do wish the warranty was for longer than a year, but that's pretty standard.3) Build quality and design. The build, fit and finish of the Vario-W just ooze high quality and its a really handsome appliance on the counter. It LOOKS and FEELS like an expensive, precision instrument, which makes it an added joy to use everyday. Since I have a typically small NYC kitchen, with little counter space, I was pleasantly surprised by the relatively small footprint of this grinder, and an overall size that wasn't nearly as imposing as I feared it would be. Not that I would call this grinder small by any means, but compared to my old KitchenAid Proline grinder--which was the size of a small stand mixer--it's a literal and welcome downsizing.Do I have any complaints? No, but there is one minor annoyance: ground coffee tends to stick a bit to the inside of the plastic hopper. According to Baratza, there's an anti-static agent actually blended into the plastic itself--not just a coating that would wear away over time--but I question how effective it is. I've also seen this grinder described as "quiet," but is coffee-grinding ever a quiet activity? No, I think not. A more accurate description of the Vario-W would be "not quite as noisy."AND SO... that brings us back to the big question... is the Vario-W really worth $549? Well, unless you're as jazzed as I am about automatic, weight-based grinding, I'd say it's a definitive "No." You have many choices in lower cost grinders out there that will still give you a great grind. It's also a definite "No" for anyone who wants to grind directly into a portafilter, since there is no way to do that on the Vario-W. But if you're not in either of those two groups, then this is a grinder that will change your coffee-loving life on a daily basis, a purchase that will pay you happiness dividends every day for years to come.When you consider the high quality of its build and parts, the beauty of its design, its innovative features and the brilliant execution of them, I feel the Vario-W easily justifies its price tag. Oh, and the joy it will bring to your daily coffee ritual? Ah, that's priceless!Thank you for reading my review and I hope you found it helpful in making your buying decision!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
By Cesar Ho
This is my 3rd espresso grinder and it is by far my favorite one. Previously I had a cuisinart grinder, I returned it after using it for one day, espresso went all over the place and the grind quality was all over the place, so for a while I would just have the coffeeshops grind my coffee instead (which I have since learned was a terrible but I was using a super-auto so it didn't make that much of a difference).Once I got the Breville BES900XL Dual boiler I decided I needed a real grinder as well, so I initially purchased it with a Breville Smart Grinder. For about a week I wasted bags after bags of espresso(*tears up remembering the bags of wasted honolulu coffee company/gimme coffee/intelligentsia*), I thought that maybe I was in over my head with the machine and I should have just gone back to my Jura. But I decided to change the grinder since I read others were getting inconsistent grinds from the smart grinder.With this grinder, I had to adjust the grind settings twice, and I didn't have to touch it as long as I had the same bag of espresso, and I would get great shots from my BES900XL shot after shot. With the smart grinder I had two big issues, inconsistent weight dosing it would vary from by 1-4g _everytime_, even more if you adjust the setings. Also, I noticed that at the finest grind setting it was still fairly chunky. It was pretty much night and day difference with the Vario's the grind quality and accurate weight based dosing.The only negative thing I can say is that when I first needed to clean it, I thought I could just take it apart and brush it down, but the upper burr is installed very tightly and unless you have a tool that can provide you leverage there is no way your going to get it off don't even bother trying unless you want to cut up your fingers. I contacted customer support regarding this, and they were very fast to respond but their recommendation was to use Grindz/Puro to clean the grinder every month. (Luckily amazon has 4 for 3 promotions for Grindz and Puro so it was fairly cheap to buy supply for a year.)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
By D. Roberti
This guy took me a little bit of patience to figure out. It shipped with the wrong tray to catch the grinds (Baratza customer service addressed this quickly) and I was a little stumped by the instructions. Also, out of the box, the grind at all settings was too fine for me (pour over coffee user primarily).Some tricks: Download the latest version of the instruction booklet from the website. It's better. Use the calibration tool to calibrate the grind. It's easy to do and gave me the range I wanted. Ask questions of customer service if you need to.Once everything is set up the way you want, operation of the unit is simple and reliable. The unit has nice build quality and produces a consistent grind.
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