Breville's range of coffee products ranges their line of coffee grinders to advanced espresso machines. They listen actively to their customers, which results in product upgrades fixing the most commonly heard issues, instead of only inventing new features.
Breville offers a mid to high-end line of coffee grinders. These products are exemplary of Breville’s mission to balance form and function. Breville is operating in the same league as Capresso and Baratza when it comes to features and pricing, but Breville products are ideal for coffee drinkers who want to balance cost and functionality.
Breville is marketed under different names throughout the world. Breville is the brand name for the USA, while Sage by Heston Blumenthal is their UK brand. In Europe, the products are sold as Solis, under different product names.
New: The Best Breville Espresso Machine
The Best Breville Coffee Grinder of 2017
After wading through many existing coffee grinder reviews and product information, we have compiled a list that shows you the best Breville grinder.
Based on features, convenience, performance, excellent build quality and great value for your money, we present you:
The Best Breville Coffee Grinder of 2017
WINNER
Smart Grinder Pro
The Breville Smart Grinder Pro is one of the most popular Breville coffee grinders. Its convenient display makes it easy to use, its price is very friendly and it has excellent grind qualities.
RUNNER-UP
Dose Control Pro
The Breville Dose Control Pro is a high-quality grinder, but it lacks the "Smart" features from our winner at #1. However, if you take over the smartness you get a good grinder at a decent price.
NOTEWORTHY
Breville BCG450XL
The Breville BCG450 XL combines higher range grind qualities with an entry level price tag. It has an attractive, futuristic design. An excellent choice if you're looking for your first quality grinder.
About Breville coffee grinders
- Company info
- History
- Manufacturing
- Design
Based out of Melbourne, Australia, Breville is a producer of small kitchen appliances sold and marketed worldwide. Known for producing the world’s first commercial sandwich toaster, Breville’s brand is now synonymous with sandwich toaster appliances, and in some countries, “Breville” even refers to the toasted sandwiches themselves. Breville is also featured on our grind and brew coffee maker list, with their Breville Youbrew coffee maker.
1. Breville BCG820BSSXL The Smart Grinder Pro Coffee Bean Grinder
The Smart Grinder Pro is the best overall coffee grinder in our Top 10 list. It's also the grinder that made it to the kitchen of our chief editor, which says a lot since he has researched tens of different grinders and is a true coffee lover.
Almost identical to the original Breville Smart Grinder, the BCG820 Smart Grinder Pro makes minor improvements to the fantastic series of conical burr mills. The most notable improvement over the Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder is the shims, which no longer need tweaking and modification to produce a fine enough grind for espresso.
The features list of the BCG820 is nearly identical to the BCG800 which is listed at #3, so we’ll focus on the improvements in this section. As aforementioned, the most notable improvement rests in calibrating for finer grinds like espresso or Turkish. The BCG820 no longer requires tinkering to produce a fine enough grind for single-walled, non-pressurized portafilters.
Another new feature is “Set Dose,” which allows you to modify your grinding dose in 0.2-second increments. Jumping from the modest 25 grind settings of the BCG800, the BCG820 features a whopping 60. This allows you to fine-tune your grinds even further, an especially welcome feature for pulling the perfect shot of espresso.
Finally, the BCG820 also allows you program the volume of your coffee and espresso cups, producing a more accurate grind quantity.
Because this Breville coffee grinder features a nearly identical design to the BCG800, it has all of the same issues with maintenance. Very frequent cleaning is required, and unfortunately, some parts (like the grind chute) are a little hard to get to.
Despite all the improvements, this Breville Smart Grinder is still not smart enough to memorize grind preferences for different brewing methods. Its portafilter cradles make just as big of a mess, and a proper tamping still necessitates overfilling the portafilter.
Conclusion
This Breville coffee grinder is one of the best conical burr mills under $500. Addressing the biggest drawback of the BCG800, all remaining problems seem like minor inconveniences in comparison. Yes, it is pricey. But if you want to drink fantastic, café quality coffee every day, its price is easily justified
Pros
- 60 grind settings all produce very uniform results
- Bright LCD display
- Removable, airtight bean hopper ensures freshness of beans
- Included accessories (portafilter cradles and brushes) are a notable bonus
- High-end coffee grinding at a mid-range cost
- Very quiet operation, upgraded dosing controls
- Great for any grind textures
Cons
- Requires constant maintenance and cleaning for ideal operation
- Some parts, like the grinds chute, are hard to access while cleaning
- Different settings cannot be saved for varying brewing methods
- Ideal
tamp for espresso requires overfilling the portafilter
Learn more about the Breville Smart Grinder Pro
Breville Smart Grinder vs. Baratza Virtuoso
In this article we compare the Breville Smart Grinder (both the original and the Pro) to the Virtuoso. These machines are so close it's almost a tie, but you can't go wrong with any of them.
Breville Smart Grinder Pro vs. Dose Control Pro
This articles compares the #1 in this list to the #2, the Dose Control Pro. Where the latter misses the "smart" features, it's capable of producing excellent grinds, but required you to do the thinking.
Breville Smart Grinder Pro Full Review
In this article we take a deeper dive into the flagship of Breville, the Smart Grinder Pro. We take a look at its features, build quality, grinds setting and aesthetics to see why it's such a great grinder.
2. Breville BCG600SIL The Dose Control Pro Coffee Bean Grinder
Known as the Breville BCG600, the Breville Dose Control Pro Espresso Grinder is a mid-range conical burr grinder. Its sleek stainless steel design is a visual callback to Breville’s line of espresso
This machine is sturdy, reliable and produces very uniform grinds. The innards of this impressive machine are essentially the same as the BCG820BSSXL Smart Grinder Pro, and its high precision stainless steel conical burrs are adjustable in the same 60 increments. This grinder produces an excellent uniformity in its grinds, whether you are grinding for a French press or a Turkish pot.
Doing away with the complex controls of the Breville Smart Grinder series, the only other available control is a grinding timer. The high precision digital clock can be set to grind in 1-second increments for up to 60 seconds. Adhering to the standard set by Breville’s earlier burr grinders, the BCG600 also features an airtight bean hopper, good for keeping your beans fresh for weeks. This is a beautiful, sturdy machine, and a fantastic value for the price.
Because the BCG820 takes a no-frills approach to grinding, the device is missing quite a few conveniences found in grinders of the same price range. There is no display, grinds quantity cannot be set as a number of cups, and there are no strength or dosing controls. Although you can grind your beans directly into an espresso portafilter or drip cone filter, this device lacks a dedicated grinds container.
Unless you want a mess on your hands every time you grind, you may have to use a bowl or small Mason jar to retain the processed beans. While this grinder is quite easy to use, perfecting your coffee will require a lot of trial and error.
Conclusion
If you don’t mind measuring, weighing, or estimating the grind volume before brewing, the BCG600SIL is an absolutely phenomenal grinder for its price. It may require some practice, but the BCG600 is perfectly capable of producing café quality grinds
Pros
- High quality, high precision conical burr grinds in 60 different coarseness levels
- Excellent grinds uniformity
- Beautiful, sturdy design
- Precise digital grinds timer
- Airtight bean hopper
- Fantastic value for price
- Produces uniform granularity on all settings
Cons
- Missing many customization features found in grinders of similar price
- Grinding directly into a portafilter or cone filter causes a mess
- No dedicated grinds container
- Trial and error is expected
- Grinds quantity can only be adjusted with the digital timer
3. Breville BCG450XL Conical Burr Grinder
The Breville BCG450 XL is a mid-range, no-frills conical burr grinder. It features a sleek, elegant stainless steel design with a black matte trim.
This Breville coffee grinder has a heavy-duty stainless steel body, which makes for an attractive industrial design.
Stainless steel is also used for the construction of its conical burrs, which produce a very uniform grind in different 10 texture settings. Its adjustable 30-second timer is precise and consistent. The BCG450’s removable, airtight bean hopper will keep your coffee beans fresh for weeks.
This is a simple no-frills machine that produces a uniformity of grinds seldom seen on machines under $500. Despite its fantastic value, however, this grinder is not perfect. While advertised as having an espresso and Turkish setting, this grinder does not grind finely enough for a single-walled espresso portafilter, let alone for a Turkish coffee pot.
The supposed “static free” grind container still generates a decent amount of static electricity, making this machine a little messier than it should be.
Conclusion
This is a fantastic, high-quality machine that produces a
Pros
- Heavy-duty industrial design
- Produces very uniform grinds in 10 texture settings
- Airtight bean hopper keeps your beans fresh
- Cheapest grinder for professional-grade grind uniformity
- Great for French press, cold brew, percolator, drip, and double-walled espresso portafilters
- Removable, airtight hopper
- Great for drip, pour over, and espresso
Cons
- “Static free” container still produces static cling
- Timer is an inexact method for producing desired quantity
- Loudest Breville grinder
- Grinds not fine enough for single-walled espresso portafilters or Turkish coffee
Check out our other lists
Top 10: The Best Coffee Grinder
The Smart Grinder Pro is the undisputed #1 on our most important list, with the Dose Control Pro being a solid #2.
Top 10: The Best Burr Coffee Grinder
Not surprisingly the Smart Grinder Pro and Dose Control Pro are number #1 and #2 on this list as well.
Top 10: The Best Coffee Maker with Grinder
Breville also competes in the coffee maker with grinder segment as well, be it not as successful as with its grinders.
4. Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder
The Breville Smart Grinder BCG800XL is a mid-range electrical conical burr grinder for the experienced coffee
This Breville coffee grinder features a 25 setting stainless steel conical burr, a fantastic mechanism that produces very uniform grinds and minimal mess. Its backlit LCD screen clearly displays all pertinent metrics, such as grind coarseness and volume.
Its auto dosing system digitally calibrates each grinding session on the fly. As expected from a grinder of this price, it uses a removable, airtight bean hopper that will keep your coffee beans fresh for extended periods of time. This device is also very quiet. All things considered, this Breville burr grinder provides a high-end coffee grinding experience at a significantly lower cost.
Although regular maintenance and cleaning
On another note, while it is touted as a smart grinder, the BCG800XL is a too dumb to memorize different preferences. If you brew using different methods, you will need to reset the settings every time you switch. The biggest shortcoming, however, is that this grinder struggles to achieve a fine enough grind for non-pressurized espresso portafilters. Though Breville has addressed this issue by providing BCG800XL owners with a free shim kit upgrade, it is unfortunate that this device requires modification to reach its full potential.
Conclusion
This Breville Smart Grinder is a fantastic value, even with its $200 price tag. It produces incredibly uniform grinds, has a slew of convenient features, and boasts a great build quality. If you are looking for a high-end coffee shop experience at home, this grinder will deliver in droves. However, if you really want to overcome its shortcomings you should get the best Breville coffee grinder, which is the Smart Grinder Pro.
Pros
- 25 grind settings all produce very uniform grinds
- Bright LCD display for convenient settings changes
- Removable, airtight bean hopper ensures freshness of beans
- Included accessories (portafilter cradles and brushes) are a notable bonus
- High-end coffee grinding at a mid-range cost
- Very quiet operation
- Great for almost any grind textures, from French press to Espresso
Cons
- Requires constant maintenance and cleaning for ideal operation
- Some parts, like the grinds chute, are hard to access while cleaning
- Different settings for varying brewing methods cannot be programmed
- Ideal tamp for espresso requires overfilling the portafilter
- Not fine enough for espresso, requires a shim upgrade
Other brands you might like
Baratza
Baratza has a large range of coffee grinders, some of them directly competing with Baratza in price and features like the Baratza Virtuoso (a Smart Grinder Pro alternative).
Rancilio
If you're looking for an even better grinder than the Smart Grinder Pro, Rancilio might be a good fit. They offer commercial grade grinders at very affordable prices.
Capresso
If you don't want to spend $200 on a grinder, Capresso might be a good choice. Their lower pricing is reflected in their products though, so be sure to check the reviews.
RESOURCES: THE BEST BREVILLE GRINDER OF 2017
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Our Best Pick: Breville Smart Grinder Pro
