Which to buy · Every setting
Baratza Encore vs Breville Smart Grinder Pro
The two entry electrics most kitchens actually choose between.
Which to buy
Choose the
Encore if you…
- brew filter, pour over or French press — Baratza pitches the Encore for filter brewing
- want two controls only: an on/off switch and a pulse button
Choose the
Smart Grinder Pro if you…
- want espresso too — Breville gives settings 1–30 to it
- want a timer, set in 0.2-second steps
- grind into a portafilter — cradles for 50–54 mm and 58 mm come in the box
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Sources: Baratza — Encore · Baratza — Encore manual · Breville — Smart Grinder Pro · Breville — Smart Grinder Pro manual
| Encore | Smart Grinder Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Baratza | Breville |
| Scale | Numbered dial | Numbered dial |
| Dial range | 1 – 40 | 1 – 60 |
| Burrs | Conical | Conical |
| Espresso → filter | 8.4 numbers | 27 numbers |
| Filter → coarse | 25 numbers | 15.8 numbers |
The same number means different things
Both grinders use a numbered dial, which makes it tempting to copy a number straight across. Setting 21 sits at grind index 57.2 on the Encore but 23 on the Smart Grinder Pro — far enough apart to change the cup.
Converting a setting
If a recipe quotes a setting for one of these grinders, read across for the equivalent on the other. Rows are spaced evenly by grind size, not by dial number — on a conical burr those are not the same thing.
| Encore | Smart Grinder Pro |
|---|---|
| 7 | 15 |
| 9 | 16 |
| 11 | 16 |
| 12 | 23 |
| 14 | 35 |
| 16 | 44 |
| 18 | 50 |
| 22 | 54 |
| 25 | 57 |
| 28 | 58 |
| 32 | 58 |
| 36 | 58 |
| 40 | 58 |
| Smart Grinder Pro | Encore |
|---|---|
| 15 | 7 |
| 16 | 9 |
| 23 | 12 |
| 35 | 14 |
| 44 | 16 |
| 50 | 18 |
| 54 | 22 |
| 57 | 25 |
| 58 | 28 |
Side by side, by brew method
Where each grinder lands for the same brew, worked out from its own dial curve.
| Method | Encore | Smart Grinder Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Espresso | 8 | 12 |
| Moka pot | 11 | 16 |
| AeroPress (short steep) | 12 | 23 |
| Pour over — V60 / cone | 15 | 41 |
| Siphon | 16 | 44 |
| Pour over — flat bottom | 17 | 46 |
| Steep and release — Clever / Switch | 18 | 48 |
| Drip / batch brew | 18 | 50 |
| Cupping | 19 | 51 |
| Chemex | 20 | 54 |
| French press | 28 | 58 |
| Cold brew | 34 | 58 |
The shape of each dial
Where the connectors bunch, that grinder’s dial is compressed and single steps count for more. Comparing the two shapes tells you which gives finer control, and where.
Baratza Encore
Breville Smart Grinder Pro
Dialing in the Encore
The Encore is the default first grinder for filter coffee, and its scale is the one most recipes are implicitly written against. Its stepped collar is honest about what it is: excellent from medium-fine upward, progressively less consistent as you go finer. Treat the bottom of the range as a moka-pot floor rather than an espresso range — Baratza built the Encore ESP precisely because this one was never meant to reach it. If your cup tastes thin at the recommended setting, go one step finer rather than two; the steps here are wider than they look.
Dialing in the Smart Grinder Pro
Sixty settings sounds like fine control and mostly is not — the useful espresso territory compresses into the bottom handful of steps, and there is an internal burr adjustment most owners never touch that shifts the whole scale. If the finest setting still pulls fast, the internal adjustment is the fix, not the outer dial. Filter and French press, by contrast, are well served and easy to hit.