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Like many Breville products, the Smart Grinder Pro is boxed in a flashy, graphics filled box that highlights all the product’s leading features. Unlike many Breville products, the Smart Grinder Pro is packaged (mostly) with environmentally friendly materials. There’s no styrofoam in this box; instead it uses a cardboard form to keep the product secure.
The grinder bits themselves are still wrapped in lots of plastic, so Breville still has a bit of work to do here to be 100% environmentally friendly with their packaging. Here’s the unboxing process.
For fun, here’s four photos from our original unboxing back in 2015 of the first production run Smart Grinder Pro. As you can see, the box has changed a bit, but the packaging is almost identical.
Let’s go from top to bottom in the walk through on this grinder. Right up top, the lid for the bean hopper is an airtight design, which does provide a small bit of aid in keeping the beans in the hopper fresh.
The bean hopper is a serious piece of engineering, and features a lock down dial for sealing off the bottom of the hopper if you want to remove it from the grinder body with whole beans still in the hopper. The hopper can hold 450g of coffee, or a full pound bag, which is a bit of rarity these days. The hopper’s attaching system is also the failsafe for the grinder’s operation: if not attached properly to the grinder body, the grinder will not run.
Removal of the bean hopper gives you a look at the burr group chamber. There is a stationary top carrier and burr which can be removed by lifting a metal handle, and rotating the burr carrier counter clockwise half a centimeter (it’s all well marked).
This burr carrier for the top burr is also one area of innovation in this grinder for Breville (and something they’ve carried on to most of their grinders since, including all their built in ones in their espresso machines): the burr can be adjusted (almost like shimming it, but without having to fiddle with shims) coarser or finer, to further adjust the grinder’s output. Out of the factory, it’s set at 5, but can be adjusted in 10 different steps.
The main conical burr (40mm) and vane system sits below this top carrier. This burr was designed about 13 years ago now (it first showed up in the Dose Control Pro and Barista Express espresso machine), and hasn’t changed since. A good look at the vanes around the bottom of the cone burr show a lot of gaps for ground coffee to store up and retain in the grinder.
Below these three number areas are three physical control points on the grinder. The left one is a rotary dial and press button combo for dialing in manual grinder timings (or for adjusting the preset times). Pressing it and holding for a few seconds will change the machine’s preset programmed time for that specific grind setting and dose.
The middle button is for changing the dose setting. If the forks are installed in the grinder (see later on about this), only 1 or 2 shots can be selected with this dose button. If the grinds bin is used, or nothing is below the grinder’s exit chute, this setting will display number of cups for the dose (from 1-12) for press, perc, and drip, or number of shots (from 1-8) for the espresso grinding range.
The right button is the start / pause / cancel / manual button. Once you have your timer setting picked, press this to start the grinder. It will grind until the timer reaches zero. Anytime during that grind, you can hit that button again to pause the grinder. It will remember how much time is left on the timer, and resume the countdown if you press the button again within a 10 second window. Press and hold the button again after pausing, and it will cancel the timer for that grinding session
The button also has a third trick, one not many know about. It can act much like Baratza’s pulse button on their Virtuoso+ and Encore ESP grinders. Press and hold it, and the grinder will start working, with the timer counting up in time from 0.0; the grinder will continue to operate as long as you press that button. When you let go, the display will show you how long the grinder was running, in 0.1 second increments.
This is particularly useful if you’re trying to dial in a grind time with this grinder. Find a scale small enough to fit in the grinder’s base, grind into a zero’ed out bowl, and if your aim is 21g ground, do the manual grind, stop at 21g (on the scale) and read the time on the display. You can now program that into the grinder for it’s 3 cup, drip grind memory setting.
The LCD display is nicely visible at eye level when you’re looking down at the grinder from an angle, but it fades out and is impossible to read if you’re looking at it from any below angle or even straight on – this is a design flaw Breville has never addressed.
Moving to the right side of the grinder, there’s a big dial knob for adjusting the grinder’s fineness level. As you dial it up or down, the number on the front right of the display reflects the grind change, from 1 to 60. It also is how you change from one grinding range to another on the display panel. This in turn changes the grinder timing settings to their new settings depending on the grind range.
Though a lot of the Smart Grinder Pro’s body is plastic (depending on the model you buy), the back plate on all of them is a shiny piece of steel plate, that looks good, especially if you have the back of the grinder exposed on your open concept kitchen counter.
Moving further down, we come to the grinds bin / dosing fork area up front on the grinder. There’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye. First, there are built in sensors that know if you have the dosing forks for portafilters installed. Second, there’s a trigger button built into the back wall that can be activated via pressing your portafilter into it. This recessed button also works just like the front panel start / pause / cancel / manual button. Press and hold your portafilter to the button for manual, count-up-timer grinding. Press and release for timer grinding. Press during grinding to pause (for up to 10 seconds). Press and hold after pausing the grinder to cancel that timer session.
The machine comes with two dosing forks as well as a grinds bin with a lid. The dosing forks have a magnet to snap into place nicely. The grinds bin also snaps into place via a magnet. It has markings on three sides for volumetric volumes of coffee for drip, press pot and espresso.
There is a removable tray at the bottom of the dosing area, for easy removal and cleanup of stray grinds. Underneath that, Breville has printed out instructions for cleaning and maintaining the grinder.
The Smart Grinder Pro comes with a cleaning brush, but unusual for Breville, there’s no place to store it. Typically they have some kind of cutout or hidden drawer or similar for storage of these kinds of things.
Underneath, there are four sturdy, rubberized feet on the grinder to help prevent it from sliding around on the counter. There’s also built in cord storage should you want to store some of the cord to keep your counter looking clean. The cord itself is very beefy, and features Breville’s standard plug with a hole in it – the hole in the plug design is there to facilitate removing it from your wall socket. For North America, this plug is a three pronged affair.
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Every grinder needs a break in period. Burrs need to settle, wear in a bit, and the housing of the burrs need to even and level out to their optimum settings. The motor and its gears need to wear in before the grinder is operating at full repeatable performance. Because of this, the 75th pound you run through a grinder will grind differently (with different timings) than the 5th pound will.
We put 3.5kg through the Breville Smart Grinder Pro during this most recent round of testi: ng before beginning our proper evaluation. Back in 2016, we did something similar with that original test unit. Just as then, we also had some observations on the grinder this time around during the break in period.
The Motor: The Smart Grinder Pro has an AC based motor, not the best for grinders because they don’t have the kind of torque and instant start up time that DC motors have. When grinding for espresso, you can hear it struggle. I’ve never stalled the motor on any SGP I’ve used, but I always feel it could be possible, just by the motor sounds.
The Noise: It’s not the noisiest grinder out there, and is quieter than the Baratza Encore ESP and Virtuoso+. That said, it gets louder when no beans are in, which is kind of weird.
The Display: Over the years of using 4 different Smart Grinder Pros, one of the most annoying things is the display and how it cannot be read at eye level, or from below eyelevel. The display just goes blank. Really cheap LCDs being used there. At least they don’t degrade and become unreadable. But you can only really read it looking down at an angle to the display.
Dosing Forks and Grinds Bin: Long, long before people became enamored with the Niche Zero’s magnetized catch cup, the SGP had magnets to snap the dosing forks and grinds bin into place. It’s a very satisfying feeling when using the grinder. It just says “hey, this stuff fits!” when they snap into place.
Adjusting the Grind: Again, this feels very well engineered, and the big dial helps a lot. Seeing the numbers read out on the display give that extra sense that the machine is dialed in and wired in.
This is a clumpy, clumpy grinder for espresso. It also retains a lot of grinds. In fact, if you peruse the reddit forums this is all people talk about with regards to this grinder. They don’t even talk about grind output, particle sizes or the actual, you know, taste of the espresso it produces, just their constant annoyance at the clumps.
Clumpy grinds can be easily overcome with a bit of WDT action. Retention is a problem for single dose fans. You should never, ever single dose a Smart Grinder Pro. It wasn’t designed for that, and definitely does not do a good job single dosing for espresso.
Instead, use the grinder as intended: a multipurpose, bean hopper filled grinder. Be prepared to grind off 3-5g of coffee every morning when you first use it for espresso. That’s the cost of a grinder that produces an otherwise great output, but only costs $150-$200. If I’m paying $600, $800, $1,000 for a grinder, I expect it to be clump free and fluffy in the output, and zero retention in the grinds. For a $150 grinder? If it delivers a great espresso grind I have to WDT a bit, I got lucky.
Which brings me to a video I saw recently. I like Josh, who is the video spokesperson for Alternative Brewing in Australia. He’s a vendor, but he’s also honest in his demo videos, to the point where he’s not afraid to show mistakes and surprises. Josh reviewed the Smart Grinder Pro a while back and actually put it up against the Niche Zero. And spoiler alert, in his blind taste test comparison, the Smart Grinder Pro produced the better shot of espresso to his palate. Here’s the vid, fast forwarded to the reveal portion (and the surprise he shows).
My own experience over the years with the SGP is it can produce exceptional espresso shots… with some work and luck. It can do 3.5 star shots all day long with good coffee and a good espresso machine. But it can approach our benchmark machine (the Baratza Sette 270Wi) at times, especially if I apply a really good and quick WDT to the bed of coffee. I’m taking standard 4 star shots, and the occasional 4.5 star shot when the moon and stars are aligned.
For a grinder that retails between $150 and $200, this is pretty nice. On top of that, you get all the niceties this grinder offers: the dosing forks, the programmable timers, the grind on demand system, etc.
Those redditors sometimes completely miss the forest for the trees.
Speaking of the espresso grind range, it’s adequate with a decent resolution between clicks (Breville doesn’t release the actual microns between clicks like some other grinder manufactuers do). The main frustration on espresso dial in is that the grinder doesn’t quite “lock down” into each click and setting like higher end grinders do. I find as long as I’m running the grinder while adjusting my espresso range, it’s a lot more accurate to go from, say a 35 setting for pour over, back down to an 8 setting for espresso. If you try to adjust up or down one click without running the grinder, it is more of a crapshoot.
Expectations… this is not a $1,600 espresso grinder.
Paired with a nice entry point espresso machine, like the Breville Bambino Plus, the Gaggia Classic Pro, or the Lelit Anna, the Smart Grinder more than holds its own. I really enjoyed the workflow in particular with the Bambino Plus machine, and for several months, both the SGP and Bambino sat on our secondary coffee station, serving up daily drinks. Every time I added a different type of coffee to the grinder, it would take 2 or 3 grinding sessions to find the right timer-set dose, but once set, the dosing is within 0.3g up or down of my target weight. I can definitely live with that.
The Smart Grinder Pro, if anything, performs better once you move into non-espresso brewing methods, at least until you get to the Chemex range. The clumpiness diminishes around AeroPress grind, and is gone by the time you get to V60 and auto drip grinds. Even though the SGP’s burrs are nearly 10 years older in design than the Encore ESP’s M2 burrs, in four head to head blind taste tests, the ESP edged the SGP out in 2, tied in 1 test, and slightly beat the ESP in the fourth test. Kind of impressive, but it also may be down to other variables. Bottom line? It is definitely capable as a pour over grinder.
Speed is pretty good too, grinding at 2.1g a second at pour over settings (35 on the dial). The grinder has an 85 second timer limit, which means it should be able to grind out about 175g of coffee for massive batches or pregrinding for later use, at least per grinding session. If you’re doing a full 1.4l auto drip batch brew, it will take about 40 seconds to grind.
Like all conical burr grinders, things get… messy by the time you get to grinding for Chemex, cold drip brew, and press pot. Conical burrs just produce too many fines at these coarser settings. You can spot this in a Chemex using the tri-fold filter paper: it just clogs up a lot. Just like the Dose Control Pro we reviewed, if Chemex and press pot is a preferred brewing method for you, just invest $12 in a coffee sieve cup to sieve off anything under 250um, and you’ll have a much cleaner, easier to filter brew with the Smart Grinder Pro.
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I’ve been using and testing the Breville Smart Grinder Pro for nearly 10 years. We got our first unit – a preproduction model direct from Breville – back in early 2014. That unit is still in storage but was pulled out late last year to try out and it works just like new. We’ve had 3 other units since: the unit we reviewed in 2016 (still working great today after about 400lbs through it), a different coloured unit in 2017 for our update (since given away in a contest), and the current unit, a black metal model that Breville sent us for this update (and also because the colour matches the Bambino Plus espresso machine we have). All told, I estimate I’ve put 650lbs of coffee through these four variants of the Smart Grinder Pro over the years.
If I had decided all I would drink is espresso, and I had a nice starter machine like a Gaggia Classic Evo Pro, a Breville Bambino Plus, or a Lelit Anna, in 2023, I would probably choose the Turin SK40 as my grinder choice. No lie.
But… if I was also looking for a true multipurpose grinder to handle all my espresso needs as well as the AeroPress, V60, my occasional press pot coffee, and brewing a big pot of auto drip for my wife and I each morning, as much as I like what Baratza has done with the Encore ESP, I’d probably choose the Breville Smart Grinder Pro.
The combination of digital timers, easy adjustments, grinding range, big grinds bin, lower noise, and easy to recall settings give it the nod over the Encore ESP. The Turin SK40 isn’t even in this scenario because it can’t handle doses over 35g. Neither is the Fellow Opus, for that matter.
Those grinders – indeed the popular (in small niche circles) trend in grinders in 2023 – are for individualists who have one preferred brewing method, and don’t ever fathom brewing more than 300-400ml of coffee. For them, especially those into espresso, the Smart Grinder Pro will never suit.
For the vast majority of people who are discovering or getting into quality coffee? The Breville SGP grinder remains an excellent entry point choice. Let’s dive a bit deeper.
Breville Smart Grinder Over the Years
You know I have to give a bit of historical context, right? This is that part. Feel free to skip ahead if you like.
So the current Smart Grinder Pro is 9 years old. Indeed, it may be ready for a refresh. After all, Breville only had the original “Smart Grinder” (model BCG800XL) for a couple of years before they overhauled it into the Smart Grinder Pro (model BSG820XL) back in November, 2014.
And oh boy, did they change a lot between the 800 and 820 model:
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Went from a 1 second timer to a 0.2 second timer
Big change
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820 Model actually displays the timer (800 model only showed a “more” or “less” when you turned the timer dial)
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New pause function to the start/stop and portafilter press buttons (up to 10 seconds)
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New manual, or pulse mode, press hold start button to grind manually
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Went from 25 grind settings to 60 settings. Major espresso improvement
Best Upgrade
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New 10 step further refinement to the burr group, giving even more grind settings
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Ability to program in timers for every major type of grinding need
Notable
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New burr group, the same one that was in the Barista Express espresso machine
That’s a lot. And all were excellent upgrades and improvements.
But given that the Smart Grinder Pro is approaching 10 years in the marketplace, and there’s been so many grinder innovations since then, there are a few things they could do, perhaps going to a Model 840 (and call it the “Wicked Grinder Plus“?) to bring it into the next ten years.
The following suggestions stay true to the “mulitpurpose” nature of this grinder. I even could joke these suggested improvements thumbs the grinder’s nose at single dosing.
Suggested Updates to Smart Grinder Pro
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Removing all reference to percolated coffee
Come on, Breville!
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Introduce more grind range settings on the display. Suggest: espresso, moka / aeropress, pour over, auto drip, no-bypass / chemex, and press pot / cold brew
Modernize
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Use Baratza’s M2 burrset or develop an entirely new burrset in house; perhaps even go flat burr
Top Change
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Redesign the burr chamber for near zero retention
Most Needed
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Add a plasma / ion generator to reduce static
Cutting Edge
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Allow timer memories to be customized for any dose setting for any grind range setting.
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Change the timer to 0.1 seconds
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Keep, but update the unique combo of portafilter forks and grinds bin design
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Make it quieter
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Update the look, shrink it a bit
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Have a new Plus Pro model, with a built in scale
The Smart Grinder Pro Grinds Bin
A few years back, I read a short ramble by some anonymous redditor hacking the Smart Grinder Pro to pieces verbally.
Most of this person’s vitriol was focused on the grinds bin, calling it “last century design” and saying because they had measurements for espresso shots on one side of the bin, the grinder obviously isn’t suited for espresso because somehow, Breville was promoting pregrinding for espresso in large batches. They went on to criticise the other markings on the grinds bin and the size of it. “Who grinds that much coffee anyway?” was the question.
That anonymous reviewer missed the mark entirely. The Smart Grinder Pro isn’t designed to entice the single dose, microgram watching crowd. It’s designed to appeal to the massive market of coffee lovers who could benefit from a better grinder. The bin in many ways is the prime representation of this effort.
The fact is, the vast majority of coffee lovers out there don’t have 0.1g scales. They aren’t grinding exactly 15.5g for their no-bypass single cup brewer. No, instead, they are grinding coffee for their auto drip batch brewers; their 8 cup press pot. They want to get guidance on approximately correct amounts. Visual, volumetric indicators.
This is where the grinds bin on the Smart Grinder Pro is brilliant. Breville engineered it to be used in three ways, with three sets of indicators. Depending on how you screw on and lock down the lid, one of three settings is visible when it sits in the grinder: percolator / drip, french press / plunger (I thought both were the same!) or espresso.
The first two have cup lines for 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and MAX cups, and the espresso side shows 2, 4, 6, 8, and MAX settings. The lines on each of the three sides of the bin are different heights too (plunger’s a bit taller than drip, because of the coarser grind.
Of the three settings, why an Espresso side? And why go to 4, 6, 8 and MAX? Because people will use this setting for moka pot grinding, a brew method millions call “espresso”.
The only thing I’d suggest Breville change is to go with new settings to reflect modern coffee likes. Ditch the percolator entirely. Also ditch the espresso label, given the machine comes with dosing forks. I’d like the bin’s three markings to be for a) AeroPress/moka, b) pourover/drip, and c) Chemex/presspot. Of course, they probably don’t want to use trademarked names.
The lid is also a nice piece of engineering, beyond its ability to screw on in three different ways. Breville included a rubberized cap that seals the container to preserve some freshness in the grinds.
Again, you and I would never fill this grinds bin with ground coffee, then leave it on the counter (or in the fridge) to use over several days in our small batch brews. But there’s a good percentage of coffee drinkers out there who do precisely that. Some will grind coffee in the morning at home, and bring the grinds bin, all nicely sealed up, to work so they can brew a morning pot, and an early afternoon pot. To them, this grinds bin lid is fantastic.
Smart Grinder Pro Dosing Forks
Brilliant, honestly. Such a nice addition, and again, these don’t appeal to the single dosing crowd out there, or the folks who are measuring down to the 0.01g of coffee dosed out. But for the vast majority of coffee lovers seeking better tasting coffee by buying what is to them a high end grinder, the dosing forks are brilliant, as is the single touch back button to activate the grinder with a portafilter.
They attach magnetically (something the dosing forks on the Breville Dose Control Pro doesn’t have for its forks) and slot into place with a nice, re-assuring clunk.
Every 58mm portafilter I have works with the 58mm fork, though Gaggia PFs with their off-angle bayonets can be a bit tricky. Even the no-bayonet 58mm portafilter from the Superkop manual ratchet lever machine works well. Some require a bit more of a press to activate the grinder (like La Marzocco portafilters), some no effort at all (like Breville’s 58mm portafilter for the Dual Boiler). 57mm portafilters work too, but are a bit loose and some require hand holding.
For the 54mm fork, the Breville portafilters for the Bambino Plus, Barista series and Infuser fit best. I have a Krups with a 53mm portafilter and that fits nicely as well. The only portafilters that don’t work well are the 48-49mm models from La Pavoni and Elektra lever machines.
The built in sensors work every single time. Clunk the fork into place, and the LCD display reflects this and changes to 1 or 2 shot dosing. Move the grinding range into non-espresso (like drip) and the display will tell you to remove the forks and use the grinds bin.
Also, when the dosing forks are in place, the grinder will only let you set a single or double dose for the espresso grind range. If the grinds bin is in place, you can set the dosing range from 1 to 8 shots, each with its own programmed timer.
Why is this a good thing? Again, if you’re a moka pot user as well as a traditional espresso machine user, you can program in one double shot grinding time for your espresso machine, using the dosing forks. You can program in separate grinding time for your moka pot grinding, when having it grind out to the grinds bin. The machine will remember both timings individually.
Programming the Smart Grinder Pro
It takes some kind of engineering to make something relatively simple to use, with good visual feedback, but also offer a ton of advanced features if the user digs a bit deeper. The Smart Grinder Pro pulls this trick off.
For the coffee newb who just wants a good quality timer-based coffee grinder, all they have to do is dial in the time on the left dial, press the start/stop grind button on the right, and ignore everything else. The Smart Grinder Pro will just grind for the time they dialed in.
For the household that brews using multiple brew methods, the SGP allows for this too. The amount of timers built into the thing, and how the timers work with the grinder’s dose button make it a “set it up for any contingency of brewing” kind of grinder.
At the heart of the SGP’s setup is a memory bank that stores six “base” timer settings. All are completely independent of each other (meaning you can program them to any time you want), and four of the six will influence the grinder’s other timer settings once you change the dose size.
The SGP has sensors that detect if you have the portafilter forks in place or not. When the PF forks are in place, only two timer settings are available: 1 shot, or 2 shots (really should be “single” or “double”). You can adjust the timings for each of these two settings to anything you want, by dialing the timer dial, and pressing and holding it while your dose setting is set with the middle button. Unlike other timer settings, the 1 and 2 shot dose settings with forks in place are completely independent of each other.
If the forks are not installed, regardless of whether the grinds bin is in place or not, the four other base timer settings become available, based on what the grind fineness dial is set at. There’s one time for the espresso range. Another time setting for Drip grinding range. A third one for the “Perc” range, and a forth one for the Press Pot range.
The grinder stores the base (single cup or shot) memory for each of the four grind ranges, and then based on a rudimentary algorithm, saves the timer settings for all the other dose volumes for each grind range. Press, perc and drip have 1 to 12 cup dose settings in 1 cup increments. The espresso grind range has settings for 1 to 8 shots.
This means the Smart Grinder Pro stores 46 different timer settings. That’s a lot!
Even better, you can choose to adjust the stored time for any timer, at any dose setting. The SGP will automatically adjust all the other dose settings in that brewing method range, saving the new settings automatically.
The change in timings between doses is not linear either. It’s based on a rudimentary algorithm. If you have the drip grind timing set to 3.4 seconds for 1 cup, the 8 cup setting is 26.6 seconds. If it were a linear, equal adjustment, it should be 27.2 seconds, but the grinder’s designers realised there’s some grinding time gained or lost in the start up and wind down of the grinder’s motor, and designed the timer algorithm to compensate.
Espresso Doses
Wait… did I just type that the Smart Grinder Pro has timer settings for up to 8 shots of espresso? How big is that portafilter, right?
I covered this above in the Grinds Bin section, but that setting ability is for people who enjoy moka pot coffee (which they call “espresso”). In fact, way over half the “espresso” range on the grinder is not suited for any 9BAR capable espresso machine. But it is capable for moka pot, or fine AeroPress grinding.
Since there are moka pot brewers ranging from 2 cups to 8 cups, it makes sense that the SGP has programmable settings up to 8 “shots” when the grinds bin is used. Of course, if you don’t grind for moka pot, you can just set the timer for 1 and 2 shots (grinds bin used) espresso to suit your high powered espresso machine’s needs, and ignore the 3-8 shot dose settings entirely.
As if the obvious functions and features of the Smart Grinder Pro weren’t enough, there’s some lesser known ability and also some undocumented (in the manual) options built into this grinder to check out.
First, if you just aren’t happy with all the custom timer settings you’ve made with the grinder, you can factory reset it. Press and hold the shots/cups button until you hear a long beep, and all the timers will be reset.
Next, the grinder has its own manual mode, and it works similar to how the pulse button on the Baratza Encore, Encore ESP, and Virtuoso+ work. Press and hold the start/stop button; the grinder will start grinding, showing a count up timer (instead of a count down timer like normal). It will continue grinding until you release the start/stop button.
If you’re grinding full bags of coffee, keep in mind this grinder has a maximum 85 second grinding time. This is there to protect the motor, but also prevent you from completely overfilling the grinds bin. If you grind for 85 seconds, wait a good minute before grinding your next batch.
One of the best features if you just want to grind directly into a portafilter is the pause function. Once you’ve dialed in your grind time delivering your approximate chosen dose of espresso ground coffee, you can choose to pause the grinding midway, to adjust, settle, or knock down the bed of coffee. As long as you have the portafilter back in place under 10 seconds, and press the button again (including the portafilter-activated button), the grinder remembers where it left off in the timer, and completes the grind.
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Already in this review, I’ve peppered comparison talk here and there to other grinders. Back in 2016, I compared it to three grinders that are no longer available. I also feel this is one area where the video reviewers can do a much better job than I can, comparing grinder A to grinder B. I keep going back to the Alternative Brewing guy comparing the Smart Grinder Pro to the Niche Zero, and the SGP surprising him by beating the Niche in a head to head espresso shot pull.
During this round of testing, I compared the Breville Smart Grinder Pro to the Turin SK40, Turin SD40, Baratza Encore ESP, and the Lagom Mini. Only one of those grinders is a hopper grinder (the Encore ESP). All the others are single dose grinders, but with the exception of the Lagom, in the same price point.
I also compared the Smart Grinder Pro to the Breville Dose Control Pro (DCP). I wrote up most of those comparisons in the DCP’s review, which can be found here. Long story short: do not buy the DCP. Spend the few extra bucks to buy the SGP and get all the added features and benefits. Breville should retire (or update) the DCP at this point.
The Smart Grinder Pro was also heavily tested against the Baratza Sette 30 back in 2019 (review can be found here). I also compared it extensively to the Baratza Virtuoso+ for that grinder’s review, but will save those comparisons primarly for that review when published. Our Virtuoso+ First Look can be found here.
Vs. Baratza Encore ESP
On pure espresso use, the Baratza Encore ESP is going to win over the Smart Grinder Pro in several areas. First, the burr set is particularly suited to good espresso performance in the ESP. Second, the 20um adjustment between clicks on the ESP is much finer tuned than the SGP can offer. Third, though it’s not a single dose grinder, I feel the ESP can at least handle single dosing better than the SGP can.
Things are a lot closer outside of espresso with these grinders. In blind taste tests, the nod went slightly the ESP’s way. It was one of our closer taste tests, that’s for sure.
Where the Encore ESP takes the lead is after sales support and service. You should be able to self-service even a major repair on the Encore ESP a decade from now, because of how Baratza (ironically, owned by Breville) builds their products and stocks parts. Breville still is a “if it’s broke, throw it away” kind of company. Their warranty is first rate (they’ll just send you a replacement machine if it breaks in warranty, don’t even bother mailing the busted one back in some cases), but post warranty, you’re out of luck. You definitely cannot change the motor in a Smart Grinder Pro. You can with the Encore ESP.
The Smart Grinder Pro is the clear winner on controls. The timers specifically. If you know the grind speed is 2g/sec, and you want 80g for your 1.4l auto drip, just set the timer to 40 secs, press the button and walk away. With the Encore, you have to stand there and count the time down in your head.
The SGP also wins on more fine tuning in the non-espresso side of the grinder adjustments. You have about 35 clicks to play with, AeroPress to Press Pot. You only have 20 or so on the Encore ESP.
Verdict: Smart Grinder Pro is the preferred choice, unless 75% of what you brew is espresso.
Vs. Turin SK40 / SD40
I’m not entirely comfortable comparing single dose grinders to full bag grinders, but since these are all in the same price range, here goes.
On espresso: the SK40 wins over both the SD40 and SGP by virtue of its stepless grind adjustment and grinding speed. The bellows clear out any retention too, another big win. But the SK40 is clumpy in its output, messy and lots of static. Way more than the SGP. This can be remedied by using the RDT (ross droplet technique) on the whole beans, and WDT on the finished grind.
The burr set in the SK40 is also superior for espresso when compared to the 10+ year old design SGP burrs. I did five blind taste tests, and the SK40 beat the SGP every time, albeit by small margins. The SK40 shots were just more expressive, and visually, using a chopped portafilter, more even with less channeling.
The SK40 and SD40 also do a really good job at V60 / pourover grinds. The particle distribution, tested via Kruve Sifters, is tighter (the Turin grinders produce less fines) and paper filter brewed cups are less muddy in the slurry. The new burrset (8 point conical burr) in the Turin grinders is doing a very good job.
The problem with the SK40 vs the SGP is that it takes forever with the stepless worm drive to adjust from espresso grind to V60 grind levels. The SD40 has its own issues, with the click ranges on it being bigger jumps than the SGP’s adjustments. If you find yourself wanting to go only ¼ click finer on the SD40, you can easily achieve that grind setting on the Breville grinder.
Of course, the Breville beats both grinders hands down on grinding anything more than 35g in capacity. If you like that big pot of auto drip in the morning for your family, forget the SK40 and SD40 entirely.
Verdict: For straight espresso, or solo home coffee making, the SK40 is the best choice of the three. For families or different batch brewing, I’d lean to the Breville.
Vs. Lagom Mini
Again, an unfair comparison because they are wildly different grinders serving different needs. The Lagom Mini is also double the price. But it also happens to be one of the best espresso and pour over grinders I’ve used in the past year.
On pure quality in the cup, the SGP cannot touch the Lagom Mini. Beautiful espresso performance, luscious and rich V60 brews, even a good press pot brew, all from the Mini. Usually I have to think a bit when blind taste testing V60 brews before deciding which one is the better brew. With the Lagom Mini vs the SGP, I knew which was which from the first sips.
The Mini has none of the conveniences of the SGP. No batch grinding. No timers. Takes 50 seconds to grind 18.5g of coffee for espresso (vs 13sec for the SGP); can’t use it more than 5-6 times a day. It’s even hard to remember grind settings on the Lagom Mini’s dots-only indicators (putting stickers on the Mini helps).
Verdict: For purists looking for taste and only taste, the Lagom Mini destroys the Smart Grinder Pro, at double the cost. For general household use, the Lagom Mini is not suitable.
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I decided to re-write the Breville Smart Grinder Pro review for CoffeeGeek because this grinder seemingly gets very little respect out there from the more popular influencers. That’s just wrong.
Does the SGP produce a grind output as good as the Turin DF64 Gen 2 or Baratza Sette 270Wi with the Etzinger engineered burrs, burr collar and fluffy output mechanisms? Heck no. Does it produce better output than the Niche Zero? I would have guessed no, but based on at least one reviewer recently, it does and can.
When I do these reviews, I like to remember target markets. The Smart Grinder Pro isn’t meant for the fellow on the Reddit espresso subs that thinks he can tell the difference between a shot pulled at 205F and 203F. It isn’t meant for the person with a Mahlkonig EK43 grinder sitting on their side shelf.
This grinder is an entry point to quality coffee. It is designed with this kind of consumer in mind: someone who thinks $200 is a shit ton of money to spend on a coffee grinder. For that audience, this grinder not only delivers, but it will probably help deliver the best tasting coffee they ever had.
The Smart Grinder Pro is feature packed. It accommodates every major type of brewing method with a decent amount of ability. It’s nowhere near the best grinder at specific tasks at this price point, but it hits the “good enough” mark almost every time. Those other grinders may excel at espresso grinding, or pour over output, or in speed, but they lack, sometimes severely, in other areas the Smart Grinder Pro is “good enough” in.
So yes, a jack of all trades. And pretty good at most of them too.
I would like to see Breville update the Smart Grinder Pro, matching some expectations people have of grinders in 2024 and beyond. Even basic improvements, like a re-engineered burr group and improving the retention situation would be welcome. A bigger change would be moving to a torque-heavy DC motor.
Just the fact that the SGP lists “perc” both on the LCD panel and on the grinds bin is almost abhorrent, and really screams for an update.
Still, I have to give additional props to the fact that it’s available in a lot of very cool colours (see all of them below!). This is a recent trend with other makers (Gaggia and Eureka for example, with a rainbow of colours for the Classic and Mignon lines), but Breville’s been doing this for nearly a decade now.
As it stands today, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro remains an excellent entry point grinder. At $200, it hits (barely) our “very recommended” standard. If you can find it for around $150, it becomes a “best of class” grinder.
You can do far worse, or spend a lot more money to do marginally better.
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DesignDesign is a bit dated now, but the wealth of colours available rank it sper high.
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UsabilitySome people find the interface complicated, but it’s actually a very easy to grinder to use, especially if you only want to use the timer manually.
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FeaturesTruly a Jack of All Trades grinder, offering something for every coffee brewing method. Some features remain unique to this day.
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PerformanceBoth the burrs and motor could use an overhaul or redesign. Motor sounds very strained at times.
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Value vs. CostFeature packed, lots of added features, and a really good overall output make this a bargain in today’s quality grinder market.
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Quality of BuildLike many Breville products, some parts are class leading, others are the cheap route. The LCD display’s viewing angles for example, are very poor based on a cheap LCD.
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Service / WarrantyBreville still has some tricks to learn from Baratza on after sales service, but they do sell parts dirt cheap!
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Included in the BoxAs usual with Breville, the grinder comes with extra goodies, plus the dosing forks and grinds bin are nice.
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Resale ValueYou can probably recoup up to 65% of the full retail price when selling used.
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OverallA well thought out product that was state of the art when introduced, could use a refresh.
