Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This review applies to the stainless steel model. We were looking for a stainless steel conical burr grinder with reduction gearing. There are few choices in a modest budget, consumer price range - many grinders more beloved of coffee geeks actually use disk burrs and grind fast enough to heat the beans. (All the Capresso Infinity models use stainless steel burrs with the upper burr set in nylon, it's the body material that differs). There are conflicting reviews, I will provide some data in an attempt to resolve them and help others decide if this is a good choice for them. Good: Produces a consistent even grind within the range we use (espresso to pour-over). It is quiet. It does not heat the beans. The burrs appear to be heavy steel of good quality. The hopper and bin are relatively cheap plastic and probably need to be treated gently. I think it is a good value for the price. Due to the design, grounds are retained under the nylon collar surrounding the upper burr, even after tipping the grinder forward and giving it a whap to knock the last of the ground coffee out of the chute. Investigation with different roasts, grinds, and a gram scale showed: 1) with a medium roast, dry bean, retention is minimal, almost nil when starting with a clean chamber 2) with an oilier dark roast, retention was 3 g starting with a clean chamber. The same amount was retained regardless of grind (coarse to fine) and quantity (60 g for pour-over or 15 g for espresso shot both retained 3 g) 3) setting the timer to run the grinder for a setting of "3" after the last beans disappear from the hopper decreased the retention to 2 g 4) after the first shot of 15 g was ground and had 15 g in -> 13 g out, the next shot was full weight (15 g in -> 15 g out) 5) I ground some rice (recommended to clean grinders) in order to visually determine whether the retained material is exchanged on the next grind, or stays put. The rice cleaned the chamber completely. So this didn't work as a way to test whether ground coffee left under the nylon collar is exchanged into the next grind. But it may be, meaning you would get coarser material mixed into your fine espresso grind or vice versa if switching grinds. Bottom line, should you buy this grinder? -yes if you want a conical stainless steel burr grinder that grinds at slow speed AND -you prefer medium-roast beans, which will not be significantly retained OR -you predominantly use one grind setting all the time OR -you are willing to disassemble and clean the grinder whenever you switch grinds and sacrifice a couple grams of the first grind after cleaning -No if your primary purpose is to dose dark roasted beans for espresso and you want to assure minimal retention of ground beans -No if you frequently prepare coffee by different methods thus switch back and forth between different grinds and don't want to fuss with cleaning each time you switch. I would expect with dark beans, the grinder would have to be cleaned regularly to continue to function well. Running 15 g of rice worked beautifully, or it's very straightforward to lift off the empty hopper, lift off the top burr, and clean the grind chamber and burr with a brush. You need to invest a couple bucks in a real brush in addition to the small brush provided. I don't understand the reviews about putting the burrs back upside down and getting them jammed. Either Capresso changed the design since those were written, or those folks need to pay a little attention when taking things apart & maybe snap a pic, because it seems fairly obvious. I have not experienced the static problems some users described, even with fine grind. I don't know if the stainless steel base reduces this problem. I would pamper the plastic hopper and timer; don't manually turn the timer off, just unplug and let it run down. I would suggest don't store beans in the hopper as the oil from the beans may change the plastic and make it more brittle over time, plus it's easier to clean the grinder if beans don't need to be removed from the hopper first.