I’m a 3+ year Sette 270Wi user. I was looking to upgrade due to reliability issues (two gearbox failures.) I got a Niche Zero but sold it because of how much it mutes the brighter notes. Then I got a Eureka Atom 75 which has good brightness, due to the large flat burrs, but lacks a bit of body so I returned it. The Sette 270 just hits the right balance of flavors. I guess I’ll just have to deal with replacing the gearbox ($40 part) every 18 months. If you intend to single dose don’t bother getting the 270Wi. Save your money and get the standard Sette 270.
A tip,, I packed settes gearbox full with lithium grease and it sounds much better,,, I will open it up again after a period and just fill it again as I guess ït vill relocate . Im pretty shore this will make the grinder last. The Niche Zero also has plastic gearbox,,,, my ebike hubmotor also has it,,,. The main best with sette is the fluffiness ITS WORLD-CLASS!
I feel like WDT is a must for all grinders. Some benefit more, of course. I was considering Sette, but numerous reviews where it broke down and disassembly videos with melted plastic gears decided for me basically. They all said that Baratza has an amazing customer support, but that does not apply where I live. My friend actually had Sette for about six months before it broke down (one shim installed). He returned it to the store and got a full refund, because they had to wait for a long time to get the gearbox from Baratza and fix it. It was an amazing grinder, but this situation kind of turned him away from buying a second one. Here, Sette and Eureka are actually very similarly priced. Both about 400 euros. IMHO Eureka is built to last and feels like a solid product. No gears, direct drive, quiet and has very good single dose potential. If Baratza used actual metal for its gearbox, instead of plastic, I would consider buying it (even for a higher price).
Even with wdt I had done some tests and the sette is still more consistent. But I agree with you it seems less well made I put that in the description above. At the end of the day they are both great grinders but I had to say which one makes better coffee at the end of the day. I’d say if they were the same price my opinion would be very different
I’ve replaced two motor/gearbox assemblies on my 3 year old Sette. Sucks but I really haven’t found anything that gets close to the 270’s grind quality for the money. So I put up with replacing the $40 gearbox every ~18 months.
ive had one for like 4 years and it makes good coffee, but there is no question is is cheaply built and the grind adjustment is constantly moving on me. it also seems to loosen up over time, even with 2 shims i have the grind setting almost to its lowest point now, where it would have been about half way when i first got it.
My Sette 270 only retains about 0.02g of coffee on average. I've never had it retain more than that. Quite negligible. WDT I think helps. I use OCD as well to make sure of even distribution on the top of section of the grinds. Sette is probably the best value when it comes to grinders. And BTW, Baratza stands behind its grinders, even when out of warranty. After 5 years I had a circuit board go out and later on the gear box stopped working. They replaced both quickly and at no charge. The Sette is easy for DIY repair.
Yeah I have really enjoyed my settle I still use it and hasn’t screwed up thus far. I will say I’m really looking forward to the new eureka libra to see if that might be my new go to.
I’m hearing a lot of complaints on the Baratza line. The good thing about Baratza is their machines are made to fix at home. Most cases they don’t need junked and can be repaired. Just replace a part here and there. I just fixed my Virtuoso. It was rather simple and they have online instructions.
@@JoeyVaracalli about a month ago, just experimenting , with different types of sugar , eg coconut sugar, brown sugar and different types of honey 🍯 in coffee
I don't think you actually emptied the Eureka. When you do a test, be sure to think it through, and be critical of your ideas. For a true retention test on a eureka, you need to take the top off. Then use a blower and a brush to empty out the coffee. I would guess it holds more coffee back than the Sette. You should also WDT when you compare those 2 grinders. Sette will always come out fluffier and the Eureka will be more clumpy. Why not give it the best chance of success..... There will still be differences between a conical and a flat...
My point in not doing wdt is that I want to compare the grinders and it’s ability to do the work for you. I have used plenty of flat burr grinders in the past that were as fluffy and more fluffy then the sette. I think testing that is good. At the end of the day wdt is fixing what the grinder couldn’t do for your
@@JoeyVaracalli I saw that part, but WDT should always happen, it's a 10 second investment. I just wanted to comment because I watch a lot of these reviews, and there is a time commitment, so when the tests turn out to not show useful results I just wanted to give some feedback to maybe heighten the value for the viewers. As I mentioned the difference will still be there in flat vs conical, but omitting the WDT will muddy that result. Anyways thanks for the review. I have the Sette 270W and the Eureka Mignon (previous old model) and I taste a lot of difference even with WDT
@@esbenrasmussen4289 yeah I’m my finding I found that wdt made a massive difference on the euros but almost zero difffrebce on the sette. But I agree with you I could do a wdt and a non wdt to sho the differences
@@JoeyVaracalli I think you made the right call. If you have to perform a series of additional steps to put a grinder on the same level as the other, then what does it say about that grinder? I'm torn between buying a Eureka Silenzio and Baratza 270. On one hand the 270 is loud, made of plastic and plenty of people have experienced reliability issues. On the other hand, the retention issue of the Eureka seems like bad design that I'd have to fix by using the WDT or buying bellows.
The Baratza has always been seen as a fantastic grinder for it's function and the grinds it produces so not a big surprise on the results in the cup, the big issue with it is the build quality and the amount of plastic in the internals. It hasn't got a great reputation for reliability and longevity.
Yeah agree I did mention that in the description. But I have had mine for a year now with out issues so it was hard for me to sy it’s not as reliable. But certainly the build quality isn’t as good
@@Thetache totally agree with you that’s my point Is I haven’t had enough experience with it to truely say that it doesn’t last. All I could say is one has a better build quality which should equate to longer lasting
Thank you for your honest opinion I have a old commercial style locking Bella but the hopper is broken and it's hard to find a replacement so I'm looking for a new one and I'm looking between the baratza 270 and the Eureka specialty this really helps me out although my wife likes the look of the Eureka better
Yeah I should have mentioned in the video that the specialita it’s a better looking and higher quality build materials. But at the end of the day for me I was looking for which made the best espresso and its hands down the sette which I really wasn’t expecting
@@JoeyVaracalli but why? Your testing is about the ACTUAL grinding results etc. without any video or other influence... I think even with WDT the results were similar or identical
Hi nice review, I’m using 270WI, but my weight is playing up, I’m just using it as single dose, so every time I use, I just using the manual mode. So in my opinion if you are using single dose, just buy the 270, and it’s lot cheaper.
I've thought of buying the Sette 270 several times. The durability issue is the deal breaker. Last week I've decided to buy the Specialista, after trying several grinders. It will arrive in 3 more days from Amazon.The Specialista grind retention seems so much better than other expensive Zero retention grinders. At 55 mm flat burr grinder is a good compromise for single dosing, thus much less retention. The larger the grinding wheels the more retention, theoretically.
Idk the df64 isn’t that expensive and is compatible with Ssp burrs. But the specialita is a great grinder beautiful and super quite with good capability
Pretty cool the Sette cup holder can hold your little shot glass! I use a shot glass to measure (usually) 18g of coffee as well! From my testing with the Specialita, I found it does have a lot of retention (about 2g) if your using a bellows to blow it out, however, most of that is stuck in the chute and not really being exchanged which means it doesn't affect much. I think it's about 0.8g actual exchanged retention which I never found affecting anything for me. My Specialita grinds came out pretty fluffy usually. I think your declumper might need an adjustment maybe. People do comment on how nice and fluffy the Sette grinds are. I don't remember seeing my Specialita have clumps like that (not sure if it really affects anything after tamping though). For the taste test ideally you want to get an idea of how they differ from a bunch of shots / coffees. 4g difference can make a big difference! I've had lighter roasted coffees where I'm brewing 18g in 36g out and it's too acidic, I do it again with 39g out, and super balanced.
I think your retention test was a little bit flawed. In my mind, retention is almost strictly what it's retaining between each grind. If I put 10 grams into my Breville SGP, I get 10 grams out, but maybe up to 0.5-1 gram of that is exchanged coffee from a previous grind. If a coffee grinder always retained more coffee, then there will be an infiitely growing store of coffee inside the machine, which doesn't make much sense. A better test is to disassemble the grinder completely and clean the burrs of any grounds, then testing to see what the retained build up that gets exchanged is.
With any grinder you want to have the burrs running while adjusting finer, you're physically moving the burrs closer so if there's a fragment of coffee between the burrs (which is very likely) it's not going to be able to adjust properly. Also Eureka grinders are a lot more dependable than Baratza.
I am sorry I do not mean to be critical as I admire and applaud all who do these videos. I would just be a bit more organized specifically respecting the state of the grinders and weights . I did enjoy the video regardless. Cheers
Thanks del i really appreciate the feedback. I'm not sure what you mean by the state of the grinder but i can definitely give the weight of the coffee i'm dealing with
The Specialita without the bellows and the single-dose hopper is a very low retention grinder. I consistently get 18 grams in and 18 grams out most of the time.
Also, I agree on the brightness. You’ll pick up more brightness with a conical bur grinder than you do with a flat bur one. I taste a little bit more chocolate in my coffee with my Eureka grinder.
@@NickAlbano253 it’s super expensive I built one and tested using it on both machines it made virtually no difference on the sette and made a huge difference on the specialita
I have tried just wdt with and without distributor I didn’t notice much difference but I will say without the distributor I noticed occasionally I would ramp one side to much and have in even extractions. Didn’t happen all that often but occasionally
@@JoeyVaracalli The Baratza doesn't look too bad, but I feel the Eureka grinder is capable of an even distribution. Recently, I started paying more attention to even extraction and realized more (good) flavors are being extracted.
Feels like you're trying to push the Sette? You said that the Sette was channelling more when the shot was coming out but then blamed a bitter taste on the clumping in the Specialita?
Yeah it had one spirt but then recovered so it was pretty minimal and actually the more I’m finding out about the difference between conical and flat burr the more I would say it’s about flavor profile more so then the clumps. At the time of recording this I just didn’t have enough experience with both type of burr sets. I’m not trying to push one over the other But if it helps you understand my position more I returned the mignon cause I just didn’t like the work flow and flavor as much weight based grinding is much quicker and easier to dial in and generally I have found I like the flavor profile of conical burrs over flat burrs and I’m not the only one with that opinion Sprometheus also has that opinion. Where as James Hoffman prefers flat burr flavor over conical so it’s really all personal preference
Interesting comparison with a surprising conclusion. I bought a factory refurb Sette 270 Wi a couple of months ago as I got into serious home espresso with a La Pavoni and lately a PID/9-bar Gaggia Classic Pro. Single dosing with a little 3d printed hopper from Etsy. I've been super happy with it. Tonight I'm picking up a barely used La Spaziale Dream with a Eureka Mignon Silenzio. I'm going to sell one of the grinders and the GCP, and I assumed it would be the Sette. Though I'll be doing my own taste tests of the two before I make up my mind. I'll definitely be a bit more open-minded about keeping the Sette after your impressions. Thanks!
So, how did things end up for you? I have GCP with the same mods and Flair Pro 2 instead of La Pavoni that you had. I'm not worried about Sette's output, but the build quality scares me a little bit.
Thanks for the video. This helps a lot. I’ve been torn between the flexibility of the 270 (macro adj from espresso to pour over) vs a “better” quality espresso grind of the Eureka since I do mostly espresso. Now it seems the Eureka only beats the 270 in build quality/durability and aesthetics. Any thoughts on the Baratza’s durability?
Unfortunately, the Baratza is a shocker with durability. A quick google and you'll find hundreds of examples of the gearbox failing because it is made from plastic. It happened to me so I'm sending it back for a refund and getting the Eureka.
@ Tom Francis Yes, I have since googled the Sette and am blown away by the numerous comments on it breaking down so quickly. Like EVERY owner comment. Some were obviously turned off and others okay with the support and just fixing it themselves. So I ordered the Eureka. Decided I will single dose so just went with a Notte. I will likely wdt. From what I read they last like 10 years. I would have to buy about 3 Settes in that time making it a very expensive grinder. Plus I like the look of the Eurekas. And even though the Notte is a loud one in the Mignon family, I kinda like the sound. The Sette sounds like the motor is laboring vs a more tin rattle sound.
I think even if you take 2 -3 shots back to back from sette will not taste the same! Coffee it's not perfect to be able to be that precise. In uk the specialita is 350 pounds and the sette wi is almost 500.
Thanks for the video. I own the Specialita for about 8 months now. I started noticing problems with it when I opened it to clean it. First I thought it was the misalignment and I fixed it but even now, I can only get my 20-25 second extraction when the burrs are touching each other. No one talked about this on RU-vid and I don't know if that's normal or not. Where do you get your sweet spot? The local dealer won't look at it as long as it's still grinding and running. So that's useless.
@@JoeyVaracalli I did. I got better results but I still have to go around 0.5 a mark pressing them together to get my dose timing. I don't know about coffee taste since I'm using new coffee now. It tastes ok but not so good.
@@mohannadaljishi7196 yeah that’s a real bummer I know the numbers kinda don’t indicate anything since you can keep turning it around and around until it touches but yeah unless your coffee is super stale it should be working for u
To measure how many grams out vs. how many grams in is not a good way to measure retention. However, it is a good way to (indirectly) measure consistency. If a grinder consistently retents the same mass of coffee between the burrs+in the grinding chamber+in the chute+wherever else, then it should grind consistently. However, getting the same mass of coffee out as you put in does not say anything about the (consistent) mass of coffee that is retained by the grinder.
@@JoeyVaracalli that's a good question and I would be a liar if I told you that I have a final answer. Maybe deep cleaning the grinder and weighting grams of coffee out vs grams of coffee in; then the difference would all be due to the grinder retention. I just got my Specialita' and I am trying to familiarize with it. Then, I will try to measure retention and report back; in the meantime if you have any suggestions they are most welcome. Did I say congrats for your effort and video? I should, it is a really good one! :)
I had a Eureka Atom 75. I could be under 1.5g one shot and over 1.5g the next. I assume the coffee is getting lodged inside the burr/chute area and something is causing it to get pushed out.
Tough comparison being ones a conical and ones a flat burr. With that said WDT should be replacing the distribution tool on both workflows to get rid of all the channeling on both. Had a 270 and sent it back after it broke 2 times in one month, wasn’t bad but poorly built with plastic parts. Have had a specialita coupled with my la spaziale for over a year and it’s a workhorse for sure. Grind,WDT, tap slightly and tamp and will yield you with zero channeling as long as you tamp evenly.
Yeah if there was a reaonably priced wdt tool that I could spin like I do with the distributor then I would switch but for this test I wouldn’t wdt that way we are getting a closer estimation of how good each grinder is. I will say using the puck screen it minimizes the channeling as well. Honestly I might just build my own wdt tool and possibly sell them if I can come up with a decent homemade design
It was less consistent in my testing and in Murphy’s testing I’m not sure how you got that out of this review. Also if that was true about flat burr the niche zero would be worse then the mignon and people go crazy to get the niche and often pay over Msrp for it.
@@JoeyVaracalli have you done the Sette vs Niche? I single dose on Mignon and the popcorning has a bad affect. I think that's where the burr size doesnt always correlate to better grinds or drink in the end.. please let us know what you think.
@@ash2joker I have not because I don’t own the niche but I know it basically the best single doser out there it’s really what put single doesning on the map
Hahahahahahahahaha yeah I mean clearly this is just a fun thing to do. I enjoy it and others I guess seem to like the information and opinion. Was there something you felt I could do better I’m always looking for feedback
@@JoeyVaracalli just ignore these troll comments. I and many others appreciate what you do. These type of insulting comments only account for .001% of your viewer base. Keep up what you do! I can see the passion you have for the craft and I enjoy watching your videos!
