Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder
Price:


Product Feature
- 25 Grind Settings for french press, drip, percolator, and espresso coffee.
- Backlit LCD Screen clearly shows grind setting, number of cups or shots and customized grind amount.
- Auto dosing system calibrates each adjusted dose
- Bean Hopper with air tight lid and locking system for easy removal storage and transfer of coffee beans.
- Accessories include two portafilter cradles, grind contanier and conical burr cleaning brush
Product Description
Why the Breville Smart Grinder?
Making perfect coffee starts with a precise dose of freshly ground beans. How do you get the amount you need for the grind you select? The Smart Grinder with Dosing IQ automatically calibrates each dose every time you adjust the grind.
Other Features
The Breville BCG800X Smart Grinder has a backlit LCD screen that clearly shows grind setting, number of cups or shots, and customized grind amount. A removable grinds catcher catches grinds that spill over, and the cord wraps around the base for easier storage. All parts that come into contact with coffee are BPA free. Smart grinder accessories include two portafilter cradles (one large 58mm and one small 50/54mm), grind container with sealing cap, and a cleaning brush for the conical burrs.
Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder Features:
Dosing IQ
Dosing IQ technology automatically calibrates each dose every time the grind settings are adjusted, so you have precisely the amount of grinds needed no matter how fine or coarse the grind size.
Bean hopper
The BCG800XL Smart Grinder bean hopper has a capacity of 1 pound, with an air-tight lid and locking system. The hopper is removable from the grinder base, so can easily be used to store beans at the correct temperature.
Precise grind settings
Different types of coffee preparation and different kinds of machines require different sizes. Choose from 25 precise grind settings from the finest espresso to the coarsest French press grind.
Hands-free grinding
Hands-free grinding allows you to grind directly into a portafilter, grinds container, gold tone filter basket or paper filter, for more efficient grinding.
Conical burrs
Unlike blade grinders, the BCG800XL's stainless steel conical burrs minimize grinding heat to protect the essential oils in the coffee bean.
Manual Adjust
Want a little bit more ground coffee? Want a bit less? The Smart Grinder also allows you to manually adjust the preset amount calculated by Dosing IQ to suit your personal taste.
Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder Review
This was my husband's "BIG" gift for the holiday (2010), and he hasn't liked a gift this much in a very long time! He likes to think he is a coffee buff, but never had a burr coffee grinder before, and after comparing model after model, name brand after name brand, I chose the Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder for his gift.We used to have a nice $50 Cuisinart grinder for years, and it still works well, but the noise it produced was horrifying (and I am NOT exaggerating, the NEIGHBORS even knew we were up when they heard the grinder, we live in a 2 story single family home), and the coffee grounds my husband left all around the machine when he removed the grounds bin was a daily annoyance. That coffee grinder has been cleaned & now happily residing at his office, where they can enjoy the mess and the noise, and a pretty good cup of coffee.
Now you wouldn't think that switching grinders would have an overall impact in the coffee quality, but did it ever! The coffee tastes so much richer, fuller and more aromatic than before! Even our 23 year old son said "Wow mom, this coffee is good, did you switch beans?" Was he surprised to find out all we did was switch grinders!
NOISE: Minimal, I can't even hear it when I'm sleeping. Our old grinder running used to be my wake up call upstairs, on the second floor, in the opposite corner of the house! The Breville's noise is semi~pleasant, like another reviewer stated, and not annoying at all, almost comforting. Happily, the noise just stays in the kitchen now, so only the smell of great coffee wakes me up on the opposite end of the house, YUM!
MESS: Zip, ziltch, nada. I am very pleased that the coffee grounds are housed safely & neatly in the attractive container. No issues with grind mess everywhere.
COST: OK.. can't find it anywhere below $199. I compared a lot of models out there, the two I ALMOST went with were the Kitchenaid $160~ish dollar model (Kitchenaid reviews weren't as good, and there was mention all over the internet about bulk and footprint of the machine), and the cheaper Breville around $95 or so, but the grindings all over the place by a couple of reviewers was enough to turn me off of that model. I opted for spending a more, and got a great machine my husband absolutely loves.
SIZE: Smaller than I thought it was going to be, packs a big BIG tower of conical burrs for massive grinding power. Just takes up the same small footprint of our old Cuisinart model, but a bit taller, so no issues there.
LOOKS: Stylish and elegant. It looks like a sophisticated appliance that can take a lot of wear & built to last. We display it proudly next to our old faithful "BUNN" coffee maker.
QUALITY: No flimsy hardware here, it all performs & appears like it will last for years. Backlit display seems very durable as well, and is very nice to aide pinpointing the perfect grind. The conical burrs are super sharp, super tough, and plentiful. My husband was impressed.
CLEANUP: Not difficult. They provide a nice brush that does a good job, esp since we enjoy a dark french roast with some beans being quite oily. Have to clean it more often with those types of beans anyway. No issues here.
GRIND CHOICES: OK.. WOW is all I can say. The description says it all, pick your grind, pick the strength, pick the amounts, whatever. Tons of ways to tweak the grind out to your liking.
HOPPER: (Amended 1/5/2011) Know now, that this hopper is NOT completely 100% AIRTIGHT. Our old Cuisinart hopper lid was very loose, just sat there and if bumped could fall off, but Breville's hopper lid is tight, and holds a whole 1 pound bag of beans with ease. No need to constantly refill! As per a commentor's statement, this is NOT airtight, and they were disappointed. It has a tight lid on top, but the bottom I did not take into consideration (as the bottom of the hopper is open to the bur wheels and exit, thus not 100% airtight. Even though it can hold up to 1 pound of beans, the guide states it does not recommend storing the beans in the hopper. I must mention that since we've been using this for over a year now, & we go through a full hopper of beans about every 4 - 5 days, we've detected no loss in coffee quality as per our tastes. Even though we keep the beans in the hopper, and we use it 1 - 2 times per day, the coffee still tastes phenomenal in our opinion, from day #1 to day #5. I also agree that finding a completely sealed air tight bean storage on a grinder will probably be next to impossible to find.
There are a lot of other attachments & things to do with this, but I hit the highlights for what we use it for. Our morning cup of YUM, and boy did this ever deliver.
CONS: Haven't found any yet, other than the $199 cost. Only time will tell if this machine is as durable as we think it can be. But since it only had a few reviews, and I always go to Amazon first, I needed to write this to add it to the happy family of 5 star ratings for this grinder.
Hopefully, this will be the last grinder we will ever need for quite a L O N G time. We are amazed at everything about this machine & the coffee it makes.
Thanks Amazon members for putting the reviews out there, this helped us make a great decision.
UPDATE: (03/20/2012): I must also state that finding a similar priced grinder that matches this one, (in finished grind, features, performance and taste of the coffee), will be difficult to duplicate. We have had no disappointments in regards to this grinder.
Most of the consumer Reviews tell that the "Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder" are high quality item. You can read each testimony from consumers to find out cons and pros from Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder ...

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