Capresso Infinity - Coffee Grinder Info

Customer Review #1
"I've been through a couple of burr grinders - the Gaggia MM and a Melitta, so when it came time to buy a new one, I knew what I didn't want - a noisy, dusty grinder that wears out quickly. I've pretty much found it with the Capresso Infinity.

I did some reading, and depending on what you need, it's amazing how much you can spend for a burr grinder - they range up to $400 and beyond. The main features I was interested in, though, were available in the sub-$200 range. For my pump espresso machine, these features included:
>consistent, even grind - for better tasting coffee
>"reduction" gearing - where the grinder motor speed is slowed down without loosing grinding torque, resulting in less static and dust
>less noise - it's nice to have conversations while making coffee
>durable, long lasting quality - I wanted to keep my third grinder for longer than a year.

The Capresso Infinity has delivered on the first three points, and looks good regarding durability. It has commercial grade grinders, which produce an even, consistent grind. With the reduction gearing, it grinds with a nice, even drone - more like a diesel truck than a jet plane taking off. And the dust that used to fly everywhere is gone - the slower speed has virtually eliminated the static. I've found it easy to use as well - one twist dial that works like the old dial timers - twist to the time setting you want, and it grinds until the time expires.

NOTE - I did read where one person had a problem with the timer where he couldn't turn it off. That may be because he tried to turn it backwards, which is not what the directions recommend. To stop grinding, you turn the bean hopper to the "no grind" mode; otherwise, you can break the switch.

Overall, I am pleased with the purchase. The only real adjustment has been figuring out the proper grind level again. The "extra fine" settings will create a fine powder that is too fine for my machine. However, once I switched to the "fine" setting, it has worked great. The amazing extra benefit is how much better the coffee tastes - the fine, even grind makes for maximum flavor extraction. So matter what grinder you buy, go for one that grinds more evenly - you'll enjoy your coffee even more. For the price, I didn't find one that had the combination of features (and less noise and dust!) found in the Capresso Infinity."
- Actual review from Amazon.com

Customer Review #2
"

After intermittent research over the course of several years I decided to buy a Capresso 560 last year. All the reviews I had found for grinders under $250 were mixed, and I didn't want to pay that much. I had so much trouble finding a grinder I wanted to buy, that I am prompted to create an Epinions login just to report that I have had unqualified happiness with this grinder.

I am a detail oriented person, and have had no problems whatsoever with this grinder. No annoying buzzing or behavior. The grind is consistent, the burr is high quality, and there is no problem with static electricity holding coffee particulates in the grounds catcher. One hard rap over the sink and it is clean.

The timer that determines how long the machine will grind is not an ultra-high precision device, but it succeeds in meeting the requirements of what it should do. The way this is designed, you can store your coffee in the hopper if you like - you simply need to learn what timer setting grinds the amount of coffee you want. If you don't store your coffee in the grinder (like me), you will be glad to know that there isn't a lot of waste. You can switch to a different bean and expect the grounds to be 98% new bean. (i.e., The path the grounds follow from the burr to the grind catcher is short.) It is also easy to clean if you have the urge to purge that tiny bit of leftover coffee grounds from the last batch.

I have the black plastic version of this grinder. It does not feel flimsy or cheap to me. Close examination of the heavy, precision metal burr assembly would probably help soothe any feeling of cheapness you might experience if you are prone to that.

I use this grinder for very coarse French press pot grinding as well as extremely fine grinding for a vacuum espresso maker. I also bought one for my parents last year, and they have had no problems with it at all. They use it for drip brewing. If they had had any problems, I have no doubt they would have switched back to the blade grinder they had grown comfortable with over the last 10 years.

Maybe it is just me, but it seems that $90 is still too much for a grinder. However, since this grinder is much cheaper than the other quality alternatives; it is resoundingly a Best Buy!"
- Actual review from Epinions.com

Customer Review #3
"The Capresso 560 is about the best grinder for the money that I've seen, but it still has a nasty drawback, in my opinion.

On the plus side are the nice conical burrs, the reduced burr speed, a good range of grind settings with good consistency, a clear plastic bean container that lets you see what's going on in the grinding chamber, and the easily-removeable top burr that makes it easy to clean the grinding chamber.

The drawback (to me, anyway) is the significant amount of coffee that remains in the grinding chamber and exit chute when you're done grinding. The instructions say not to grind more than you're going to use in the next hour, because the ground coffee goes stale quickly and attracts other odors. Obviously, this will happen to the coffee left over in the chamber and chute, and you'll get that stale coffee with the next use of the grinder. Since you bought the grinder to get the freshest possible ground coffee with every brew, this seems to defeat that purpose.

So the 560 has a lot of good attributes, but it would have been MUCH nicer if the designers had been able to shrink the grinding chamber so that less coffee was left inside there after grinding, and to reduce the size of or eliminate the tunnel-like exit chute that retains grounds between uses."
- Actual review from Amazon.com

Capresso Infinity Conical Burr Grinder

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