Baratza Vario+ Coffee Grinder

After much research, the Baratza Verio + came out on top for a grinder within my price range. This grinder does a great job for an espresso grind, which is my primary grind. The virtually unlimited grind adjustments makes it easy to get the perfect grind for different beans, which I’m still experimenting with.

It’s a great grinder.

Great grinder but has a bit of retention and static.

Really hard to find anything that competes for the cost

Wonderful grinder. Cannot say enough about the Clive team. Great group of people very attentive. Enjoy all the tech emails that the Clive team sends out. Bravo!!

great support and guidance to get the most from this machine

A great upgrade from the Baratza Maestro. Very versatile for espresso or drip.

The first one had a broken drive belt. This one will not grind course. On a 4 setting it chokes the machine and at course the grind is still very fine.

I ordered this for my niece and her husband for a housewarming gift.. I needed it to ship in two days.. which Clive made happen!! My niece and her husband are thrilled with the grinder.. the customer service was excellent!! Thank you

I like the fine tuning ability.

It has taken us a while to adjust to this new grinder, as it has the ability to grind much finer than our previous Baratza grinder. Due to the finer grind, we are able to use fewer beans and actually are getting a smoother tasting coffee. Also, the quality of the machine is far better than the old grinder. At present we are using about 20% less coffee, and the grind is as coarse as we can get it, which is still quite a bit finer than the old grinder when it was set as fine as possible. We also like having the ability to set the grinder so it automatically grinds the correct quantity of coffee. and it has been very consistent in grinding the same amount every time. So far, we are truly happy with this grinder.

We love out Vario grinder for all the right reasons…easy to adjust, tough, quiet and baratza services them. Highly recommend. The white one looks great.

Fast delivery. Great performance of the product

Upgraded from the Encore and don't regret it. Great machine.

Received 1st Vario from Clive Coffee early March 2021. It arrived dirty so had to clean it. Called Clive and was told they did dial in service but it should have been cleaned prior to shipping. Ultimately returned it to Baratza as defective. Grinds were getting into interior of grinder and after a few grinding attempts it stopped grinding altogether. Received new grinder promptly from Baratza of March 26, 2021. Have had better luck with this grinder but it is very, very difficult getting dialed in for espresso. Believe what Clive Coffee says about being ready to use a full 16oz bag of coffee to get dialed in. I used 2× more than that! Grinds good for pour-over which as you know is not a critical grind. As summer arrived, I live in Indiana, switched to cold-brew buying it pre-ground from roaster. This last batch of cold-brew decided to try using Vario to grind it for course for cold-brew instead of buying pre-ground. Vario is not very good at grinding course! Talked to a Baratza representative and was told the Vario-886 with ceramic burrs is NOT good for cold-brew grind, that burrs just don't far enough apart. Wish I had known this before purchasing.
On another note, the two little prongs that hold the macro ajustment lever (handle) broke off on 9/22. Called Baratza to their credit they shipped replacement right away. Today is just 9/25 so haven't yet received the estimated delivery date is 9/27. I gotta say as an AP grinder I am not impressed. I probably should have stuck with my conical burr grinder. Unfortunately I gave away my conical grinder when I got Vario because I don't have space for 2 grinders. In future when going to cold-brew will buy pre-ground from roaster. Will only use Vario for espresso, pour-over and maybe French press. Although, since it (Vario) doesn't do course welll it may not be cause enough for FP either.
Another issue I have with Vario ceramic is that according to the manual on page 12 it says to calibrate with macro lever on 1 and to listen for change in sound of burrs at M on micro lever. The Clive video suggest 2Q as adjustment is factory adjustment. Which is it?

Just had this for a week. Previous grinders all conical burrs. This arrived with grind dust in the burrs. Emailed support after investigation determined it was calibrated by Clive and left dirty put back in packing for me to clean. I followed video how to clean it out.
Then used it to grind pour-over for last 4-5 days seemed to be ok. Today switched over to new beans for espresso set on E3 as suggested in Clive setup video and after final adjustment for grind size settled on L3. Pulled shot 18g in, 50ml out 33s. Not bad for first shot. Then all heck broke loose. Tried to adjust grind for slower extraction but adjusting to I3 I got nothing from grinder. After several grind attempts getting nothing out I did unclog procedure per Baratza video.
After reassembled got clumps and clumps of grinds out without putting anything in. Assume these were previous grind attempts but don't know where it was hiding since I just cleaned burr chamber thoroughly, I thought! These grinds were all warm and clumpy.
Longer story short tried several grind settings between L3 to L4 each choked the espresso machine. Finally using K5 got a 20g, 45g, 22s, much too fast. After wasting 1/2-16oz bag of not cheap beans I got tired will try again tomorrow.
I gotta say so far I'm not happy with this grinder.
As for Clive I tried reaching them twice today by phone and finally got call back at 7:23 PM est, 4:23 Portland time. Person I spoke with implied he didn't think I was running machine while changing the grind settings. I admit, I may have done that a couple times because I'm not used to using flat burr grinders. As I said all past grinders have been conical burrs. Maybe I should go back to conical burrs?

Very good grinder. Gets as fine as you need for espresso with most beans. We own 2 - one for caf and one for decaf. The one we use for decaf is, for some reason, slightly better. Bought at the same time, so the variation in quality (the decaf one grinds a bit finer and for some dry beans you really need it for a good pull) does worry me just a tiny bit. I just ordered some replacement parts (they are 6 years old) and was very pleased that a hopper that should cost $10 is actually $10. Nice to know the parts are easy to get since we're expecting these grinders to last us a long time.

I purchased this grinder for my husband for Christmas and he is loving it! It is precise, quiet, forgiving and very user friendly; and who doesn't enjoy freshly ground coffee!! Its everything I had hoped it would be for him!

I've used this at home for 10 years with a dual boiler machine. I can't compare grinders as this is the only one I've had but I'm very pleased with my espressos. Recently I had my first issue - a small lever part broke. The Vario was still usable.
Baratza is great - they're dedicated to keeping their products going. All the parts and instructions are readily available on their website. The machine is made to be easy to fix at home. They even offer a mail-in refurb service. I decided to replace the burrs, the small parts, and put on the upgraded portafilter holder. It's great to keep stuff working at home and out of the landfills. Thank you Baratza.

Super happy that I decided on this grinder. I use it several times a day. Either for drip grind (on 7_) and expresso shots (2_). It is easy, clean (I'm a neat freak) and simple to use. It could be a little quieter but seriously, you are grinding for 10-30 seconds for a shot or a full pot of drip. So easy to switch between grinds, and the Clive comments about pulling shots--one micro-adjustments changes the shot pull by 1 seconds is pretty dead on. Super! I find that sometimes I have to hold the porta filter in place, especially the bottomless version, but again we are talking 10 seconds. It is my first grinder so nothing to really compare it to, but I'm 110% happy.

Finally, I am making delicious espresso. Very easy to use.

Set up was pretty easy. Good instructions.
The fine settings of the grinders (special tool provided by Baratza) was a bit tricky...and hopefully was correct.
It did not take long to dial in the grind settings to match the Profitec 300.
Seems to be a good match so far. Been in use for over a month with 3 different blends/roasters....and no issues at all. Easy clean up. I don't think I would be achieving the results I'm getting if I'd have gone with a much less expensive grinder.

I upgraded to the Vario from the Encore, and I'm glad I did. Since I only drink pour over and drip, I changed the burrs from the stock ceramic to the steel. As a result, the particle size is extremely uniform for the medium grinds I need. Very satisfied with both the grinder, and the advice I got from Ben at Clive Coffee. Quality all the way!

This coffee grinder is a great tool for finding your favorite espresso and making it repeatable. The Vario works really well and performs way above its price point in the cup, to the point where you won_„Žt get better flavor unless you want to pay twice the price. It's a great machine!

This coffee grinder is a great tool for finding your favorite espresso and making it repeatable. The Vario works really well and performs way above its price point in the cup, to the point where you won’t get better flavor unless you want to pay twice the price. It's a great machine!

As an espresso enthusiast and someone who roasts at home I need a grinder that can easily switch from one type of coffee to another, a grinder that is easy to dial-in. I use my Vario exclusively for espresso, and always "single dose". For example, in the morning I might make one full-strength latte or Americano, followed by a half-caff or decaf drink. On weekends I often experiment with various home-roasted single origin shots, and blends. Since the Vario retains virtually no grounds and the controls are easy and intuitive, it's perfect for me. Like another user, I did need to adjust the grind setting (with the included wrench) after I had used it for a while with the included wrench. I think I've done that twice over the last couple of years. I only use this grinder to make espresso and haven't found it capable of switching between my tightly dialed-in espresso and, say, a French-press. I have an another grinder I use when I want to grind for drip coffee or French press.

I have had this grinder for just over a year and use it every day. I bought it hoping for something that would be able to grind for chemex and espresso, since I drink both frequently. If you're in a similar situation, I'd recommend just getting two grinders for the reasons I spell out below.

First the good--Overall, it is well made and sturdy. It gives a consistent grind and definitely has the range of adjustments to make any type of coffee you'd like. Having multiple presets helps me to make exactly how much coffee I need every time with only minor adjustments to compensate for the hopper being more or less full. The particle size is extremely consistent, and it seems to maybe be a little less noisy than other grinders I've used. It CAN function well for both chemex and espresso for the most part.

On to the bad--I have 2 major complaints. First, although going from espresso to chemex is never a problem, going the other direction is often a pain to get dialed in again for my espresso. I don't know that there's a way for a grinder to do that better, though; it just comes with the territory of trying to use one grinder for both. For that reason alone, I wish I had just gotten 2 grinders.

The second issue is with the flimsiness of the grind settings. In order to grind fine enough for espresso, I had to do some manual adjustment to the settings out of the box. For the most part, it works fine now. But every once in a while, the coarse adjustment will just pop from "1" to "2" in the middle of grinding, completely messing up my espresso. I think whatever mechanism is holding the burrs in place for the fine setting sometimes isn't strong enough to hold them there when grinding very fine for espresso. It doesn't happen all that often, but it's very annoying when it does.

The bottom line is that Baratza makes very good grinders, and this one is no exception. However, if you will be grinding for espresso AND something else, I would recommend getting two grinders if at all possible. If you don't have space for two, then you don't have space, but it's hard to make a cost-saving argument for this grinder (as I did) if you've already invested in an espresso machine. You need a good grinder to consistently get the most out of your machine.