Quick Answer: The Baratza Sette 270 (about $399.95) is the best Baratza grinder for most home baristas — its spinning-ring burr set offers 270 total settings (30 macro clicks times 9 micro positions, per Baratza) for fast, precise espresso dial-in. Want stepless adjustment and a digital display instead? The newer Encore ESP Pro (about $299.95, launched in 2025) is a genuinely different grinder from the stepped Encore ESP, not a relabel. Budget-focused buyers should look at the original Encore ESP (about $199.95), and anyone chasing flat-burr clarity or gram-accurate dosing should consider the Vario+ or Sette 270Wi.
Baratza has been Breville’s grinder brand since the 2020 acquisition, and it shows up constantly on this site — our espresso grinder pillar guide already names the Sette 270 its top overall pick, and our Encore ESP review covers the budget end of the lineup in depth. What’s never gotten its own breakdown is the full current Baratza range side by side, including the newer stepless Encore ESP Pro that most buyers researching the plain Encore ESP don’t realize now exists. Here’s how the lineup actually compares in 2026.
Baratza grinders at a glance
| Grinder | Best for | Burrs | Adjustment | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baratza Sette 270 | Best overall | Spinning-ring | 270 settings (30 macro x 9 micro) | ~$399.95 |
| Baratza Encore ESP Pro | Best stepless upgrade | 40mm conical | True stepless, digital display | ~$299.95 |
| Baratza Encore ESP | Best budget | 40mm conical | 40 steps, dual-resolution | ~$199.95 |
| Baratza Vario+ | Best flat-burr clarity | 54mm flat ceramic | 220 steps | ~$529.95 |
| Baratza Sette 270Wi | Best for grind-by-weight | Spinning-ring | 270 settings + integrated scale | ~$599.95 |
1. Baratza Sette 270 — Best Overall
Baratza Sette 270 Espresso Grinder
- Spinning-ring burr set with 270 total adjustment positions, per Baratza — 30 macro clicks combined with 9 micro positions each.
- Fast grind speed and low retention compared to conical designs in the same price range.
- Already the top pick in our wider best espresso grinder guide.
- Compact footprint built for espresso, not a dual-purpose drip/espresso design.
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The Sette 270 earns the top spot across both this guide and our wider grinder pillar for the same reason: its macro-plus-micro adjustment makes dialing in a specific shot time fast, without the fuss of a fully stepless dial or the imprecision of a basic stepped grinder. At around $399.95, it sits squarely between the budget Encore line and the pricier Vario+ and Sette 270Wi, and it’s the grinder we’d point a first-time prosumer buyer to if they only buy one.
2. Baratza Encore ESP Pro — Best Stepless Upgrade
Baratza Encore ESP Pro Espresso Grinder
- True stepless adjustment, replacing the dual-resolution stepped collar on the original Encore ESP.
- Digital display for dialing and tracking settings.
- Per CoffeeGeek's coverage, folds in features from Baratza's Virtuoso and Virtuoso+ line, which Baratza has been sunsetting.
- Launched in 2025 (per Daily Coffee News) as an expansion of, not a replacement for, the best-selling Encore line.
This is the honesty hook worth stating plainly: a lot of buyers researching the Encore ESP never find out the Pro exists, and assume it’s just the regular ESP with a screen bolted on. It isn’t. The Pro swaps the ESP’s stepped dual-resolution collar for true stepless adjustment, and per CoffeeGeek’s first-look coverage, it absorbs functionality from the Virtuoso and Virtuoso+ line as Baratza winds that family down — a real architecture change, not a relabel. At roughly $100 more than the plain Encore ESP, it’s the pick for anyone who wants stepless fine-tuning without jumping all the way to a flat-burr grinder like the Vario+.
3. Baratza Encore ESP — Best Budget
Baratza Encore ESP Espresso Grinder
- 40mm Etzinger M2 conical burrs with a dual-resolution grind collar — fine 20-micron steps for espresso, coarser 90-micron steps for filter.
- Low 550 RPM motor keeps heat and static down versus typical budget grinders.
- Covered in full in our dedicated Encore ESP review.
- Baratza's standard aftermarket-parts support, so burrs and motors stay available for years after purchase.
If $200 is your ceiling, the plain Encore ESP is still the safer buy over the Pro — you lose stepless adjustment and the display, but you keep the same repairable Baratza chassis and a real espresso-capable collar for $100 less. See our full review for exactly how it holds up against hand grinders like the 1Zpresso J-Max in the same price bracket.
4. Baratza Vario+ — Best Flat-Burr Clarity
Baratza Vario+ Espresso Grinder
- 54mm flat ceramic burrs across 220 adjustment steps — a different burr geometry than the rest of the Baratza espresso lineup.
- Ceramic burrs run cooler and resist wear differently than the steel burrs used elsewhere in Baratza's range.
- Steel-burr variant (Vario W+) exists but is tuned for filter coffee, not espresso.
- Larger footprint than the Sette line, with a removable grounds bin.
Every other grinder in this guide uses a Sette or Encore-family burr; the Vario+ is the outlier with flat ceramic burrs instead of conical or spinning-ring steel. Flat burrs are generally credited with more uniform particle distribution, which some home baristas hear as more clarity in the cup at the cost of a bulkier machine. At around $529.95, it costs more than the Sette 270 for a genuinely different grind profile rather than just more settings — worth it if you’ve used a flat-burr grinder before and know you prefer that character.
5. Baratza Sette 270Wi — Best for Grind-by-Weight
Baratza Sette 270Wi Espresso Grinder
- Same 270-setting spinning-ring burr set as the Sette 270, with an integrated scale added.
- Grinds by target weight instead of time, removing drift from aging burrs or inconsistent bean moisture.
- Roughly $200 more than the plain Sette 270 for the scale alone — no burr upgrade.
- Same macro-plus-micro adjustment range as the non-Wi Sette 270.
The 270Wi is a straightforward upsell: identical burrs and adjustment range to the Sette 270, plus a built-in scale so you dose by weight instead of timing a grind. Timed dosing can drift by a gram or more as burrs wear or beans age, which the Wi’s scale sidesteps automatically. If you already own a separate espresso scale and don’t mind weighing shots manually, the plain Sette 270 gets you the same grind quality for $200 less.
Baratza grinders, by the numbers
- 270 — the total adjustment settings on the Sette 270 and Sette 270Wi, per Baratza (30 macro clicks x 9 micro positions).
- $100 — the typical price gap between the stepped Encore ESP (about $199.95) and the stepless Encore ESP Pro (~$299.95).
- 2025 — the year Baratza launched the Encore ESP Pro, per Daily Coffee News, as an expansion of the Encore line rather than a replacement.
- 54mm — the flat ceramic burr diameter on the Vario+, versus the conical and spinning-ring designs used across the rest of the current lineup.
- ~$200 — the premium the Sette 270Wi commands over the plain Sette 270 for its integrated weight-based dosing.
Which Baratza grinder should you buy?
- Buy the Sette 270 if you want the best all-around espresso grinder in the lineup — fast, low-retention, and already our top pick in the wider grinder guide.
- Buy the Encore ESP Pro if you want stepless adjustment and a digital display without jumping to a flat-burr grinder.
- Buy the Encore ESP if $200 is your ceiling and you’re fine with a stepped collar.
- Buy the Vario+ if you specifically want flat ceramic burrs over the Sette line’s spinning-ring design.
- Buy the Sette 270Wi if gram-accurate, grind-by-weight dosing matters more than saving $200.
- Skip the Forte line until you can confirm current availability directly with a retailer — we found conflicting information on whether it’s still in production.
The bottom line
The Baratza Sette 270 (about $399.95) remains the Baratza grinder to buy if you only buy one — it’s already our top overall pick for espresso grinders generally, and nothing else in the current Baratza lineup beats its combination of speed, low retention and macro-plus-micro precision for the price. If you’re shopping on the cheaper end, don’t assume the Encore ESP (about $199.95) is your only option under $300 — the newer Encore ESP Pro (about $299.95) brings true stepless adjustment and a display that the plain ESP doesn’t have. Flat-burr fans should look at the Vario+ (about $529.95), and anyone who wants dosing handled automatically should consider the Sette 270Wi (about $599.95). For the wider field beyond one brand, see our best espresso grinder pillar guide.