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They moved the manufacturing out of Italy & made various other controversial changes. The 2015 version saw the removal of the 3 way solenoid valve, and it seems that Philips realised at this point that they were killing the machine that underpinned the reputation of the brand, and they appear to have made a decision to let Gaggia Milano look after the Classic without continuing to interfere. Phew! So here's an experienced product designer whose ideas wouldn't have been polluted deep-rooted knowledge of the way things are usually done, and the results speak for themselves! While most of the other grinders at this kind of level in the past are modeled on commercial grinders, simply because that's the way things are usually done – James appears to have looked at what the home espresso enthusiast needed and designed a grinder specifically to meet these needs. There's no sophisticated temperature control out of the box, you need to get into a temperature surfing routine to get beyond its temperature instability, but one of the biggest attractions of the Classic is the ability to mod it.
They're mainly stainless steel, and they're machine grade espresso machines, meaning that you can take them apart to maintain and repair them as you would a commercial machine, and the parts are mainly standard parts, easily accessible. Out of the box this isn’t a grinder for espresso using traditional baskets, however, it’s very simple to shim the burrs on this grinder. The only thing that was slightly controversial about the 2019 model internally, was the change in the OPV, and the fact that it can't be adjusted. This was soon fixed with the OPV mod kit from Shades of Coffee, it's about a tenner, and it takes minutes to fit, to change the OPV to 9 or 6 bars. You could single dose, and if you're single dosing (just throwing in the beans you're about to use) then you'll probably be fine adjusting the grind both ways while it isn't running, in which case two hands should suffice. If my budget was a couple of hundred quid, and I was purely grinding for espresso, I'd definitely have the Encore ESP on my short list.The one thing most (there are one or two exceptions) of these grinders have in common, though, is that they're all-rounder grinders, not specialist grinders, and most of them won't work with espresso with traditional baskets, which requires a finer grind. Mid Range & Upwards Burr Grinders
This looks like a smaller sibling of the popular DF64 and DF83 single-doser grinders and is sold by Turin & Miicoffee who also sell these grinders, but it's actually produced by a different Chinese manufacturer, so although this is an interesting grinder for the price, it's worth noting that it's not actually related to the DF grinders other than being sold by a couple of the same brands who also sell the DF64 & DF83.So if you were thinking of the Oscar 2, personally I’d strongly recommend having a look at the Sage Dual Boiler. https://coffeeblog.co.uk/db This is an interesting grinder from Melitta, for the price, it's the cheapest GBW (grind by weight) grinder on the market. The scales aren't the most precise, I've found they can be out by around a gram or so, but still, it's an impressive feature for the money, and for most people being around a gram out in a 30-gram dose really isn't a massive deal. It's not a Teflon coating, by the way, it's a coating called Exelia 3010-B242, a very dense and durable coating chosen for its ability to bond and remain bonded to the inside of the Aluminium boiler, its ability to stand up to extremely high temperatures and its anti-scale properties (meaning it's very difficult for minerals to latch on to). This coating is commonly used in commercial cookware and bakeware, I'm told. For brew methods like pourover, filter coffee machines, Aeropress and so on, you'll be able to grind fine enough, but still, I'd recommend going for a grinder with proper burrs if you can, as the improved particle uniformity these will provide, should translate into better cup quality.
The first thing to say about the DF64 is that it's a flat burr grinder, vs the conical burrs in the Niche Zero. The Zero has 63mm conical burrs, the DF64 has flat 64mm burrs. If you're someone who has a particular preference for flat burrs, then this may be something that draws you towards this grinder. I can't tell the difference in the cup between flat and conical, so it's not something that would make a huge difference to me personally.
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It's compact and solid, it's clearly very well built, it's quiet, the infinitely fine micrometric adjustment makes it great for dialing in, the two programmable doses are great, and it's very quiet and relatively mess-free. Out of the box without installing the spacers, this isn't made for traditional basket espresso. You usually have to spend a bit more money for an espresso capable grinder, if we're talking about traditional baskets and not pressurized baskets.
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