Are you in search of the ideal coffee grinder that will elevate your daily brewing experience?
Look no further! In this blog post, we will compare two exceptional coffee grinders from Breville: the Dose Control and the Smart Grinder Pro.
These two models have gained significant popularity among coffee enthusiasts, but which one is the right choice for you?
Join us as we delve into the features, performance, and overall value of each grinder, helping you make an informed decision and achieve the perfect grind for your favorite cup of joe.
Here is the short answer: The Breville Dose Control Pro is recommended for budget-conscious individuals who prioritize precise control over their espresso grind. With 60 grind settings and affordable pricing, it’s ideal for those with tighter budgets.
On the other hand, the Smart Grinder Pro offers advanced features, such as programmable settings and an LCD screen, making it perfect for coffee enthusiasts seeking versatility and convenience, albeit at a higher price point.
| Specification | Breville Dose Control Pro | Breville Smart Grinder Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 20.4 x 16 x 34.2 cm | 22 x 16 x 39 cm |
| Number of Grind Settings | 60 | 60 |
| Burrs | 38 mm Stainless Steel Conical | 40 mm Stainless Steel Conical |
| Motor Power | 130w | 160w |
| Display Screen | No | LCD |
| Programmable Settings | No | Yes |
| Hopper Capacity | 12 ounces | 18 ounces |
Breville: Innovating Kitchen Appliances Since 1932
Before we dive into the comparison of Breville’s Dose Control and Smart Grinder Pro, let’s take a moment to appreciate the brand itself.
Breville, an Australian company founded in 1932, has been revolutionizing the world of small home appliances for over 90 years.
Renowned for its exceptional craftsmanship and innovative designs, Breville offers a wide range of products, including blenders, coffee machines, toasters, kettles, microwaves, and toaster ovens, all aimed at enhancing the cooking and brewing experience.
With a mission to make life easier and more enjoyable, Breville has earned its status as a global icon, delivering thoughtfully designed kitchen products to over 70 countries worldwide.
Since its inception, Breville has remained committed to pushing the boundaries of kitchen appliance technology.
The brand’s unwavering focus on innovation has propelled it to the forefront of the industry.
Over the years, Breville has gained a reputation for developing products based on consumer insights, ensuring that their appliances exceed expectations and empower users to accomplish tasks more impressively and effortlessly than ever imagined.
With a rich legacy that spans nearly a century, Breville has continually evolved and adapted to the ever-changing needs of its customers.
Breville’s journey in the realm of coffee began more than two decades ago. Recognizing the growing demand for exceptional home brewing, the company ventured into the coffee and home espresso market.
In 2013, Breville introduced a groundbreaking dual-boiler espresso machine specifically designed for domestic use, revolutionizing the way coffee lovers enjoy their favorite brews.
In addition, Breville formed a partnership with Nespresso, enabling them to manufacture high-quality coffee machines that combine Breville’s expertise with the convenience of Nespresso’s pod system.
More recently, Breville expanded its coffee expertise by acquiring Baratza, a renowned US-based coffee grinder company, further solidifying its commitment to providing top-notch coffee equipment.
Breville Dose Control Pro: Precision Grinding on a Budget
If you’re seeking a budget-friendly home espresso grinder that doesn’t compromise on performance, the Breville Dose Control Pro is worth considering.
While the Dose Control Pro may lack some of the advanced smart features found in the Smart Grinder Pro, it remains a reliable and versatile option for coffee enthusiasts, offering precise grind settings and consistent performance.
The Breville Dose Control Pro boasts an impressive range of 60 grind settings, ensuring you have full control over the fineness or coarseness of your coffee grounds.
This extensive range, similar to the Smart Grinder Pro, allows you to tailor your grind to various brew styles, from espresso to pour-over and everything in between.
With up-to-the-second precision, you can confidently extract the flavors locked within your freshly roasted beans.
Equipped with the same high-quality stainless steel conical burrs found in the Smart Grinder Pro, the Dose Control Pro delivers consistent and uniform grind sizes.
However, it’s important to note that the Dose Control Pro features a slightly less powerful motor, operating at 130 watts, resulting in a marginally slower grinding speed compared to its counterpart.
Additionally, the Dose Control Pro employs a plastic housing, which, while cost-effective, does give it a slightly less premium feel when compared to the Smart Grinder Pro.
While the Dose Control Pro shares many design similarities with the Smart Grinder Pro, it does lack some of the advanced features.
Gone is the display screen, replaced by a single central dial that allows you to adjust the grind duration in one-second increments.
While it may lack the sophistication of its counterpart, this simplified operation makes the Dose Control Pro user-friendly and straightforward, ensuring a hassle-free grinding experience.
Despite the absence of certain features, the Breville Dose Control Pro remains a dependable espresso grinder that delivers where it counts.
Its versatility and wide range of grind settings make it suitable for various brewing methods, allowing you to experiment and discover your preferred coffee flavor profiles.
While it may not offer the same level of premium aesthetics or advanced functionality as the Smart Grinder Pro, the Dose Control Pro excels in providing consistent grind sizes and above-average grind consistency within its price range.
Pros
- User-Friendly: The Breville Dose Control Pro is extremely easy to use, making it accessible for both novice and experienced coffee enthusiasts.
- Affordable Option: Priced lower than the Smart Grinder Pro, the Dose Control Pro offers excellent value for those on a budget.
- Superior Grinding Quality: With stainless steel burrs that match the grind quality of the Smart Grinder Pro, this grinder ensures consistent and uniform grounds.
- Extensive Grind Settings: The Dose Control Pro provides a generous selection of 60 different grind settings, allowing users to fine-tune their coffee grounds to suit various brewing methods and preferences.
Cons
- Slightly Lower Precision: While the Dose Control Pro delivers impressive performance, it may not offer the same level of precision as its counterpart, the Smart Grinder Pro.
- Absence of LCD Screen: Unlike the Smart Grinder Pro, the Dose Control Pro does not come with an LCD screen, which could limit visual feedback and customization options for some users.
Breville Smart Grinder Pro: Advanced Precision and Versatility
For coffee enthusiasts seeking a grinder that combines advanced features with exceptional performance, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro is an excellent choice.
With its extensive range of grind settings and thoughtful design, the Smart Grinder Pro elevates your coffee grinding experience to new heights.
Equipped with an impressive 60 grind settings, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro offers unparalleled versatility, catering to a wide array of brewing methods.
From espresso to French press and everything in between, this high-tech burr grinder ensures precision and consistency in every grind.
The Smart Grinder Pro embodies Breville’s commitment to excellence with its sleek and durable design.
Sporting stainless steel conical burrs, this grinder delivers consistent grind sizes while maintaining their sharpness over time.
The programmable grind settings enable you to save your preferred parameters, allowing for effortless repetition of your favorite brews.
Compared to its counterpart, the Dose Control Pro, the Smart Grinder Pro offers notable advancements that enhance the overall grinding experience.
With a slightly more powerful motor, this grinder achieves faster and more efficient grinding, ensuring minimal heat transfer that could compromise the flavor of your beans.
Additionally, the Smart Grinder Pro boasts an eye-catching LCD screen, providing visual feedback and customization options at your fingertips.
These upgrades, however, do come at a higher price point, making the Smart Grinder Pro a premium option for those seeking advanced functionality.
While the Smart Grinder Pro excels in most areas, some users have noted minor inconsistencies when grinding coarser settings.
However, these deviations are overshadowed by the grinder’s overall performance and versatility across a wide range of grind sizes.
As a jack-of-all-trades grinder, the Smart Grinder Pro is a significant upgrade over entry-level home coffee grinders, delivering precision and convenience that caters to the discerning tastes of coffee connoisseurs.
Pros
- Intuitive LCD Interface: The Breville Smart Grinder Pro features an easy-to-use LCD interface, allowing precise adjustment of grind size and dosing time, enhancing user control and customization.
- Excellent Grind Consistency: This grinder consistently delivers exceptional grind consistency, ensuring uniform particle sizes for optimal extraction and enhanced flavor in every cup of coffee.
- Impressive Espresso Brewing Support: Despite its reasonable price, the Smart Grinder Pro showcases impressive capabilities for espresso brewing, making it an ideal choice for espresso enthusiasts.
- Wide Range of Grind Settings: With its extensive selection of grind settings, the Smart Grinder Pro accommodates various brewing methods, from espresso to pour-over, French press, and more, offering versatility to suit individual preferences.
- Durable and Well-Designed: Crafted with quality components, the Smart Grinder Pro stands out for its durability and thoughtful design, ensuring reliable performance and longevity.
Cons
- Higher Price Point: The Smart Grinder Pro comes with a higher price tag compared to the Dose Control Pro, making it a more substantial investment for those on a budget.
- Inconsistency with Coarser Grinds: Some users have noted minor inconsistencies in performance when grinding coarser settings, although these deviations are overshadowed by the grinder’s overall capabilities and performance.
Breville Dose Control vs Smart Grinder Pro: Grind Settings
When it comes to grind settings, both the Breville Dose Control and Smart Grinder Pro offer a multitude of options to cater to diverse brewing preferences.
Equal in Grind Settings, Vast in Possibilities
Both the Breville Dose Control and Smart Grinder Pro provide an impressive array of grind settings, boasting 60 stepped options to accommodate a wide range of brewing methods.
Whether you crave a fine grind for espresso or a coarser one for French press or cold brew, these grinders deliver the flexibility needed to meet your desired extraction needs.
Manual Adjustments
Expanding the Range: Taking customization a step further, both grinders offer an additional ten manual settings on the top burr, effectively multiplying the available grind sizes to an astounding 600 grind settings. Now that’s a lot!
This manual fine-tuning feature allows you to fine-tune your grind to achieve the perfect balance for your preferred brewing method.
Smart Grinder Pro: Precision and Programmability
The Smart Grinder Pro offers a user-friendly approach to adjusting grind settings. With a simple turn of the dial located at the side of the machine, you can select your desired grind size.
The chosen grind size is conveniently displayed on the clear LCD screen, providing visual feedback for your settings. What sets the Smart Grinder Pro apart is its programmability feature, enabling you to save and recall your preferred grind settings.
By pressing and holding a button, you can easily store your preferred settings for future use, ensuring consistency and convenience in your brewing routine.
Dose Control Pro: Manual Adjustments with Simplicity
On the other hand, the Dose Control Pro offers a straightforward approach to adjusting grind settings. By turning the hopper, you can select your desired grind size from the available options.
While the Dose Control Pro offers the same 60 grind settings as the Smart Grinder Pro, it lacks programmability and a digital display. However, its simplicity and intuitive design make it easy to use and adjust on the fly.
Breville Dose Control vs Smart Grinder Pro: Burrs
Both grinders utilize conical burrs to deliver consistent and high-quality coffee grounds.
Precision and Protection: Dose Control Pro’s Stainless Steel Conical Burrs
The Breville Dose Control Pro is equipped with stainless steel conical burrs specifically designed to minimize heat generation during the grinding process.
These burrs effectively protect the delicate essential oils in the coffee beans, preserving the aromatic and flavorful characteristics.
With a diameter of 38 millimeters, these burrs may be smaller than those found in commercial grinders, but they still offer efficient grinding performance, swiftly chewing through the beans.
Consistency and Adaptability: Smart Grinder Pro’s Conical Steel Burrs
The Breville Smart Grinder Pro features 40-millimeter conical steel burrs that ensure a consistent grind size.
With their precision engineering, these burrs deliver uniform particle sizes, promoting optimal extraction and flavor in your cup of coffee.
While slightly larger than the Dose Control Pro’s burrs, the Smart Grinder Pro’s burrs provide reliable and repeatable results.
Convenience and Customization: Adjustable Top Burrs
Both the Dose Control Pro and the Smart Grinder Pro share the convenience of easily removable top burrs, facilitating cleaning and adjustment.
Removing the top burr requires no additional tools—simply utilize the provided metal handle to twist and detach it.
Although the handle may feel somewhat flimsy, it serves its purpose well in ensuring hassle-free maintenance.
Fine-Tuning with Flexibility: Adjustable Grind Range
An impressive feature of both grinders is the adjustable top burr, allowing users to modify the gap between the top and bottom burrs. This adjustability offers ten stepped settings, enabling customization of the grind range.
Whether you desire a finer grind for espresso or a coarser one for pour-over, the ability to fine-tune the burrs allows you to achieve the desired grind size for your specific brewing needs.
Breville Dose Control vs Smart Grinder Pro: Dose Control
While both grinders offer control over the dosing process, there are distinct differences in their functionality and precision.
Dose Precision: Dose Control Pro’s Up-to-the-Second Control
Despite its name, the Dose Control Pro provides a slightly lower level of control compared to the Smart Grinder Pro.
It offers 60 precise grind settings, allowing you to adjust the grind time in precise 1-second increments.
This level of precision enables you to achieve a carefully controlled dose for any brew size.
Additionally, the Dose Control Pro features a pause function, allowing you to temporarily halt the grinding process if needed, before resuming and completing the timed dose.
Enhanced Adjustability: Smart Grinder Pro’s Fine-Tuned Dosing
The Smart Grinder Pro takes dose control to the next level with its enhanced adjustability.
This grinder allows you to adjust the grinding timer with even finer 0.2-second increments, offering a greater level of precision in dose control.
The LCD on the Smart Grinder Pro provides clear visibility of the set time, ensuring accuracy in your dosing process.
Moreover, the Smart Grinder Pro allows you to adjust the quantity of grinds based on the number of cups or shots you intend to brew, providing further control over your dose.
Breville Dose Control vs Smart Grinder Pro: Additional Accessories
While both grinders offer practical accessories to enhance the user experience, there are notable differences in terms of hopper capacity, portafilter cradles, and cleaning tools.
Hopper Capacity: Smart Grinder Pro’s Larger Capacity
The Smart Grinder Pro features a larger hopper compared to the Dose Control Pro, capable of holding up to 18 ounces of coffee beans. In contrast, the Dose Control Pro has a 12-ounce hopper capacity.
Despite the difference in size, both hoppers share a thoughtful design. They are equipped with a lid that has a rubber rim, ensuring a tight seal to maintain the freshness of your coffee beans.
Additionally, a switch mechanism secures the hopper to the machine and seals the bottom to prevent beans from spilling when removing the hopper.
Portafilter Cradles: Suitable for Various Sizes
Both the Dose Control Pro and the Smart Grinder Pro come with detachable portafilter cradles, which hold the portafilters in place beneath the grind chute.
The Smart Grinder Pro includes a larger cradle designed to accommodate commercial-grade 58-millimeter portafilters.
On the other hand, the smaller cradle is suitable for portafilters ranging from 50 to 54 millimeters, which covers most domestic espresso machine models.
These portafilter cradles ensure stability during the grinding process and cater to a wide range of portafilter sizes.
Cleaning Tools and Containers: Unique Features
The Smart Grinder Pro offers additional accessories that facilitate cleaning and grinding in larger quantities.
It includes a small bristle brush, which helps clean the burrs and the chute, ensuring optimal performance and maintenance.
The grinder also comes with a grinding container that magnetically snaps into place beneath the grind chute.
This container is practical when grinding larger quantities of coffee. Moreover, the tray on the Smart Grinder Pro slots into place magnetically and can be easily removed to clean out stray grounds.
The Dose Control Pro provides a unique accessory in the form of a scraper tool tucked away in its tray. This scraper tool can be used to level out the surface of the espresso grinds in your portafilter basket.
While not essential, it demonstrates a thoughtful feature for those who prefer a dedicated tool for this purpose.
Breville Dose Control vs Smart Grinder Pro: Grind Consistency
The consistency and precision of the grind greatly impact the flavor and extraction of your coffee. We will delve into the performance of each grinder, examining factors such as grind consistency, uniformity, and overall grind quality.
Grind Consistency: Both Deliver Reliable Results
Both the Dose Control Pro and the Smart Grinder Pro excel in delivering consistent grind quality. Equipped with conical burrs, these grinders ensure a reliable and even grind.
The stainless steel conical burrs of the Dose Control Pro are specifically designed to minimize grinding heat and preserve the essential oils in the coffee beans.
Similarly, the Smart Grinder Pro’s 40 mm conical steel burrs provide a consistent grind that enhances extraction and flavor.
Uniformity: Precise Control for Desired Results
The Breville Dose Control Pro and the Smart Grinder Pro offer precise control over grind settings, allowing you to achieve the desired level of uniformity.
Both grinders provide 60 stepped settings, enabling you to adjust the grind size to suit various brewing methods, from espresso to pour-over.
Additionally, the top burrs of both grinders are adjustable, allowing further customization by altering the gap between the top and bottom burrs.
This adjustment capability ensures uniformity across a wide range of grind sizes, accommodating your specific brewing preferences.
Grind Consistency: Considerations at the Coarser End
When it comes to coarser grind settings, both the Breville Dose Control Pro and the Smart Grinder Pro exhibit a slight decrease in grind consistency.
Upon closer examination of the coffee grounds produced at these settings, you may notice some variation in particle sizes.
This discrepancy in grind consistency can have implications for brewing styles that rely on coarser grinds.
In methods such as the French press, where the grounds are steeped in water for an extended period, the uneven particle sizes may result in uneven flavor extraction.
This could manifest as a higher level of bitterness or over-extraction in the brew.
Breville Dose Control vs Smart Grinder Pro: Cleaning And Maintenance
Both the Breville Dose Control Pro and the Smart Grinder Pro are designed with user-friendly cleaning and maintenance in mind, making it convenient to keep these grinders in optimal condition.
When it comes to cleaning the burrs, both grinders feature removable top burrs that can be easily accessed for thorough cleaning.
A simple twist of the metal handle allows you to remove the top burr without the need for any additional tools.
The Smart Grinder Pro comes with a brush to help clean the burrs, but the Dose Control Pro doesn’t however you can use an old toothbrush that may be lying around to easily remove old coffee grounds.
In terms of hopper cleaning, the hoppers on both models feature a lid with a rubber rim that effectively seals the container, keeping your coffee beans fresh for longer periods.
The hoppers can be easily unlocked from the machine, allowing for convenient removal and cleaning.
Both grinders have removable trays that can be easily cleaned to remove any stray coffee grounds or debris.
The tray on the Smart Grinder Pro attaches magnetically, making it effortless to remove and clean.
The Verdict: Which Grinder Should You Choose?
The Dose Control Pro is an excellent choice for those who are looking for a budget-friendly grinder without compromising on grind quality.
If you primarily brew espresso or other fine grind methods and value precise control over your dose, the Dose Control Pro’s 60 grind settings and up-to-the-second precision will meet your requirements.
Its compact size and affordable price make it a suitable option for those with limited counter space or a tighter budget.
On the other hand, the Smart Grinder Pro is the ideal grinder for coffee enthusiasts who desire more advanced features and versatility.
With its larger hopper capacity, programmable grind settings, and adjustable timer, it offers a high level of customization and convenience.
If you brew coffee using a variety of methods, from espresso to French press, and prefer the ability to adjust the grind size with greater precision, the Smart Grinder Pro will cater to your needs.
The LCD screen provides clear feedback, and the additional accessories, such as the bristle brush and grinding container, enhance the overall user experience.
