I recently needed to replace my old espresso grinder and after some research and watching several videos including one of Lance Hedrick’s review of “budget” grinders (see link below), decided to buy the Urbanic 070S grinder (see link below). I have a commercial Grindmaster grinder that I use for drip coffee or French Press, but it can’t go fine enough for espresso even though it has an espresso setting!
The term “budget” probably has several connotations depending on who you are talking to, but for Lance it was grinders under $250.00 and the Urbanic 070S with titanium burrs comes in at $200.00 direct from the manufacturer ($280 including shipping). For a lot of people that may not seem budget and I know people who are perfectly happy with the OXO or Bodum conical burr grinders that come in at just under $100.00. For me, $280.00 is about the top of my budget for a grinder.
I bought the Urbanic 070S with titanium coated burrs. It costs $20.00 more than the steel burrs, so you could save a few bucks using steel burrs. I chose the “S” model because the 070 comes with a bulky looking metal box to collect the grounds and I liked the look of the smaller round stainless steel collector. I only grind what I need at that moment, so I don’t need a bigger collector. The 070S comes with a 250 watt motor, large 60 mm flat burrs, a 250 g hopper and weighs a bit over 8 lbs.
I’ve been using this grinder now for about 3 months and really like it. When I first opened it up, I thought, wow this is smaller than I expected. That turns out to be a benefit though, as it will easily fit on your countertop under your cabinets. Compared to my commercial grinder or my friends OXO, this grinder is very quiet.
It took me a few tries to find the grind setting that works best for my espresso maker, but a 3 on the 070S dial gives me a nice powdery grind with no clumping. There isn’t a lot of retention, but I wanted to try a single dose bellows type hopper that allows you to puff all the remaining grounds out of the device. After looking around, I decided I didn’t want to pay $40+ dollars for one, but I found the silicone bellows for about $9.00 on Aliexpress (see link below). Once it arrived, I took some measurements and modeled a funnel that would fit snuggly in the grinder and accept the silicone bellows and then printed it on my 3d printer. As you can see in the pictures, it actually came out quite nice and works really well!
The grinder has a three-position switch, intermittent, off, on. In the intermittent setting, pushing the collector or your portafilter against the little switch in the portafilter holder starts the grinder. Releasing the little switch shuts it off. The standard hopper has a little gate that can be used to hold the beans in the hopper until you are ready. Pull the gate out and the beans drop into the grinder. Then once the beans get below the gate, close it to keep the beans from bouncing around.
I haven’t tried this for drip coffee yet, but think it will do a fine job for that application as well.
In Summary:
Pros: compact size, quiet, large flat burrs, nice sturdy build, comes in several colors.
Cons: price – depending on your budget.
If $260-$280 is in your budget, I would recommend this grinder.
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Urbanic 070S | Urbanic Grinder (iurbanic.com)
BUDGET GRINDER SHOWDOWN!: Best Grinder Under $250 – YouTube