If you want to get the best flavors from your coffee beans, you need a good burr grinder that will give you consistent grinds and the ability to fine-tune your grind size.
The Breville Smart Grinder Pro and the Eureka Mignon Specialita are two popular, high-quality burr grinders capable of producing excellent freshly-ground coffee for home coffee connoisseurs. However, each has its strengths and weaknesses. Read on for our comparison of the Breville Smart Grinder Pro vs Eureka Mignon Specialita.
Eureka Mignon Specialita Overview
Eureka has been making coffee grinders since 1920, when they started manufacturing espresso mills in Florence, Italy. They’re still based in Florence and have a reputation for making high-quality commercial and home espresso grinders.
The Eureka Mignon Specialita is part of their popular Mignon series of home coffee grinders. All of the models in the Mignon line are built around flat burrs, metal casings, and stepless grind adjustment, but each model is tuned for different uses.
The Specialita is a dedicated espresso grinder. It’s capable of grinding for all kinds of brew methods but specializes in espresso. It has a set of 55-millimeter flat burrs and a high-speed motor inside its sound-insulated case. It features an LED touchscreen and uses a timed dosing system.
The Eureka Mignon Specialita is much quieter than most espresso grinders and has a beautiful, premium design and a compact footprint. It offers outstanding grind consistency that translates as beautiful, clean flavors in your cup.
Things we like
- Precise grind that’s highly adjustable and well-suited for espresso
- Anti-clump feature breaks up large clumps and produces nice fluffy coffee grounds
- Very quiet as far as coffee grinders go
- Sturdy build and great aesthetics
Things we don’t like
- Poorly-designed hopper
- Adjustment wheel is tricky to dial in
- Expensive
Breville Smart Grinder Pro Overview
Based in Australia, Breville makes a wide range of home appliances and kitchen products, including coffee and home espresso products, which they’ve been producing for over 20 years.
The Smart Grinder Pro is Breville’s entry-level home espresso grinder, designed for ease of use and versatility. With up to 600 grind settings, it can grind for all types of brewing methods, from espresso to French press and everything in between.
With its emphasis on providing versatility and a wide range of grinding options, the Smart Grinder Pro does sacrifice some grind quality as it struggles to produce consistent grinds at the coarser end of the range.
Still, the Smart Grinder Pro is a durable and well-designed machine built with good components, including a great set of stainless steel conical burrs. It’s easy to use and maintain and offers a grind quality that is nearly on par with much more expensive grinders.
Things we like
- Versatile and highly adjustable, with a wide range of grind settings
- Settings are programmable, making it easy to repeat your grind choices
- Produces above-average grind consistency for its price range
Things we don’t like
- Uses a timed dosing system that makes it hard to grind by weight
- Grind consistency isn’t as good with coarser grind sizes, making it less suitable than other grinders if you’re mostly grinding for French press or drip
Breville Smart Grinder Pro vs Eureka Mignon: Comparison
Specs
| Breville Smart Grinder Pro | Eureka Mignon Specialita | |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions (WxDxH) | 22 x 16 x 39 cm | 12 x 18 x 35 cm |
| Weight | 6.4 lbs | 12.3 lbs |
| Burrs | 38 mm conical burrs (stainless steel) | 55mm flat burrs (stainless steel) |
| Grind Settings | 600 (60 macro settings with 10 micro settings) | Stepless (infinite settings) |
| Motor Speed | 450 rpm | 1350 rpm |
| Grind speed | 1-2 grams per second | 1.2-2.5 g/s |
| Capacity | Hopper holds up to 18 oz (510g) | 300g hopper capacity |
| Noise during grinding | ~80dB | ~65dB |
Build
The Eureka Mignon Specialita is hand-crafted and has the look and build of a high-end machine, plus a bit of Italian flair. It’s sharply styled with squared edges and is available in more than 20 colors and finishes, so it’ll look great in any kitchen.
The Specialita is compact, very sturdy, and weighs 12 pounds. It’s well-engineered, with all-metal internal parts and casing. Its minimal plastic content and sound-insulated case keep vibration to a minimum and is exceptionally quiet for such a powerful grinder.
My only complaint about the Mignon’s design is its hopper. The square hopper has a unique look that fits with the grinder’s overall aesthetic, but it’s made of plastic that feels cheap compared to the rest of the body and has some annoying design flaws. The hopper lid is very snug and can be hard to pop open, and the slider to shut off the hopper is awkwardly placed and doesn’t slide completely shut.
The Breville Smart Grinder Pro doesn’t have such a premium appearance compared to the Specialita. It’s a bit more utilitarian and less sleek, with a plastic body and brushed steel finish. That said, it’s not bad looking by any means and is thoughtfully designed with ease of use in mind.
Its hopper has an airtight lid and a locking feature that makes it easy to remove without spilling beans. Its portafilter holders, grinds container, and base tray all snap into place magnetically and are easy to remove for cleaning.
Burrs
Like any grinder worth its salt, both of these grinders use high-quality burrs to pulverize the coffee beans. The difference is in the size and shape of the burrs.
The Eureka Mignon Specialita packs a set of 55-millimeter flat burrs, while the Smart Grinder Pro uses smaller 38-millimeter burrs that are conical in shape. They’re both made of steel, so they’ll last a while. The Mignon’s burrs are made of hardened steel that will resist chipping a bit better, while the Breville uses stainless steel burrs that are less susceptible to corrosion.
Most commercial grinders use flat burrs like the one in the Specialita. The benefit of flat burrs is that they are generally faster and more efficient than conical burrs. Because of how beans feed through flat burrs, they tend to produce a more uniform particle size than conical burrs. On the other hand, conical burrs like the ones in the Smart Grinder Pro are cheaper and produce less heat and friction.
Grind settings
The Smart Grinder Pro is a stepped grinder with 60 settings that can be adjusted using the knob at the side. You can shift the range of grind sizes by ten increments by adjusting the top burr. Technically, this means it can produce 600 different grind sizes, but in practice, you shouldn’t be adjusting the top burr setting very often. Either way, the Smart Grinder Pro offers plenty of scope for adjustments.
The Eureka Mignon Specialita is a stepless grinder, meaning it gives you infinitely adjustable grind settings. It has a worm screw adjustment wheel for making fine adjustments to your grind size.
This means it’s easy to make fine-tuned grind adjustments, whether it’s for espresso or pour-over grinds. While this allows for very precise adjustments, the little wheel can be awkward to operate if you have big, indelicate fingers like mine.
Grind quality
The Smart Grinder Pro is versatile enough to grind for various brewing methods. It delivers a consistent size for fine and medium grinds, meaning it can grind for espressos and pour-over coffee.
The Smart Grinder Pro is less consistent at coarser settings, though, which isn’t great if you’re mostly grinding for French press coffee and cold brew, where uneven grinds might lead to over-extraction and more bitterness.
The Mignon Specialita offers excellent grind consistency thanks to its bigger flat burrs. It has an anti-clump feature that breaks up large clumps and produces a nice, even, almost fluffy grind. The Eureka Mignon can grind for any brewing style, but it really shines as an espresso grinder. It delivers a consistent, fine grind nearly on par with the grinders used in cafes.
Operation
Both of these grinders use time-based dosing, which grinds coffee for a set amount of time instead of grinding by weight. You can adjust the grinding time by intervals of 0.1 seconds on the Mignon Specialita and by 0.2 seconds on the Smart Grinder Pro.
Both machines also have a manual dosing option; it’ll grind as long as you push and hold the manual grind button.
Verdict
Why you should choose the Breville Smart Grinder Pro
If you’re looking for a coffee bean grinder that’s easier to use at a lower price point, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro is a better choice for you and your wallet.
With the Smart Grinder Pro, you’ll be sacrificing some grind quality and precision that you’d get with the Specialita. But the Smart Grinder Pro makes it easier to adjust the grind between different brewing styles.
Why you should choose the Eureka Mignon Specialita
The Eureka Mignon Specialita is the better choice if you’re looking for a superb home espresso grinder and have the budget to shell out a bit more cash. It’s sturdier, faster, and quieter than the Smart Grinder Pro and offers the great grind consistency and precise grind adjustment that you need for espresso.
Happy Caffeinating!
