hyu968 Senior Member Joined: 7 Mar 2012 Posts: 10 Location: New York, NY Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Mar 25, 2012, 9:32am Subject: Vario or Vario-W?
Hello All, I am considering buying a grinder, and I have narrowed it down to either Vario or Vario-W. What's your take on Vario vs Vario-W? I am thinking of going with plain Vario as I would be grinding single doses, but I am still curious to hear your opinion regarding this. Thanks! -GM
Posted Sun Mar 25, 2012, 10:00am Subject: Re: Vario or Vario-W?
I don't have either, but when I grind for vac-pot, I weigh the grounds. If you have the $ for the built-in weigh feature, I would think that would be preferable.
Weighing the grounds to ensure consistent and accurate water/bean ratio, has been the single best improvement I've made in my coffee quality since I began home roasting 3 years ago. I would never go back to dosing coffee by volume.
hyu968 Senior Member Joined: 7 Mar 2012 Posts: 10 Location: New York, NY Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Mar 25, 2012, 10:56am Subject: Re: Vario or Vario-W?
Thanks for your reply. In my case though, I drink espresso only, and most probably will be grinding single doses. Does anybody else do that? What's your take on this?
germantownrob Senior Member Joined: 2 Dec 2007 Posts: 2,018 Location: Philadelphia Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Duetto 3, A Dead Oscar Grinder: Vario-W, Preciso w/Esatto,... Drip: Brazen Roaster: Diedrich IR-1, HT B
Posted Sun Mar 25, 2012, 12:25pm Subject: Re: Vario or Vario-W?
I had the the Vario for a few years and it has recently been replaced with a Vario-W. I used the timer function for most of the time with the Vario but when I developed some variance with grind amount output I switched to weighing and single dosing. What I love about the Vario-w and the Preciso paired with an Esatto is with a full hopper I am a click away from whatever weight I want. I don't feel pre weighing is very time consuming or much of a PIA but avoiding it all together is nice.
Posted Sun Mar 25, 2012, 12:43pm Subject: Re: Vario or Vario-W?
If you are tied to the weight accuracy of single dosing I would think that you would be best served by the W. Single dosing a timed grind on demand grinder such as the regular Vario is a waste of all of the little timer bits that you are paying for. I'm not saying that it would be a bad buy. The regular Vario is great, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to just about anyone looking for a great consumer grinder. Both Varios have negligible retention, so single dosing them is about weight accuracy only, which is precisely what the W is all about.
hyu968 Senior Member Joined: 7 Mar 2012 Posts: 10 Location: New York, NY Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Mar 25, 2012, 2:01pm Subject: Re: Vario or Vario-W?
How do you guys exactly use W ? Suppose I want 12 grams of coffee for my portafilter. So I should use an empty bin and grind in exactly 12 grams and then empty it into a portafilter. I am not sure it is much different from pre-weighing 12 grams, putting them into a hopper and then grind directly into portafilter. The only difference of course this way you can keep the beans in the hopper all the time.
Posted Sun Mar 25, 2012, 2:51pm Subject: Re: Vario or Vario-W?
hyu968 Said:
How do you guys exactly use W ? Suppose I want 12 grams of coffee for my portafilter. So I should use an empty bin and grind in exactly 12 grams and then empty it into a portafilter. I am not sure it is much different from pre-weighing 12 grams, putting them into a hopper and then grind directly into portafilter. The only difference of course this way you can keep the beans in the hopper all the time.
Posted Sun Mar 25, 2012, 10:31pm Subject: Re: Vario or Vario-W?
I, too, pre-weigh my beans for each shot, and I recently had to make the same choice. I was pretty set on either the Vario or the Vario-W; both seem to be available regularly lately as refurbs on Baratza's website.
At first I leaned toward the regular Vario, partly to save money and partly out of attachment to dosing directly into the portafilter. But in the end, I decided that this would be a false economy: I had insufficient reasons to forgo the innovative and elegant solution that the Vario-W provides in my situation.
For me, eliminating the ritual of pre-weighing the beans for each shot represents a significant improvement in accuracy and efficiency in exchange for a minor adjustment to my dosing process. I can live with transferring the grounds into the portafilter from the bin after grinding. Some folks rig up systems for grinding directly into a basket with the W, but I doubt I'll bother. With my Orphan Espresso aluminum funnel in the portafilter, filling it from the bin should be quick and neat; it may even improve distribution.
hyu968 Senior Member Joined: 7 Mar 2012 Posts: 10 Location: New York, NY Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Mar 28, 2012, 8:10am Subject: Re: Vario or Vario-W?
Thanks for the interesting perspective, David. I was wondering if other folks also prefer direct weight-based grinding to pre-weighing beans? Thanks, -GM
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