Customer Reviews

Capresso 551.01 Burr Coffee Grinder, Black

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

I purchased this grinder and had it for only a month and it died. I called the Capresso hotline and got extremely rude customer service. I tried everything they suggested and the grinder was just plain dead. If I'm going to pay a larger sum of money for a product, it had better be good quality and I had better get good customer service. I sent the product back and got a full refund. I guess that is the best customer service Capresso could have ever given me. It is unfortunate that it is so difficult to find another grinder on the market that is in an affordable range like the Capresso. Its affordability is all it has going for it. I'm still searching for a quality grinder that won't put a big dent in my wallet. Oh, FYI the grinder was extremely noisy and it spit grounds all over the place. Keep searching.......

I returned my grinder after a few tries. Two major problems: (1) poor quality seal on the container spreads coffee grinds all over the counter; (2) the bean container at the top is poorly shaped, so a good portion of beans will not slide down into the grinding mechanism unless you shake the grinder.

I've been using this model of the Capresso burr grinder for about four years. I am bewildered by some of the negative comments I see on Amazon, for they are directly contradictory to my experience. The only disadvantage that I'll concede on this model is that it's not the right choice for high volume grinding for a large number of people. At home for an individual or a couple, it's hard to imagine a better solution or a better value. The price is great for a burr grinder. Mine has been producing accurate grinds without fail for the entire four-year period I've owned it. Visitors who grind their own coffee have commented that it's comparatively quiet. It won't dust your kitchen as long as you don't forget to slide the hopper into place (knock on wood). It has 1-9 coarseness settings. It does seem that if you ALWAYS use the same grind, it kind of "settles in" to that setting. It may be a good idea to use varying settings occasionally. Highly recommended for any home user.

Upfront I want to say that this grinder does a nice job of grinding coffee beans evenly - all the coffee comes out about the same "fineness" or "coarseness" depending on how you set it. This is a good thing, and if you have ever used the really basic coffee grinders, you know they can't do this.

However, its a pain to use this grinder. The receptical for the ground coffee doesn't seal well and coffee grounds get spilled, making a mess. Its also possible to start the grinder without seating the receptical, so that none of the coffee goes in the receptical and ALL of it goes spewing into your kitchen. To make things even worse, my receptical cracked - the plastic is just not very sturdy. And I can find out how to get a replacement. I would suggest either going cheaper and getting a basic Krups grinder, or spending a lot more and getting something more on the industrial strength variety. As another reviewer wrote, its a pity that a good grinder can't be had in this price range.

Hmmmmmmm,... not sure why Amazon didn't get an instruction manual with their #551. Mine came with one with sections such as "Before First Use", "Grinding", and "Cleaning". My grinder was great and I would have given it 5 stars except that Capresso never seems to staff their toll-free customer service number. When my grinder died I got tired of leaving voicemails and had to email them for return instructions. To their credit, they sent me a brand new (not refurbished) grinder.

If you want a real grinder, not one that pulverizes the beans with a spinning blade, then this is a great choice.

This is the ideal grinder for a wide range of coffee drinks, from drip grind to Turkish. It handles dark-roast, oily beans efficiently. A perfect companion to several well-designed Capresso coffee and espresso makers. Much easier and more efficient to use than a blade grinder. The best burr grinder on the market!

All of the comments in other reviews are true: (1) it could grind finer, (2) don't EVER forget to put the 'catcher' container in (I boo-boo'ed during the initial demo to my wife!); and (3) the beans occassionally hang up during the grinding cycle. [I have only had the machine a short while and cannot comment on its durability.] Though I agree that this grinder does not grind VERY finely, it has not been a problem for my wife and me, because our very basic (and ancient) Italian coffee pot does not require an extremely fine grind to make excellent expresso coffee. A couple of things that have NOT been mentioned yet: (1) The shape of this grinder is great for a crowded kitchen counter. It's only 4 inches wide except for the hopper; 5-3/8 inches wide at the hopper. (2) The controls are simple and well-placed. The fineness wheel (not often changed in our house) is on the side. The 'number of cups' selector is up front and visible. And the only thing required to make it work is to tap the start button, located top-center front. (3) The hopper has plenty of capacity (more than it looks at first glance). Snapping the grinding head out for cleaning is pretty easy. The only (obvious) point is that it's under the beans, so clean it after using up the contents of the hopper or be prepared to dump the beans out... Incidentally, we had a dust problem at first, and then I used my trusty brush to clean the hole out of which the ground coffee comes flying. Though it's not mentioned in the printed instructions, it's probably a good idea to brush out the orifice from time to time. --- I bought this machine as a basic burr grinder (we were using the blender after our 20-year old Molineaux crashed beyond jury-rigging -- I do NOT recommend this 'solution'!). The Capresso 551.01 is cheap, IMHO, and does the job. I'm happy. It performs its function.

I bought this grinder to replace my husband's old Braun burr grinder. The Capresso grinder says on the box that it "delivers the right fineness for all kinds of espresso machines," but we didn't find that to be the case. It did not grind finely enough for my husband's Gaggia espresso machine, even after several attempts.

The Capresso customer service rep told me that the machine wouldn't grind "Turkish coffee," which wasn't what we were trying to make. The customer service supervisor suggested that we were using "old" beans. However, when we pulled the Braun grinder out and gound up beans from the same bag, we got espresso with perfect crema, not the case with the beans ground with the Capresso.

The customer service rep. said that their grinder grinds beans perfectly for Capresso machines, but we don't have one of those. I don't think we'll be buying one either, just to use their grinder, not after the hedging and unhelpfulness of their customer service. They didn't offer any solutions, even after I pointed out that the literature on the grinder box is not true.

I was very disappointed, because I'd heard great things about Capresso, but our first experience wasn't a good one. If you've got a Capresso machine, this grinder will probably work for you. If you don't, make sure you can return the machine if it doesn't work for your machine.

I have had this model grinder (in black) in my kitchen for 5 years. It does a great job. While it is not a professional grinder which would cost hundreds (or, in some cases, over a thousand) of dollars, nor is it meant to serve as an espresso grinder, it grinds the coffee beans for a standard pot of coffee evenly and quickly. Realizing that it needs an occasional cleaning, this is easily done. It doesn't spew grounds all over the kitchen when it is properly used.

I also have another one that is 10 years old (in white). I use it infrequently for guests who like flavored coffee which tends to be much oiler, and thus needs a little more cleaning. Both make noise as this is what a small burr grinder does. Both of them also grind evenly which is necessary to get a good pot of coffee. And neither grind the coffee to where the grounds are hot (as a blade grinder) which will literally cook out the flavor before the water ever hits the grounds in the brewer.

Having owned a coffee business for several years in the past, I prefer to grind my straight coffee and my flavored coffee in separate appliances so as not to impart artificial flavors onto straight country-of-origin coffees. I have had many customers who were very happy with this grinder. If anyone has a problem with this grinder I would suggest re-reading the instructions. Without abuse, it does the job satisfactorily for a small home appliance. And the price is very reasonable for a little machine that has performed for many years.

Update: 2/2009 -- This grinder is still going strong and works as well as the day it arrived. If you love to grind your own fresh coffee, this will never disappoint you.

As others have said, the quality is just not here. Our receptacle also broke after a few months and the entire machine completely died before we had it one year. Keep searching.