Customer Reviews

DeLonghi DCG4T Deluxe Burr Coffee Grinder with Timer

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Looking to upgrade from an old Braun blade grinder to a burr grinder, I found this DeLonghi up to the task. I grind mostly for drip, but have used it to make an occasional cappacino as well.

I would have given it 5 stars, but it could use a few amenities, which no doubt would raise the price. Since I'm not fully functional until I've had my morning coffee, I started grinding without the catch container in place. The result was ground coffee sprayed over the counter. An emergency stop or a sensor disabling the grinder when the catch container is not in place would protect me from my mental lapses. Someplace to hold a long stemmed spoon (to scoop out the ground coffee) would be convenient. Note that some appliances (rice cookers) have spoon and spatula holders. Finally, the bean dispenser cannot be detached from the unit. Admittedly, it does not need to be cleaned often, but it would be a nice feature.

Overall, this unit is easy to use, has good capacity, grinds consistently, and gives good value for the price.

I replaced an old, sluggish Krups grinder with this very nice product, which offers both a range of grinds (the "espresso" and "drip" settings both work very well, but they're the only ones I've used) and a "timer," which, as another reviewer remarked, is misnamed, but it's actually much more useful to have the grinder output a set amount rather than to grind for a set period of time. It grinds very quickly and evenly.

The only reason I give this 4 stars instead of 5 is that the freshly-ground coffee, which tends to be staticky from grinding, sticks to the inside of the plastic container. But my old Krups had the same problem, as do most plastic grinders.

March 2, 2009: RIP

I know this grinder is not in stock and probably discontinued, but cannot resist adding this final note. After eight years of use, my spouse noticed this morning that ground coffee was coming out the ventilation opening on the bottom of the machine. She started shaking the grinder a bit, and more coffee came out. Since it had seemed noisier lately, I decided to take the DeLonghi apart and give it a thorough cleaning.

Well...close to a POUND of ground coffee was filling up every empty space in the housing! Tap, brush, and grind produced more and more grounds. It got comical after a while. We had been going through more bean coffee lately, and I should have paid attention to my intuition about that.

I reassembled the machine, and sorry to say, almost no coffee was ejected into the grinds cup. It appears that a critical seal failed, and now my DeLonghi is hoarding all the grinds for itself. It may have been so full up that it was producing close to normal levels of grinds -- until I cleaned it.

After such a long period of time and over 3,000 pots of coffee, I don't think this grinder owes me anything. Here's hoping I can find a suitable replacement.

[[It's worth losing 35 "helpful" votes to add a follow-up to my original review: After three years, the only thing that has changed is that the grinds container has cracked. This affects, slightly, how the container fits into the grinder, but does not seem to affect the operation, which is still as described below. I can still recommend this workhorse after over one thousand cycles of use.]]

My last coffee grinder was also a burr grinder with an electronic timer -- I got it free as a reject from a tag sale and used it for nearly a year. It ground coffee pretty well but the timer was grossly inaccurate. This DeLonghi seems to have the same general mechanism, but it does a better job with the core task of grinding. The grinder itself is much quieter than my previous machine ... there is hardly any motor sound and the grinding itself sounds almost like a chattering buzz. The manufacturer did a good job of insulating the motor from the housing to reduce noise. The grinds fall into the hopper at room temperature, as they should from a burr grinder. The resulting coffee was darker in tone, and tasted slightly richer for the same amount (by measurement) and approximately the same coarseness as the old machine.

I especially liked that the machine comes apart easily -- the top storage hopper screws off and can be washed (the top grinder is attached to the hopper). This also gives easy access to the bottom grinder, which can be brushed clean.

The timer is a little hard to set, but seems accurate in comparison with the old machine.

This grinder is a bargain. I recommend it whole-heartedly.

In a moment of weakness at Costco, I made this impulse purchase (...). The problem with this grinder is that the finest setting (espresso) is not fine enough, even for a standard No. 2 drip filter (it might be passable for plunger pots). I unscrewed the reservior to see if there were any adjustments that could be made to make the grind finer. I didn't see any, but when I screwed the reservior back in, I noticed that the mechanism limiting the grind granularity is just a soft plastic tab that can be mushed in with a flat head screwdriver. So, I mushed the top plastic tab (1-2mm in size) on the bottom of the reservior enough so that I could turn it past "espresso" -- if you do this, you can get another 7 clicks or so of fineness. At about 4 clicks past espresso, I can make a decent cup of coffee (http://...com/). Anyway, I hope this is useful to some of you who've already purchased this grinder. The only other thing I've noticed is that you will quickly learn to tap the container that holds the grinds on a hard surface before opening the top.

Another perfect example of planned obsolesence. I'm still using a blender and a toaster theat my grandmother bought 50 years ago, but this thing [stopped working] after 13 months. Yeah, I used it daily, but it's not like I'm running a coffee house, I made one pot of coffee a day. [...] you expect a product to last longer than 13 months. DON"T BUY THIS!!!

This was an impulse buy, and I'm glad I purchased it!

I'd been using the Krups grinder for years, and the first thing I noticed about the DeLonghi was it was quieter than the Krups - something to appreciate early in the morning when others are still sleeping. The timer and grind setting features work well and eliminate the guesswork about how long to grind. We alternate between our drip coffeemaker and espresso machine and it's just a twist to change grind settings.

The only negatives I've found in the month I've owned it is there is no way to clean the grinding mechanism and the bean dispenser doesn't detach. My daughter drinks flavored coffees which I don't like and I worry that the flavors of different coffees might get mixed up and detract from the taste. So far that hasn't happened.

I found the price was not much more than standard grinders and was well worth it for all the added features and benefits.

Do not waste your money on this inferior grinder. I had high hopes when I purchased one in January, given the name and attractive price, but it died within two months. I exchanged it, and today, the second one died. Both faced the same fate--the grinding mechanism jammed, and nothing I could do, including emptying the beans, trying to clear it, etc., would help. I've come to the conclusion that this is just a poorly designed (or underengineered) piece of equipment. The low price turns out being your worst enemy--spend more and get something better.

All the coffee drinkers I know have said that DeLonghi is a good quality product. I had no idea how right they are! Cleanup is simple and the timer measures out the perfect amount of coffee ground how you like it rather quickly. Every other burr grinder I've seen here has negative comments, but I can assure you that this one is well worth the money and then some! If you take quality seriously, then give this product a serious look.

I am disappointed in the ground coffee result. In my estimation the "finest" setting does not result in a truly Espresso texture. Additionally there is usually a dust the sticks to the catch container, that is toooo fine. I bought the burr grinder so I can use one of those gold metal strainers in my coffee maker. The 'dust' will go through that filter and my espresso sieve and the result is muddy coffee. I wish I still have my Braun coffee mill.

I avidly read all of the reviews and had actually bought the Braun grinder when I came across this grinder....some of the review peeked my curiousity about this one. What really made me interested in this was that it was consistently noted as being cleaner. And surprise...it is. I am happy with the grind of the beans, it is more efficient, quieter, all the beans are ground, and best of all. NO GRINDS FLYING ALL OVER THE COUNTER. I love it. Much nicer than the Braun.