De'Longhi - Dedica 14-Cup Coffee Grinder - Stainless Steel

I like to think that I'm serious about my coffee, but I had never put much thought into my coffee grinder. I've gone through a few cheap grinders over the past few years, never even considering a more expensive grinder. The DeLonghi Dedica grinder has so far been a revelation in how I make my coffee, but it hasn't been without some minor frustrations. PROS - Incredibly easy to setup and use. After putting the hopper on the top of the grinder and inserting the grind chamber, you're ready to go. - Sleek-looking design. The stainless steel finish is beautiful and should blend in with any modern kitchen. - Custom grind settings. This grinder has 18 different grind levels for espresso, drip coffee, and French press. There are also three strength settings: light, normal, and strong. I've only used the drip and French press settings so far, but each time, my coffee beans have been ground to perfection. I didn't notice too much of a difference in taste between the "normal" and "strong" settings, but that may depend on the type of bean used. - Ability to set the number of cups. With my cheap grinder, I had to estimate how many beans to put in as it would grind all of them. The DeLonghi grinds only the amount of beans that it needs based on how many cups you choose (up to 14 cups, shown on the digital display). - Convenient grind chamber. I love the fact that it has a sealable cap so I can keep my coffee fresh. CONS - The hopper has to stay connected to the top of the grinder once you put beans in it. If you remove it, you'll end up with beans all over your kitchen floor. Along those lines, you can't pour beans into the hopper unless it's attached to the grinder, or you'll end up with the same mess. I learned this the hard way. - The grind chamber fits snugly into the grinder -- almost TOO snug. I usually have to pull hard using two hands to get the chamber to pop out. - When the grind chamber is removed, I've noticed excess coffee grounds fall from the grinder onto the tray at the base of the device. This is especially noticeable when you move the grinder immediately after using it. OVERALL The DeLonghi Dedica grinder has definitely elevated my morning coffee routine -- I don't think I could go back to a cheap hand-held grinder after using this. If it weren't for the few annoyances listed above, this would be a 5-star product. Even so, I look forward to using this grinder for a long time to come. Recommended!

Full Disclosure: I received a Delonghi Dedica free in exchange for an honest and timely review. I was a CIO at a coffee company for 20 years and really enjoy a good cup of coffee. Sometimes I like to brew coffee using a French Press and I need a good burr grinder to properly grind for that brewing method. I already own a Rancilio Rocky grinder, but I was in the market for a second grinder for my vacation home. The First thing I noticed about the Dedica was how much lighter it seemed than my Rocky. I looked it up and confirmed my observation. The Rocky weighs about 15 lbs while the Dedica weighs 7 lbs. As I unpacked the Dedica, I was impressed with the aesthetics of this unit. The main body is stainless steel with a chrome plated plastic top and a black plastic bottom. The second thing I inspected was the grinding mechanism. This appears to be stainless steel and very rugged. The central burr adjusts up and down to change the size of the gap between the burrs and therefore the size of the coffee grounds. The control for grind size is on the top of the grinder between the grinder body and the bean container. It is well marked and easy to operate. My Rocky is very low tech. Select the grind size, add the beans and turn on the grinder. When enough beans have been ground, turn off the switch. The Dedica offers more automation. After selecting the grind size, I can choose how many cups of coffee I plan to brew and the Dedica will grind a quantity of coffee appropriate for that number of cups. Additionally, I can select one of three "strength" levels. I assume this alters the amount of coffee that is ground for each cup, therefore resulting in what I recall to be a higher "throw weight"...basically the ratio of ounces of coffee to fluid ounces of water. The goal is to achieve a particular level of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in the brewed coffee. From the SCAA Golden Cup standard..."Coffee shall exhibit a brew strength, measured in Total Dissolved Solids, of 11.5 to 13.5 grams per liter, corresponding to 1.15 to 1.35 "percent" on the SCAA Brewing Control Chart, resulting from a solubles extraction yield of 18 to 22 percent*." Regardless of all of that, the bottom line is that you can adjust this to suit your taste for various varieties and roast profiles of the coffees that you and others like. This adjustment is a really good one to pair with the "number of cups" selector, since the two are inextricably linked. Otherwise, you'd have to adjust the cup count up or down to achieve the same result. Either way, this is likely to involve some trial and error over time to get this set to your personal taste preference. There are two options for catching the ground coffee as it exits the grinder. The cylindrical ground coffee container that comes with the Dedica, fits snugly under the output port on the grinder and has a rubber cap so you can grind more than you want to use immediately and then cover the remaining grounds (restricting oxygen and therefore oxidation of the freshly ground coffee). Presumably you would only do this for a few minutes or hours, not a few days. Ideally, you want to grind fresh each time before you brew. In addition to this ground coffee container, the Dedica comes with a Filer Holder Accessory which is neatly stored in the base of the unit behind where the ground coffee container is normally installed. You pull on the tab of a plastic drawer and out comes the drawer with the filter holder in it. The filter holder can be installed under the exit port from the grinder. Then a portafilter from an espresso machine can be directly installed in the filter holder allowing a direct grind of espresso grind coffee into the portafilter. This is very nice and seemingly well engineered. Though I haven't tried it with a portafilter, so I haven't done a full test of this feature. I experimented with the grind sizes a bit. It seems to do well with both fine and coarse grinds. I suspect DeLonghi uses higher RPMs on the machine in order to reduce the size of the motor which reduces both cost and weight. I could hear the difference in RPMs immediately as compared to my Rocky grinder. I find that both my Rocky and this Dedica make a fair amount of noise when grinding, so you might want to keep that and the sleep habits of other household occupants in mind before you fire up the grinder in the morning. The Dedica sound is higher pinched and may be a bit louder. At one point, I had the coffee bean container on the machine, but not properly twist-locked in place. The display on the grinder alerted me to that fact and kept me from running the grinder in a potentially dangerous mode. That is a nice safety feature. It also detects whether or not the ground coffee container is in place and prevents operation if it is not properly placed. That helps avoid a mess. I have only had the Dedica a short time, so I can't comment on reliability or longevity, but overall, I give it a thumbs up for a $199 burr grinder. If you want a decent grinder with a few useful bells and whistles at a more reasonable price than something like my $350 Rancilio Rocky or one of the other expensive high-end grinders, the Dedica is definitely worth considering.

I received this grinder as a gift. My family and friends know me as a true coffee lover. Not a snob and I don’t profess to be an expert by any measure. But I know what I like and won’t accept anything less. When I first tried bean coffee I had a Braun spin grinder. I never really had good results with that. So about one year ago I purchased a Mr. Coffee because it was less than $50.00. It wound up being flimsy, poorly designed and most grind settings resulted in the same particle size. When I received this grinder I was skeptical due to my experience a few years back with a DeLonghi appliance that performed poorly and quickly met its maker in the trash. But as I started unboxing this unit I became impressed. Lots of stainless parts and no cheap, flimsy feel. Then I saw that not only could you vary the grind size but also the amount to be ground. But, the proof is in the pudding. Or, in this case, how well does it grind? In a word….GREAT! After giving the important (and removable parts) a quick wash, I loaded my favorite breakfast blend in the hopper. Turned on the unit with the power supply on the side bottom, set a grind size and amount, pressed the start button and it was off. I tried a few different grind sizes and there was a very noticeable difference in particle size. Again, impressed. While not whisper quiet, this grinder is far quieter than the cheaper Mr. Coffee. Couple that with it being able to actually vary the particle size and I became a DeLonghi convert. I can finally grind my own beans for my reusable pod with my Keurig and stop wasting money on prepackaged pods. Better still, it was a gift! Because it’s hard for me to justify the price for a single purpose device like this, no matter how great it is at its single purpose. For the more advanced users, there is an optional Portfilter Adapter in case you’re more of a true Barista and have one of those super expensive coffee makers. The only negative I have found is that the main power switch doesn’t slide smoothly. It ALMOST sticks when pressing it to turn it on or off and for that it loses one star. Otherwise, this is a five star product!

Whenever you're thinking about making coffee, typically you want to go the easy route, as we all just want coffee NOW! More often than not, the grinder gets overlooked. No-one will be overlooking this DeLonghi Dedica Grinder! This thing is a monster. A good looking, well thought out monster! Stainless steel and black plastic construction, with a stainless steel adjustable burr grinder, packing a punch. This grinder means business, but does it in a very thoughtful and butler-like way. What I mean by that is that the grinder itself is very robust and does a great job grinding beans, but it's the 'sophistication' with which it does it. The burr is adjustable for different size of coffee grounds, from coarse to fine, and there is also an adjustment for the amount of coffee that you want to grind each time, measured in cups (how many cups of coffee do you wish to make, not full cups of ground coffee!). The machine is relatively quiet as well. Sure, it's not silent, but it's not as harsh and abrasive as I thought it would be. The top 'hopper' is plastic, with a hole in the bottom for the beans to drain into the grinder. It has a nice rubber and stainless steel lid. You pour your beans in the top, and then shut the lid. Please, please, please make sure that the hopper is securely fastened to the grinder. I turned it to the first 'click' and set the grinder going. It automatically shut off. Tried again, it shut off. Tried again, again, it shut off. The vibration from the grinder was causing the hopper to spin, and in turn it activated the auto shut-off feature on the grinder. I ended up needing to be a little more forceful with the hopper when locking it in place. I was just being cautious with it being plastic. And to that end, do not, I repeat, do not lift up the hopper with unground beans in it. When trying to reseat the hopper securely, I accidentally lifted it up, and beans went everywhere. Into the burr of the grinder, onto the counter, everywhere! You have been warned! The collection vessel for the grounds is clear plastic with a rubber and stainless steel sealable lid. That means if you choose to grind 4 cups worth of coffee and then only use two of them, the rest of the grounds remain stored and sealed till the next time you need them. Cleaning the machine is really quite easy. A damp cloth gets rid of most of the grounds, and then a quick blast of canned air cleans out the other parts. This is a nicely featured machine with many different options of grind, quantity and strength. The stainless steel and black casing is very attractive on the countertop. And it was good to see the auto shut-off safety feature in action, and the notification on the LCD screen on the machine. I would heartily recommend this grinder to anyone who is interested in a slightly more higher end model of grinder.

I no longer have to choose what type of grind I want at the store. I can purchase my favorite coffee beans, bring them home and then decide do I want drip, Espresso or percolated coffee. The best feature of the DEDICA coffee Grinder is it’s stainless steel grinding wheels. Not a blender blade like my old version, but true Grinder wheels like in a pepper mill. The grinding action releases the true flavor of the bean without pulverizing it. A true on/off switch on the bottom, right side of the unit guarantees the unit draws no phantom power when plugged in but not in use. (Kudos DeLonghi!) Easy to use. Just fill the hopper on top, select your grind preference (Espresso to drip to perked), set your desired flavor strength, how many cups (knob on the right side) and press the start button. The DEDICA does the rest. If you want really fresh brewed coffee, only grind what you need. There is a special attachment conveniently stowed away behind the receiving canister. It can be used to grind straight into the espresso porta filter handle. I’d love to see an attachment to grind straight into my K-CUP reusable filters. If you want, you can fill the hopper and grind as needed. Or, what I might do, is grind enough for my morning brew then close the air tight receiver canister and save it for my dinner shot. Best feature of all is the perfect cup of coffee I get from my fresh ground coffee beans.