Description
The Virtuoso lives up to its name by providing technical skill, classic style and a consistent, quality grind.
Grinding for espresso? Let the Virtuoso’s professional-grade 40mm conical burrs perform their magic for a consistent, fine grind. How about a French Press? The Virtuoso can handle that too, with a particle size uniformity that gives you consistency from cup to cup. In fact, the Virtuoso is so consistent at both the coarse and fine ends of the grind range that we consider it to be in a class all by itself — and so do many of the micro- and specialty-roasters who swear by it.
The secret to the Virtuoso’s consistent, smooth grind is two-fold: an efficient DC motor keeps your beans cool, even during extended grind times, while a combination of electric and gear speed reducers slow the burr to 450 RPM, ensuring a smooth bean feed and reducing noise, heat and static buildup.
The Virtuoso’s exterior is just as finely tuned as its interior — a convenient front-mounted pulse button allows for grinding directly into an espresso filter basket, while a 60-second timer means that it’s easy to replicate the ideal grind time. With the Virtuoso, the look goes beyond merely functional. A sculptured metal top and base give this grinder an expensive, elegant image that adds a sense of class and quality to kitchen counters and coffee shop workspaces alike.
When you want it all, the Virtuoso is the grinder that will get you there with function, elegance, and style.
Burrs: Manufactured in Europe, the Virtuoso’s 40 mm conical burrs grind coffee at 1.5 to 2.4 g/sec. depending on the setting. But what really sets the Virtuoso burrs apart is that these burrs can do a very uniform grind, with a distinct lack of fines across its grinding range. So the Virtuoso burrs are exceptional for espresso, drip, manual brewing methods and Press Pot. These conical burrs are durable and will remain sharp for many years. The burrs have a precision mounting system to ensure a stable platform for accurate grinding.
Gearbox: In 2012, Baratza introduced the second generation Gearbox (GB 2.0). With GB 2.0, Baratza has significantly increased the strength and durability of the drive transmission while decreasing noise. In addition to a new drive shaft, motor mounting plate and bushings, this change includes a new drive gear made of 15% glass filled thermo plastic which is quieter than the prior metal gear, wears better and is more shock resistant. During the rigorous testing process, stainless steel screws were thrown into the burrs, and in every case the motor/gear/burrs stopped immediately, the (automatically-resettable) thermal cutout was triggered, and the gears were fine.
Grind Adjustment: Turn the hopper and with 40 settings you can quickly adjust from fine for espresso to coarse for French Press. The grind range is from 250 to 1200 microns.
Grinds Left in Grinder: To maximize freshness, the Virtuoso minimizes the ground coffee left in the grinder.
Brewing Method: The Virtuoso is a great all around grinder, from manual brewing to espresso.
Motor: A powerful, high torque DC motor effortlessly drives the burrs. This motor turns slowly resulting in cool, quiet operation and permits long grinding duty-cycles. The circuitry is equipped with an automatically resetting thermal cutoff switch.
Calibration: An innovative burr calibration system ensures that each grinder has the full range of grind. If necessary, the grinders can be user calibrated.
Speed Control: With unique speed control, the Virtuoso uses a combination of gear and electronic speed reduction to control the rotation of the burr to 500 RPM. The electronic speed controller is adjustable from 405 to 495 RPM in the event that specific user conditions require modification of the speed. This slow speed reduces heat, noise, and static generation in the grinder. It also ensures that the beans feed smoothly into the burrs.
Timer Switch: The Virtuoso has a 60-second timer with segmented graphics, for easily repeatable grind times.
Cleaning: Burrs are easily removable with no tools, making cleaning very easy.
Accessories (which may be purchased separately):
Esatto: An accessory that transforms your Virtuoso into a grind by weight Grinder. Set the weight you want, the Esatto does the rest, weighing the ground coffee to within +/- 0.2g, while grinding, and stopping automatically.
PortaHolder: A replacement for the grounds bin that holds the espresso portafilter for hands-free grinding directly. It also makes for easy clean up.
Hopper extender: An extension that can add 9 oz. of capacity to the existing 8 oz. bean hopper. Several extenders can be added to get to the capacity you need.
