How Does It Compare?
If you’re ready to move away from your old blade grinder, the Capresso Infinity Burr Grinder is an excellent entry-level machine! The Infinity has features that won’t disappoint coffee lovers. The steel conical burrs, for instance, have stepped adjustments for beginner’s to learn how to perfect their grind for different brew methods. The Infinity’s affordable price places it in the same market as favorites like the Baratza Encore. Both are slated for new at-home baristas interested in brewing on a Chemex, Hario V60 or French press.
[caption id="attachment_12987" align="alignnone" width="474"] The Capresso Infinity Burr Grinder is the perfect entry-level machine.[/caption]Grind
Built with steel conical burrs, the Capresso Infinity munches through beans with ease. It doesn’t grind quickly though and that’s actually a good thing. The lower RPM (rotations per minute) of the steel burrs creates less friction and heat build up. This means you’re less likely to burn your beans and retain the flavor profile. Not to mention the slower speed makes this grinder ridiculously quiet. The finer we adjusted the settings we noticed the pitch got higher, but it was still extremely quiet for an automatic grinder.
[caption id="attachment_12988" align="alignnone" width="474"] The Infinity offers 16 stepped settings and a timed dial to start your grind.[/caption]The stepped grind adjustment is perfect for people wanting to learn how to make great coffee at home. There are 16 settings with four categories that range from Extra Fine to Coarse. If you’ve been reading up on grind differences for brewing, it’ll be intuitive to guess what setting you’ll want to use. A little less intuitive is the timer to activate the grinder. The dial features settings from one to 10 that act more as a reference point than actual timed dosage. When you grind at Extra Fine, there is less coffee per second passing through the burrs than grinding on Coarse. We’d recommend dialing in your grind and using the timer as a personal reference for dosage. That does pose some extra work for beginners to become familiar with dosage, consistency and timing.
Glamour
The Capresso Infinity is a quiet machine perfect for apartment living—the Crew has had neighbors complain about their noisy grinders in the wee hours of the morning. The Infinity will keep the peace. It’s small footprint also squeezes into that extra space on your apartment’s small countertop. Another bonus is that the 8.8-ounce bean hopper is compact and doesn’t stick out from the top of this machine, so it’s easy to clear low cabinets—a renter’s dream!
[caption id="attachment_12989" align="alignnone" width="474"] The Infinity's small footprint make it easy to fit into an apartment.[/caption]After grinding up a Chemex’s worth of coffee, it was easy to see that the grounds were sticking everywhere. There’s no anti-static coating on the container, which makes it a bit sticker to remove the grounds. We didn’t lose tons of coffee, but we’d recommend keeping a towel and brush on hand to clean up escapees. The Infinity includes a comically adorable brush—that we upgraded with our Pallo—and scooper to get you started. These are great beginner accessories that we recommend upgrading once you’re using your grinder daily.
Grade
This entry-level grinder is an excellent machine for home brewers looking to make rich and smooth pour over or French press at home. The wide range on the Capresso Infinity offers a lot of grind options, so you’ll be able to dial in and customize your consistency. The Extra Fine and Fine setting on the Infinity, though, don’t quite make the cut for an espresso machine like the Rancilio Silvia M. It doesn’t make consistent enough grounds, so we’ll just tell you now, this grinder isn’t a great match for non-pressurized portafilters. You could use the Infinity with a pressurized portafilter like on the DeLonghi Dedica.
[caption id="attachment_12986" align="alignnone" width="474"] There is no anti-static coating on the container, so you're likely to have some coffee grounds stuck on the sides.[/caption]Conclusion
The Capresso Infinity Burr Grinder is an affordable, entry-level machine. For home brewers emerging into the coffee sphere, the Infinity offers a lot of bang for its buck. Just remember this machine is better suited for Chemex, pour over or a drip coffee maker. If you’re starting your journey with espresso, then you’ll want to pair this grinder with a machine that uses pressurized portafilters. Its compact size will leave plenty of space for an entry-level espresso machine on your coffee bar.