Wilfa WSCG-2 silver electrical burr coffee grinder
Buy now £100, Whittard.co.uk
- Type: Electric burr grinder
- Capacity: 250g
- Grind settings: Five
- Rating:
Ease of Use
The Wilfa offers five different grind settings, allowing you to pick whichever one suits the way you plan to brew your coffee. To that end, you’ve got a simple dial that offers various methods of brewing, meaning you simply pick yours, whether that’s steap, French Press, filter, aeropress or mocca.
Within those broad ranges you can adjust it more specifically but the analogue nature of adjustment means it’s slightly less accurate than digital equivalents, so you may have to play around with it to get it exactly right for your needs. The same goes for grind time, with a dial allowing you to adjust between zero and 30 seconds – again something you’ll probably have to play with to get it exactly as you prefer.
Once you’ve got it set up to your preference, it’s just a case of pressing start and you can get on with the rest of your morning routine. However, if you want to swap between different brewing methods, you might find yourself having to adjust things.
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The Wilfa’s bean hopper itself has a 250g capacity, which means you shouldn’t have to refill them too often. You can’t use the grinder without having the plastic container underneath to catch the grounds and that itself isn’t the easiest to pour from, which could prove to be a bit of a bugbear, depending on how much messing around you want to do when it comes to your coffee.
Design
The Wilfa is fairly pleasing on the eye. Slightly smaller than some of the other higher-end grinders, it’s sleek and compact and can be hidden away easily in a cupboard or would fit well alongside your other kitchen gadgetry on the worktop.
The buttons are simple and analogue rather than digital. That, coupled with its simple stainless steel and black appearance, mean it doesn’t have quite the space-age look of some other grinders on the market, but if simplicity is what you’re after, this could be the one for you.
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Both the coffee bean hopper and the container for the grounds apparently have UV light protection, aimed at keeping it all as fresh as possible, which may be a concern for you if you’re not an everyday user, but either way, is another little bit of detail that may sway you to the Wilfa.
Performance
The Wilfa WSCG-2 is a burr grinder, which means it’s made up of two revolving abrasive surfaces – burrs – which grind the coffee a few beans at a time. The advantage of a burr grinder over a blade grinder is that the beans are ground in a uniform size, ultimately producing better coffee.
On top of this, the motor produces less heat which means the blades don’t burn your coffee, something that aficionados will tell you affects the taste.
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The Wilfa is efficient to use, producing a uniform grind to your specification once you’ve set the coarseness. It’s slightly noisier than other, more expensive, grinders which could be a deal breaker for some, but ultimately a grinder is going to make some noise, and a few seconds of disruption could be worth it for that great coffee.
The verdict: Wilfa WSCG-2
The Wilfa is a good-looking piece of kit that delivers on what it promises. You’ll get freshly-ground coffee to your specification from a well-designed, sleek, easy-to-store piece of kit. Yes, it’s perhaps not quite as state-of-the-art as some of the other options on the market but it’s also smaller – both in size and price tag – making it a great option for someone who wants to up their coffee game but doesn’t quite want to fork out an extra £100 for some of the other models out there.
It’s a higher quality appliance that will yield a better quality grind that can easily be tailored to your wants and needs, which allows aspiring coffee fans to play around that little bit more. The Wilfa also gives you a chance to step up your coffee game without completely breaking the bank, making it a great overall choice for your next level grinder.