Tchibo's electric coffee grinder with integrated scale manages to enter the espresso grinder comparison field at a price of under 100 euros. We tested the small grinder from Tchibo and report on our impressions and findings in this test report and video.
A coffee grinder with a scale makes sense!
Tchibo achieves something unique on the market with the electric coffee grinder. For under 100 euros, this grinder comes with a scale. That's quite something and even among much more expensive grinders it's the exception. Of course, the question arises of how well the scale cooperates with the grinder. But before we answer that, a brief note on the operating principle and why that's actually genius.
Good coffee is very often a matter of proportion. Too much ground coffee means that the water cannot extract sufficiently from the brewing water. Taste-wise, this manifests as biting acidity. Too little ground coffee in relation to water means that the ground coffee is extracted too strongly. As a result, unpleasantly bitter notes often show up taste-wise - that's not tasty either.
That's why proportionality is so important. While we typically work with espresso at a ratio of 1:2 or 1:2.5, for example dosing 18 grams of coffee into the portafilter and getting 36 grams of espresso in the cup, we brew filter coffee with a different ratio. A ratio of 60 grams of coffee per liter is recommended for preparing good filter coffee.
A scale is therefore one of the most important tools when preparing coffee to first get the brewing ratio right. Only secondly are grind size, temperature, pressure and other important parameters.
The fact that Tchibo now equips a grinder in the budget entry range with a scale is absolutely sensible. The importance of the scale is demonstrated and supplied directly. Of course, the crucial question is whether the scale actually works.
How the scale works
On the grinder, you can set the desired amount of coffee in grams or the desired cup amount. Per cup, the Tchibo grinder calculates 7 grams of coffee. We place the grinding chamber on the scale, which is integrated into the base plate of the grinder. The grinder tares the grinding chamber and begins grinding. It's nice that the grinding chamber can also be replaced with a smaller cup, for example with our coffee maker measuring cup (in the CH shop, in the DE/EU shop).
Let's come to the accuracy and here unfortunately the good idea falls apart. Tchibo itself specifies accuracy as +/- 3 grams. In our measurement, we achieved a deviation of "only" 1.1 grams over ten shots. That's better than Tchibo's own assessment. In relation to other grinders and in our assessment in our comparison test, we rated values over one gram as "poor".
Especially in the espresso brewing range, fluctuations of 1 gram of coffee or more do not provide the reliability needed to prepare good espressos.
Size and appearance of the Tchibo coffee grinder
Tchibo's electric coffee grinder is small and compact. With a width of 14 cm, a height of 35 cm including the bean hopper and a depth of 23 cm, the grinder weighs around 2.1 kg. The bean hopper holds up to 450 grams of coffee and is removable.
The grinder is made of plastic and polished aluminum on the outside. The conical grinding mechanism installed is very similar to other conical grinding mechanisms in the budget price category. 26 different grind size settings can be adjusted.
In addition to dosing by cup quantity and coffee weight, a time control is also provided. In this mode, the grinder grinds for as long as desired.
The removability of the bean hopper is really cleverly designed. Barista professional Michel Aeschbacher expresses his delight in the test video that the container can be removed at the push of a button. With one grip, the upper part can be removed and only 9.4 grams of unground coffee remain. That's an absolute best value in our comparison.
Also positive is that the bean hopper can then be screwed back on without hitting annoying beans. With many coffee and espresso grinders, the remaining beans must first be removed to attach the bean hopper. Different with Tchibo's electric coffee grinder. We really liked that.
How does the espresso taste?
An espresso can only be good if it exists. That sounds logical, but unfortunately it's not always the case with budget and so-called espresso grinders. Many coffee grinders simply don't grind fine enough.
With the Tchibo grinder, in our test we set it to the finest grind size to obtain a grind distribution that's fine enough. The grind is fine enough when it builds up enough resistance to slow the brewing water in espresso extraction to approximately 25 seconds. In other words: the espresso should flow through in the desired amount in about 25 seconds. This is a basic setting that is then adjusted by +/- 5 seconds depending on the coffee.
With the Tchibo coffee grinder, we achieved brewings of 22+ seconds. Depending on the coffee and espresso machine, we also had shots of 25 seconds. So in principle, appropriate grind fineness is possible.
The scale of the electric Tchibo grinder is located in the base area for the ground coffee.
However, we're already in the finest range and there's no room to go finer. Especially with coffees that might be a bit older, the grind size won't be able to be set fine enough.
The espressos we tasted were sensorially clearly characterizable as espresso drinks. They had the typical thick texture and had a certain heaviness on the tongue.
With the second and third sip, however, a distinctly bitter note appeared, leading to a dry, astringent aftertaste. Such a flavor profile can also be well explained by the measured particle distribution of the grinder.
Particle distribution in the Tchibo coffee grinder
The particle distribution shows a relatively narrow main peak compared to espresso grinders in the same price class. However, the proportion of fine particles is relatively high. This can explain why an espresso setting was possible, but the dryness of the espresso, especially in the aftertaste, dominated.
The best and highest quality espresso grinders especially have a very high and sharp main peak. The Tchibo coffee grinder doesn't stand out either positively or negatively from its price competitors here.
In terms of speed, the Tchibo grinder was among the slowest grinders in the field. In 10 seconds, the grinder could grind through 19.2 grams of coffee to espresso grind size.
Also tested was the increase in ground coffee temperature over 6 extractions. The Tchibo grinder reached an average temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius and rose by 1.8°C from the first to the sixth grinding. That was among the higher values, but shouldn't yet cause a taste change in the coffee due to grinding temperature.
As you can see from the grind curves of tests 2, 4, 5, 7, the particle distribution changes relatively significantly in parts. The graph shown above essentially shows the same recipe 4 times. In effect, especially the fine portion sometimes jumped from, for example, 21 to 23%. These fluctuations provide an explanation for why the results also varied in taste time and again.
Conclusion on the Tchibo coffee grinder
Compared to other espresso grinders in price category 6 (up to 150 euros), Tchibo's electric coffee grinder scores in some respects. For the idea of the scale, we give the grinder a star. For the implementation of the scale, we take it away again. Overall, the usability is still better than competitors. The controls are understandable and the solution for bean hopper removal is unmatched even among more expensive grinders.
The grinder is 81 decibels on average loud, but takes a very long time to grind through the desired amount of coffee. The retention is 3.2 grams of coffee, lower than the Graef CM800 but larger than the Delonghi KG21 as well as the Rommelsbacher EKM300.
The grinder grinds espresso-fine with some coffees, but is already on the finest grind setting. With many coffees, especially older coffees, the grinder doesn't grind espresso-fine.
We cannot in good conscience recommend the Tchibo coffee grinder for espresso. Especially if the grinder is supposed to ease the way into the fascination of espresso preparation, we find too many counterarguments here. Above all, we're concerned that the grinder will unsettle beginners when finding the right grind setting. That's why we recommend you spend a bit more money if possible or check out the hand grinders under 100 euros that we've tested.
Tip: Our esteemed colleague Arne from Coffeeness also took a look at the Tchibo coffee grinder.
