Tchibo's electric coffee grinder with integrated scale makes it into 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 creates something unique on the market with the electric coffee grinder. For under 100 euros, this grinder comes with a scale. That's quite a lot and even among much more expensive grinders it's the exception. Of course, the question arises as to how well the scale cooperates with the grinder. But before we answer that, a quick word on the operating principle and why that's actually brilliant.
Good coffee is very often a matter of proportion. Too much ground coffee means that the water cannot extract the brewing water sufficiently. Taste-wise, this manifests itself as biting acidity. Too little ground coffee relative to water means that the ground coffee is over-extracted. 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 a ratio of 1:2 or 1:2.5 for espresso, for example dosing 18 grams of coffee into the portafilter and extracting 36 grams of espresso into 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 as a second priority are grind size, temperature, and pressure other important parameters.
The fact that Tchibo equips a grinder in the budget price 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 program the desired amount of coffee in grams or the desired cup amount. The Tchibo grinder calculates 7 grams of coffee per cup. We place the grinding chamber on the scale, which is integrated into the grinder's base plate. 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 talk about accuracy and here, unfortunately, the good idea falls apart. Tchibo itself specifies accuracy of +/- 3 grams. In our measurement, we came up with a deviation of "only" 1.1 grams over ten extractions. So that's better than Tchibo's self-assessment. Compared to other grinders and in the assessment in our comparison test, we rated values over one gram as "poor".
Especially in the area of espresso brewing, fluctuations of 1 gram of coffee and 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 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 burr installed is very similar to other conical burrs in the budget price range. 26 different grind size settings can be adjusted.
In addition to dosing by cup amount and coffee weight, a time-control function is also provided. In this mode, the grinder grinds for as long as you want.
The removable bean hopper is really cleverly designed. Barista pro Michel Aeschbacher expresses his delight in the test video about the fact that the container can be released with the push of a button. With one movement, the upper part can be removed and only 9.4 grams of unground coffee remain. That's an absolute best value in our comparison.
It's also positive that the bean hopper can then be screwed back on without bumping against stray beans. With many coffee and espresso grinders, you first have to remove the remaining beans in order to put the bean hopper back on. 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 too, we set it to the finest grind size in our test 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 down to approximately 25 seconds during espresso extraction. In other words: the espresso should run through in about 25 seconds in the desired amount. This is a basic setting that is then adjusted by +/- 5 seconds depending on the coffee.
With the Tchibo coffee grinder, we achieved brewing times of 22+ seconds. Depending on the coffee and espresso machine, extractions of 25 seconds were also possible. Basically, appropriate grind fineness is possible.
The scale on the Tchibo electric grinder is located in the grinding chamber's placement area.
However, we're then already in the finest range and there's no more 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 sensorily clearly characterizable as espresso drinks. They had the typical viscous texture and had a certain weight on the tongue.
With the second and third sip, however, a distinctly bitter note appeared, which led 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, was dominant.
The best and highest quality espresso grinders have a very high and sharp main peak above all. The Tchibo coffee grinder doesn't stand out either positively or negatively from its price class competitors.
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.
We also tested the increase in temperature of the ground coffee over 6 extractions. The Tchibo grinder reached an average temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius and increased 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 can be seen from the grinding curves of tests 2, 4, 5, 7, the particle distribution changes somewhat relatively significantly. The graph shown above shows essentially 4 times the same recipe. Effectively, especially the fine particle content jumped from, for example, 21 to 23%. These fluctuations provide an explanation for why the results also varied taste-wise.
Conclusion on the Tchibo coffee grinder
In comparison with the other espresso grinders in price group 6 (up to 150 euros), Tchibo's electric coffee grinder scores in some points. We give the grinder a star for the scale idea. For the implementation of the scale, we deduct it again. The usability is overall still better than the competitors. The control is understandable and the solution for bean hopper removal is unmatched even among more expensive grinders.
At 81 decibels, the grinder is averagely loud, but takes a very long time to grind through the desired amount of coffee. The retention is 3.2 grams of coffee, which is less than the Graef CM800 but larger than the Delonghi KG21 and the Rommelsbacher EKM300.
The grinder grinds to espresso fineness with some coffees, but is then already at the finest grind size. With many coffees, especially older coffees, the grinder does not grind fine enough for espresso.
In good conscience, we cannot recommend the Tchibo coffee grinder for espresso. Especially if the grinder is supposed to provide an entry into the fascination of espresso preparation, we find too many counterarguments here. Above all, we fear that the grinder will unsettle beginners when finding the correct grind size setting. That's why we recommend either spending a bit more money if possible or looking at 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.
