This is the Weber Workshops EG-1. A $4,000 coffee grinder I’ve been using almost exclusively for the last 150 or so days. In that time I’ve really put it through its paces. Running dozens of different beans, light roasts to medium roasts, using it at home and for hosting local coffee nerd- I mean meets.
In this post I’m going to share my thoughts on this as a home grinder, the pros, cons, quirks, nitpicks, and of course, whether or not it’s worth it.
CONTEXT
For some background, the EG-1 has, in my eyes and from what I’ve seen, always been this coveted Holy Grail endgame of coffee grinders. The one to be the end all be all. Designed by Weber Workshops, helmed by Douglas Weber who is one of the original members of the Apple iPod Product Design team.
So, this thing has some incredibly big shoes to fill, especially with the way the brand carries itself - known for a high-end refined look, products to perform as well as they look, and a price tag that Apple would certainly be proud of.
But the Weber name has also come with some controversy. From claims of poor quality issues, not owning up to mistakes, shifting blame to others, and perhaps the biggest one, the drama sparked between Sprometheus and Weber Workshops after a negative review of the Key grinder.
However, since then, I have seen the company take strides in improving by hiring Andrew, formerly of the Flair Espresso team, who I’ve met in person and shows great promise to be a beneficial member of the Weber Workshops team.
From my limited communications with Douglas Weber at SCA Expo in Boston 2022 to communications with the Weber team regarding the status of my order, I haven’t had any personal negative communications with them.
And if you want to see my first impressions and unboxing of this grinder, be sure to watch that video first that I’ll leave linked in the description. So with some background and context out of the way, let’s first get into this grinder by talking about the build quality.
BUILD QUALITY
Now for a grinder of this caliber, price point, and with the way it's marketed - I am expecting nothing short of perfection. I opted for the silver version of this grinder which is about $400 cheaper than the black Onyx colorway.
I’ve seen the comments, and I know - the overall design looks like a number of different things. Telescope, microscope, science lab equipment. It’s definitely not equipment designed to blend in.
The grinder comprises of this large angled shaft with the motor at the top, a middle section with a funnel for dosing, the actual burr carrier portion with locking ring, and a heavy base containing the other components.
The back of the base is where you would plug the grinder in, and is made to be used for 90 up to 240v environments without the need for a separate transformer. On my unit, the port on the back of the grinder was unfortunately a little loose.
The surface finish for the most part is pretty good. The anodized aluminum looks clean with no major blemishes from a distance. But up close, you can start to see some streaking, presumably as a result of the machining process for these oddly shaped components. Otherwise, there have been no visible defects on the anodized aluminum components.
The black base seems to have a different surface finish, I think it’s either a dipped or spray finish with a more matte texture. However, the surface finishing similarly has some light streaking marks and very minor blemishes, only noticeable under harsh lighting up close.
The finish of any other black material seems to be a more traditional black anodization color with a smooth surface finish.
The base also features a middle shaft for the height adjustable platform that comes with an oak wood piece. There’s also an optional portafilter fork if you want to shell out an additional $300.
The dot matrix LED display is bright, clear, vibrant, and easy to read and I think is one of the best integrated displays, as simple as it is, on any coffee product.
The black button has smooth stepped clicks for adjusting the RPM, and acts as a button itself for purging, fixing stalling, or ramping up to max RPM. The silver button is one of those classic tactile push buttons you find across a plethora of products and works great.
On the left and right sides of the base are small platforms, a good spot for accessories like the Moonraker and the paper filter holder, however only the right side seems to be magnetic. The paper filter holder is a separate accessory for yet another $100, but also serves as a good spot to put the blind shaker cap on when not in use. I’ve definitely made the mistake of keeping the lid on before grinding.
The dosing cup or blind shaker is made of aluminum with a great surface finish I found to appear smoother than the actual grinder, even along these curved areas. It also features a magnet for self centering on the oak base.
Speaking of magnets, that is one of the best parts of this grinder. The dosing funnel, blind shaker, and burr holders are all magnetic and all feel nice and snappy to use.
Aesthetically, this grinder definitely looks like lab equipment, it has this rugged industrial space-age sort of design to it with the large polished exposed screws and unique shape. Definitely a stark contrast to grinders like the boxy Eureka Mignons or the minimalistic looking Option Os.
I like the overall design with these large chamfers along the base, helping to add a subtle touch of softness to a very rugged shape.
One thing to note is that this grinder is huge. I’ve gotten fairly used to it now, but have to remember back to the first time I saw one of these and really get a sense of scale for it. However, from the front, because of the angled design, it is deceivingly smaller than you’d think, which I think is a good thing from an aesthetic perspective.
WORKFLOW
So moving onto workflow, this is a single dosing grinder which means, no hopper. Pre-weigh your beans into a dosing cup, adjust your grind size with the ring, pour it into the funnel, adjust our RPM, and start the grinder. Simple, right?
Kind of.
There are a few things to note while operating this grinder. First, don’t make the mistake of keeping the lid on the shaker, trust me, I’ve made that mistake.
Second, you absolutely need to RDT for this grinder. At this price point, I think a built in deionizer should have been a consideration, but it’s not. It creates a pretty staticy, chaffy, mess if you don’t give your beans a spritz of water.
Third, adjusting the grind size uses this really interesting ring that sits kind of loose and at first seems like a stepless adjustment - but it's actually stepped because of these little pegs, adjustable in 5 micron increments. Knowing this fact makes it incredibly easy to dial in beans, and swap from filter to espresso and back. You can move this ring up and down to any height to adjust the ring.
Then you also need to consider whether you’re going to hot-start or cold-start the grinder. Weber encourages, and I personally also, tend to hot start the grinder. That means ensuring it's on and running before the beans are poured in as opposed to a cold start where you pour your beans in, then start the grinder.
And that’s primarily because this grinder stalls at lower RPM. Specifically, I’ve noticed stalling occurs around the 700 RPM range and under with light roasts. At 600 and under, you even need to slow feed your dose, as at that point, even pouring in too quickly can cause stalling.
Now, I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, as I have read that it could be to protect the motor from burn out. It’s easily fixable by pushing the black button to reverse the burrs, then ramp it up to max RPM which helps clear out any jams.
Speaking of jams there was one very odd occurrence in my time with this grinder at a coffee meetup, where it kind of just momentarily died. The display stopped working and nothing was functioning. But the good ol turn it off and back on again trick seemed to resolve that after a couple minutes. A weird one off occasion that I haven’t been able to recreate since.
Once your dose is ground through, there’s a knocker placed on the back that helps clear out the chute. And then, the blind shaker. Let’s talk about the blind shaker.
This is a tool that regained some recent popularity thanks to Lance’s extensive testing on WDT methods, where the shaker ultimately reigned supreme. But it has some workflow quirks you should be aware of.
When you use the shaker you have to be careful to ensure the inner portion remains completely flat. If you accidentally knock it to the side from the bottom, it’ll cause a mess.
The blind shaker sits perfectly on a 58mm portafilter, but unless your portafilter sits flat on its own, you’ll have to remove the inner portion of the shaker carefully because you can knock the cup off the portafilter. You can hold the cup and portafilter together and remove the inner portion to avoid that.
At first, this entire workflow is a little awkward to get used to. Especially because the lid just has to sort of sit somewhere while not in use actively shaking. But once you’re used to it, the workflow is seamless and easy. However, making drinks back to back, let’s say for a crowd, gets really annoying to hear some guy in the background hovering over his coffee bar ringing a bell.
Opposed to dinging it like a bell, you can also twist and spin the inner piece to get the grounds to fall, although I’ve noticed it's ever so slightly slower.
When brewing for other methods, the blind shaker is obviously very easy to simply open up over a V60 or Orea, it’s a little tight over something like the Cafec Deep 27, and it fits perfectly over an Aeropress.
The shaker also never quite gets completely clean without needing to go and give it a good brush. Some grounds can get stuck in the crevices of the cup, lid, and surface likely from static. Not enough to make any functional difference in my opinion, but slightly annoying regardless.
With regards to sound, the EG-1 is definitely on the louder end. At higher RPM’s the sound is much higher pitched and be a little painful to listen to, while at lower RPM’s it’s a little deeper and more tolerable.
In terms of speed, here’s the difference between an 18g dose for espresso at the lowest versus the highest RPM.
CLEANING & ALIGNMENT
Cleaning and aligning this grinder is made ridiculously simple. For the most part, it’s a completely tool-less disassembly unless you want to go through a very deep clean, for which the recommendation is only once a year for home use.
For a daily cleaning, you can simply pull apart the magnetically held together burr carrier. At first, it feels almost painful to yank out a metal component held together with magnets, with risk of potentially hitting the other metal components and causing a scratch or dent.
But somehow, after 100 days, I’ve yet to damage or scratch anything here.
I found it easiest to first pull off the rear half, using the knocker as a lever to pull it down, followed by the front half.
To clean, I use a brush, this one was included with the grinder, to give everything a sweep. And that’s really all you need to do most of the time. Every few weeks you can do a little bit of a deeper clean with a thin bristle brush. And then annually, or sooner depending on who you are, you can go for a deep clean and alignment.
Using a hex key to undo these 4 bolts, opens up the burr carrier entirely. And as you can see, these are blind burrs - no screws holding these burrs, just magnets.
Aligning the burrs is an extremely easy and satisfying process that doesn’t need the classic expo marker wipe method. You literally just hold the burrs with your hands, sort of just feeling to ensure the burrs are aligned properly with a smooth transition between the 2 flat burrs.
It works well, and I had no issues with aligning and didn’t find the need to run the grinder to find a zero point. Just align it, run some tests to get within the correct grind size range, and dial in from there. Very simple and very impressive to use.
PERFORMANCE
Okay, so I’ve gone through the build quality, workflow, cleaning, and alignment - now let’s talk about the performance of the EG-1. First, for espresso, then for filter. Now keep in mind I have been running this grinder with the core burrs or default offering. Weber also offers the DB2 Ultra burrs, designed for pourover and filter.
The Core burrs here were designed to be a one size fits all situation. Excellent for both filter and espresso. I’m happy to report that this is indeed excellent for both.
For espresso, I’ve never been a truly straight espresso shot drinker. I like my morning medium roast milk based drinks, and I’ll try a light roast shot dialed in nicely here and there, but largely milk based drinks. With this grinder, I made attempts to more regularly enjoy straight espresso.
And I’m glad I did. The EG1 with core burrs have given me some incredibly delicious shots of espresso. Nuanced flavors, a rich texture, and sweetness pulled through from excellently roasted beans. These burrs produce an excellent level of clarity, even more so than what I’ve experienced from larger burrs like on the DF83.
I am curious if these being blind burrs without holes for screws is contributing to these even more pronounced flavor notes from this grinder versus other large flat burrs like the DF83.
Even for milky drinks, I’ve realized how much the distinctly chocolate versus nutty notes of even a medium roasted bean can shine with this grinder.
As much as I love this grinder and burr set for espresso, I love it even more for filter brews. I’ve been using the Cafec Deep as my daily for the greater part of the last few months and found that roughly 300 microns coarser than my espresso grind size has been the sweet spot with this brewer. That means if my espresso is a 6, I can adjust to a 9 quickly for a filter brew and back to a 6 for espresso.
The filter brews I’ve been getting have been some of the best coffee I’ve ever brewed, period. Rich sweetness and texture, clarity that distinctly tells you “yeah this is a fruity tasting note”, and a body that isn’t too thin that’s often found as a result of huge flat burrs.
Visually, the grind distribution looks really good - and obviously I can’t say with certainty, but there are way less noticeable fines making its way into the cup compared to grinders like the DF83 or Eureka Mignon line that I’ve tried.
The cups I’ve had have been extremely memorable, and what’s even better is taking this grinder to local coffee meets.
Being able to grind through dozens of different beans with extremely minimal retention is fantastic. And honestly, even without much dialing in of every single bean, the brews were really good.
Get into the right range and you’re going to have an excellent time with this grinder. Dial it in further with technique, temperature, etc. and you really can’t ask for better.
This grinder, to me, is really the endgame grinder I always wanted. It scratches that ever-present upgraditis itch so well that, truthfully, I have not been interested in purchasing any new coffee gear in the last 100 days.
But that ultimately begs the question - is it worth it?
IS IT WORTH IT
$4,000. That is an obscene amount of money to spend on a coffee grinder. And like all hobbies, there are several points of diminishing returns working your way up to this behemoth. .
The EG-1 to me, is right up at the end. Achieving brews so vibrant and flavorful alongside a workflow and build that’s the best I’ve ever seen on a coffee product, but with a price tag that’s still hard to swallow.
After 4 years in the hobby of specialty coffee brewing at home, I think this is the best purchase I’ve ever made. Working my way up from more budget focused grinders, having the opportunity to test conicals vs flat burrs of all sizes, this grinder is the epitome of what I’ve hoped to achieve from brewing at home.
But, I wouldn’t recommend you diving into the deep end and going and buying this grinder right away. I think you really need to appreciate what you’re going to get from a grinder like this, by having that comparative experience.
If I went straight into purchasing this grinder and someone told me that it’s basically as good as it gets, with minimal prior experience, it’s going to be hard to truly appreciate what makes this grinder so good. Think of it like, you have to know what bad, mediocre, and good coffee tastes like to fully appreciate and understand what excellent coffee tastes like.
My experience in coffee 2 years ago could definitely not help me appreciate the kind of brews I’ve gotten from this grinder. Having about 5 years of experience now, experiencing all sorts of levels and styles of coffee and coffee equipment, I really feel like I can truly appreciate this grinder.
And I get this is made in likely small batches, not at scale by any means, and is designed to be that upper luxury sort of item for the home barista, and so I get why it’s $4,000. But that’s still, a lot of money.
Like all big purchases, if you have the opportunity to try it out, whether from a friend, family, or local coffee community - I highly recommend it.
If you’ve gone through many other home grinders, and you’re looking for your endgame grinder in this price range, I don’t think you’ll regret the purchase.
So, that’s my take and experience with the Weber Workshops EG-1, having used it as my primary espresso and filter grinder for the past 100 or so days. This is going to be my primary grinder for practically everything moving forward.
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