Selecting a Burr grinder for French Press coffee

After 5+ years of service, my Capresso Infinity grinder is reaching the end of its useful life. I can't complain: it did wonders for a long time, and my 1-2 french press coffees per day comes out to about 3000 uses, or about 3 cents per use.

Given that economical rate, I decided to go up to a better grinder. The two mid-range grinders that people seem to like for French Press are the Breville SmartGrind and the Baratza Virtuoso. It was hard to get a clear head-to-head for French Press specifically, so I did my own virtual comparison. Here is a video of the two models:

At about 8 minutes, you get the comparison of the coarsest grinds. The coarsest setting on the Baratza is far too coarse for French Press. But the one on the Breville is far too fine. See, for example, this excellent chart of the idea grind coarseness.

That means that really only the Baratza is capable of producing optimal French Press coffee. If you're willing to settle for "almost there," the Breville is much easier to use. The other way to look at it, of course, is that using the Baratza means settling for much clunkier controls. And I was pretty happy with "almost there" (via my Capresso) for years and years.

So there you have it. They both have pros and cons. But I am willing to spend more effort for a more excellent cup of coffee, so I went ahead and bought the Baratza. You can look forward to a truly geeky table of experimental results as I try it out.