Krups GVX2 - a good starter grinder

Author's Rating:

Pros: Small footprint, attractive design, easy to use

Cons: Creates a fair bit of dust, beans get stuck

The Bottom Line: 
A good grinder for starting out. Better for filter coffee than for espresso, although coffee ground for espresso is still more than adequately drinkable.

Author's Review
With the recent purchase of a Francis! Francis! X1, I delved into the world of espressos, cappuccinos and gourmet coffee. Not satisfied to drink coffee made from easy-to-manage pods or already ground beans, I decided to investigate different tastes by getting a grinder and going about it myself.

I received the Krups GVX2 Electric Burr Grinder as gift from work, which suited my plans perfectly. While the Krups GVX2 is not the best grinder out there, it does work for me. It is small, attractively designed and easy to operate. With the exception of the power button, the GVX2 feels well built.

It is easy to dial in the amount of coffee you want to grind, however I would recommend practicing on some inexpensive beans first. It took me several attempts, either grinding too much or too little on my first tries. The GVX2 automatically stops when it has ground the amount determined by the chosen preset.

After some false starts, I am now brewing excellent coffee and pulling strong shots with coffee ground with the GVX2. There really is no comparison to freshly ground coffee, and I am happy that I am finally able to taste the difference myself.

It is not without problems. As other reviewers have pointed out, it generates a bit of dust. This actually caused me some concern, as my first attempts to pull shots with coffee ground with the GVX2 ended up clogging the filter on the X1. I remedied this problem by moistening the lid of the receptacle, which attracts a fair amount of dust. After grinding, I can carefully open the lid of the receptacle and discard the dust.

I understand that dust is a common problem with grinders of this level, so the GVX2 is not alone here.

Another issue is that the beans get stuck quite often, requiring that you stop the grind process and open the grinder to free them up (a simple shake will do). The grinder does not function without the lid, so there is no risk that you will end up grinding your fingers by accident.