Breville Grind Control Coffee Maker: Our Review

Freshly ground beans make better coffee, period.

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Food & Wine / Alli Waataja

I started using grind and brew drip coffee makers in my early twenties. My parents are coffee enthusiasts, which sounds cliché, but they travel with a small coffee maker, so they don’t risk lousy hotel coffee. Coffee is essential to them—and me. We've all been using grind and brew coffee makers since they came on the market and have developed many preferences. I've owned many machines, including several from our list of top picks for coffee makers with grinders. Ultimately, The Grind Control by Breville is the only machine I owned for many years and actually bought again. It’s also the one my parents swear by after many duds.

I went through a period of being super particular about having a separate burr grinder (due to their superiority) and using an electric pour-over machine. But I came back to grind and brew coffee makers out of sheer convenience because life is busy. After returning to grind and brew machines, I have purchased and tested five models at home — life as a mom necessitates a significant amount of caffeine. Yet the model I kept was the Breville, which consistently outperforms all the others. If you take your coffee seriously and want something beyond an anemic cup of morning drip coffee, this grind and brew machine is for you.

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Price at time of publish: $350

Pros: The Breville brews a strong cup of coffee, has an efficient burr grinder and easy-to-fill water tank, and an insulated carafe that keeps warm for hours after.

Cons: It requires a little calibration to use at first and should be descaled regularly to maintain the best coffee results.

I make coffee every morning and sometimes a smaller pot in the afternoon to get me through homework and cooking dinner. My husband prepares the coffee often and performs maintenance. Our two kids earn an allowance by helping clean the kitchen, so ease of use is a significant consideration with any kitchen appliance. I bought the most current model in November 2022 and have used it every morning since, often twice a day. I prefer a stronger cup of coffee, so the type of floral beans some craft coffee people prefer isn't for me — I like fully leaded Sumatra beans. I've even used the Illy Casa Subscription in the past to stock up on cans and bags of coffee because running out in the morning is a genuine fear. We go through about two bags of coffee a week (cans if we're using Illy beans), sometimes more if we entertain, or I am making a lot of afternoon pots. The Grind Control has taken on heavy use from the moment we set it up.

This tool exceeds all of my biggest expectations. In our household, a burr grinder is an essential element for making robust coffee that I could control the strength of, and the Breville grinder works as efficiently as any separate grinder I’ve tried. The insulated carafe keeps the coffee hot for a relatively long time after brewing. I also loved how easy it was to fill with water and not awkward to manage the pour like other models.

Given the Breville name, I wasn't shocked by the numerous features, like the option to calibrate the grind to the gram if you follow the instructions. This enables you to find the best grind setting for you. It's also a gorgeous machine with its brushed stainless steel exterior and stainless thermal carafe. An enormous bean hopper sits atop the unit, which is easy to fill and shut securely to keep beans relatively fresh. I love the customization you can do with the controls on the hopper and the large and easy-to-read blue-lit display. The turn-dials also have a pleasant clicking noise that itches some ASMR thing in my brain. And bottom line: It also just makes a super tasty cup of rich and robust coffee.

Food & Wine / Jennifer Zyman

Food & Wine / Jennifer Zyman

Food & Wine / Jennifer Zyman

Food & Wine / Jennifer Zyman

The Breville Grind Control does require reading the instructions and following the setup carefully. If you're looking for a superior cup of coffee, you'll need to dial in to get it exactly how you want it. You can plug and play this model, but it works better if you do a few steps, which don't take more than 10 minutes. Calibrating the unit is super important because it will affect how efficiently your machine uses the beans and the flavor profile of the results. Periodic maintenance like descaling and clearing the grind shoot are also super essential. We do this about once a month. It's messy, but it keeps the machine in good working order and your coffee tasting good and fresh.

Food & Wine / Jennifer Zyman

We favor The Grind Control by Breville overall, but these are the close competitors offering a grind and drip brew for under $300.

The Cuisinart Grind-and-Brew 12-Cup Coffeemaker ($286 at Amazon) has a burr grinder and makes a lot of coffee —12 cups worth. You can tailor the grind more than other models, but it needs fine-tuning to find the right strength. The thermal carafe can make your coffee cold faster, and the unit is sometimes a pain to clean. It also brews weaker coffee and doesn’t accommodate a second grind should you like your coffee like jet fuel.

The Gevi 10-Cup Drip Coffee Maker ($187 at Amazon) is a close competitor and priced right. I loved that it had a burr grinder and was relatively easy to clean. It also had an oversized hopper, so I only needed to refill the unit occasionally. I also appreciated how this had a glass carafe and heating element. It was challenging to fill the water reservoir due to the position of the flap in the back. No matter what I did, I got water everywhere every time. I also didn’t like that I had to do a double grind for potent coffee and only had to brew once with the Breville.

I love Breville's The Grind Control and I actually repurchased it after trying a bunch of units that didn't cut the mustard for my morning cup of coffee. This is the right machine if you like the taste of freshly ground beans and a strong cup of coffee. While it takes a little bit of dialing in, the resulting brew is absolutely worth the result.

I purchased the coffee machine maker from Sur La Table, which shipped quickly with free shipping. It's also available on Amazon and Williams Sonoma, and the unit has a limited warranty of one year.