Quality Coffee Systems, of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada sent me a Maestro Plus Burr grinder for a test and profile. One of my first impressions of the Maestro Plus was the rock-solid weight of the unit. It seems to have the same Conical Burr cluster of the regular Maestro and a significantly more solid base as well as more grinding steps. I have been testing it with an ECM Giotto prosumer espresso machine as well as the Gaggia Classic and Rancilio Silvia home machines.

The Maestro grinder plus dialled in quite quickly for all the machines. I found it somewhat cleaner to use than the Innova or Rancilio doserless grinders, perhaps it has something to do with the conical burrs generating less static when run as reduced speed. The grinder has a gear reduction to turn the grinding burrs at a slow speed. This means less static and less heat generated.

The Maestro Plus seems solid enough and it has plenty of steps across the grinding spectrum. The one oddity that I noticed that the hopper has an 'unlock' position where you can pull it and the top of the burr group out for cleaning. The odd thing is: One of the unlock points is square in the middle of the espresso range. This 'hole' as it were, causes the hopper to flop around a bit as the beans are ground. I need to have another closer look at this. Based on numerous consumer reports, the incidence of Maestro's shipping without or missing rubber fit has diminished. My sample was missing 2 rubber feet! :-)