The Evo was double-boxed, and the packaging contained only 2g of single use plastic, which was the little plastic cover that enclosed the brush. Well done Varia!

And there was a nice surprise in the box. Varia realizes that a lot of people are going to consider the Evo as a travel grinder and impressively it comes in a ready-to-go hard shell travel case. They have thought this one through. The inside of the travel case is custom cut for the Evo and will do a good job of withstanding airport baggage handlers. Kudos to Varia.

Included in the case was

• The Grinder Body (of course)
• Crank Handle
• The Motor Body
• A well-thought-out manual (but with a trendy type font so small it promoted me to book another appointment with my Optometrist)
• An elegantly long soft bristle brush purpose built for deep cleaning
• A hex key for use when removing the core burr for deep cleaning
• A USB-C charging cable sans plug (you’ve got enough plugs, and it saves the need for country-specific plugs). Smart, and another small victory for the environment.

Very nicely done indeed.

Components:

• 80RPM brushed motor
• 4V 800mah Li-Ion battery
• 40w power output
• Weight with motor 905g (confirmed)
• Weight with crank handle 840g (confirmed)
• Weight of motor alone 229g (confirmed)
• Height with motor 216mm
• Height without motor or crank handle 154mm
• Diameter 64mm at widest (confirmed)
• Crank length 174mm
• Materials: space grade alloy, stainless steel, silicone

Features:

• Auto stop function
• Over-torque motor protection
• 10 micron stepped adjustment, 164 steps (confirmed)
• 30 – 35 gram capacity

The Evo has a couple of quirks that take a bit of getting used to but once you’re in the groove, it’s a doddle (“piece of cake” for those in the US). But until you get used to them, expect a few missteps.

Quirk #1: Static galore until seasoned

Like it’s older sibling, the Varia VS3, the Evo produces the Motherload of Static and the grounds spray is pretty nuts until you’ve put 300 grams of supermarket beans through it. But it settles down after that so don’t freak out when you first use it. My guess is that the burrs need a good 500 grams to get them 80% seasoned but there is no reason that you can’t enjoy your coffee after only putting 100 grams through. Just know that whatever you drink will only get better over the next kilo or two of beans.

Quirk #2: Screwing and unscrewing the Motor Head

The Motor Head screws on to the Grinder Body counterclockwise, which is the opposite direction I’ve spent the last 67 years screwing everything else on. This counter-intuitive direction is needed so that when the clockwise-turning burrs start grinding, the motor body doesn’t spin in the same direction, unscrew itself and detach from the Grinder Body.

Varia has catered for hard-wired brains like mine by printing a directional lock/unlock image on the top of the grinder. Again, quite thoughtful.

Quirk #3: Removing the Motor Head

As a result of Quirk #2, the Motor Head tightens as the grinding begins. Getting the Motor Head off again for loading up with the next batch of beans is a little harder than I expected. Just apply a bit of torque when unscrewing it, like a “snap” twist.

I don’t want to overstate the strength required to undo the Motor Head because it passed the Wife Test three times. After the last time she was wondering what the fuss was about, but I wanted to make certain that she didn’t struggle with it. After all those jam jars she’s handed me over the years I figured that if undoing the Motor Head on the Evo wasn’t a problem for her (it wasn’t) then most everyone would be OK.

Quirk #4: The Start Button:

The start button requires a very firm press to activate the motor, which in my view is a good thing. No accidental starts. The start button is sensibly placed right on top of the Motor Body.

Quirk #5: Opening up for filter

For filter, the dial goes well past 360 degrees. The markings on the dial go from 0 – 60 and when you turn it a full 360 degrees, the 0 becomes 70 – but only in your mind. Possibly a second set of numbers above the first set on the dial would help.

Loading the beans

Like all hand grinders you load the beans by popping off the Crank Handle (beautifully crafted and high quality), pour the beans in, replace the Crank Handle and start grinding.

With the Motor Head attached, you need to twist it off (clockwise remember!) to load beans.

Grind times

Nordic Light Filter at 150 with motor:      0:40s
Nordic Light Filter at 150 by hand:            0:25s
Medium Espresso at 16 with motor:          1:43s
Medium Espresso at 16 by hand:               0:35s

The Evo is a stepped grinder but fear not: every click is a very tiny 10 microns, so the adjustability is enough for all but the fussiest espresso drinkers.

Hand grinding

Most hand grinders are either super easy to grind by hand but take forever or they are tougher to hand grind, but faster. (Somehow 1Zpresso seem to have managed to make grinders that are both easy and fast.) The Evo falls into the ‘easy but slow’ category. But boy, it really is easy.

The hex nut

This nut can be found under the Grinder Body after removing the Catch Cup. You undo the hex nut for deep cleaning.

Mine loosened after grinding around 600g and as a result I couldn’t grind fine enough for espresso until I figured out that it was loose.

If that happens to you, just tighten the hex nut by removing the Catch Cup, placing the Crank Handle on top of the Grinder Body and holding it firmly. Then use the hex key provided to tighten the nut firmly (but not vice-like tight) and you will be good to go again. I’m wondering if a sprung washer or a silicon washer might help with this. But hey, my experience may be an outlier. No one else has posted about this in the forums yet and it only happened the once.

Limitation at the very coarse filter end of the dial

What Varia have achieved in respect to both shorter grind times and being able to grind fine enough to choke most espresso machines, is a significant breakthrough in hybrid hand grinder design. Couple that with creating a burr that produces truly delicious espresso (for my taste buds) as well as filter coffee and you’ve got something quite special. Other motorized hand grinders will do one of those things, none that I’ve had one that will do all four (grind time, fineness of grounds, delicious espresso and filter).

But my guess is that with the size of a hand grinder, there is going to have to be a limit somewhere and with the Evo it seems to be at the extra coarse end of the dial.

I’ve had good success with two Nordic Light roasts from Monastery Coffee (https://monastery.coffee/) at the 130 to 150 range, but the third bean is significantly slower to pour even at 164 on the dial (maximum coarseness), resulting in astringent coffee when using my standard Hario filter paper. And even opening the dial up to the maximum coarseness doesn’t speed the pour up enough. The roast depth is almost identical to the other beans, but it still pours too slowly.

The solution has been to use a fast flow paper, in this case I had some Sibarist ‘Fast’ on hand that enabled me to bring the dial back to 120 and that worked a treat.

Retention

Retention is up there with the best. Everything that the grounds touch has a super smooth surface including the Catch Cup. I still use RDT because it settles the grounds in the Catch Cup better and without it the Catch Cup can fill up right up to the top and that can make things messy when detaching it.

The battery will die on day

I have no idea how long the battery will last but they all die eventually. Hopefully the Evo’s battery will last for many years but when it does dies, you’ll need to order a new one from Varia who have told me that they will be offering replacement motor/batteries for a discounted price. Apparently the battery is very small and are fixed into position and it’s not practical to simply replace the battery alone, so the entire motor will need to be replaced.

Espresso

Excells with medium, medium/light and light roasted espresso. A pleasing amount of brightness but not at all offensive, even for my traditionally suited palate that started sampling espresso over 50 years ago. Given the right beans and puck prep, the Evo produces delicious espresso that’s well balanced and viscous enough to satisfy virtually every espresso lover — other than those who favor a brighter, thinner, higher acidic style of espresso.

It also works well with dark and milk-based drinks, although there are better hand grinders if milk drinks are your primary coffee style, like the 1Zpresso J-Max.

Filter coffee

Nordic Light is all I drink for filter and with the right grind size (coarse) the Evo comes up trumps.

In the interests of this review, I bought a bag of light roasted filter beans from a local roaster, but it was not enjoyable after having been spoilt by the Cinnamon / Nordic beans I’ve been enjoying from Monastery Coffee.

I tested the Evo at 10 click increments from 60 through to 130, and did a blind taste comparing the coffee with the Duo’s Mazzer 151F filter burrs which I use as my daily driver for filter.

At the same grind size as the Mazzer, which was 100 clicks on the Evo, I’d rate the brew from the Evo as two stars. But at 130 clicks, the Evo started coming into its own.

The difference between 100 clicks and 130 clicks was night and day. At 100 clicks the brew had one solid taste note (think “brick-like solid”) that was a tad astringent and lacked sweetness, complexity, and subtlety.

But at 130 clicks, the Evo got the nod in five out of six blind taste tests (three with my wife and three with me) against the Mazzer 151Bs espresso burrs.

I kept opening up the Evo and for that particular batch of Nordic Light beans. At 150, the Evo delivered the sweetest, clearest filter coffee in my living memory.

I awarded the Evo four stars for filter and not five is because I’m newer to filter than I am to espresso. I’ve only been pouring daily filter coffee for nine months and as the saying goes “I don’t know what I don’t know.”

Fixed outer burr, unlike the VS3

It’s worth noting that the outer burr is fixed but if you fancy a change, the cone (inner) burr can be swapped for a Supernova or Hypernova burr. I tried this little trick with the VS3 but it created less consistency and I abandoned the idea. If you want me to try again with the Evo, let me know and I will.

Hands-free grinding

The Evo is self-supporting and can be left to grind if you want to walk off and powder your nose or prepare your portafilter. It is very stable and doesn’t wobble at all.

The motor automatically stops after ~10 seconds of grinding without beans which prevents draining the battery unnecessarily if you find that powdering your nose takes a tad longer than you thought it would.

Magnetic Catch Cup with wings to ensure correct reattachment every time

The Catch Cup slides into place with magnets that have just the right strength. Not too strong and certainly no danger of the Catch Cup falling off like I’ve experienced with some other hand grinders.

The Catch Cup locks into the correct position relative to the dial by a clever set of small wings sticking out of either side of the Catch Cup. One wing is wider than the other and there is only one way you can slide those wings into the corresponding slots on the Grinder Body. Thus your dial setting is always preserved after reattaching the Catch Cup.

The engineering is precise, and it works a charm.

You may have to see it in action to understand what I’m describing but the bottom line is that the wing design means that the dial is always in the same place post-grind as it was pre-grind.

Simple, smart, and effective.

You need to manage the usage

The manual states that you shouldn’t grind for more than 140 seconds continuously (I haven’t needed to so far) and that the Evo needs 90 seconds rest between grinds. Lastly, the manual states that you shouldn’t grind for more than 6 minutes within a 30-minute period.

Once the grinder was seasoned with 500 grams of beans, I pushed the envelope on those numbers, and I can confirm that you should stick to them. Otherwise the motor cuts out to protect it from whatever evil thing happens when you grind too much.

Then to test the usage more in accordance with the manual, I set the dial to 18 (espresso grind for a medium roast bean) and ground 20 grams at a time starting at 0 seconds and grinding again after 90 seconds rest between each grind. Grinding averaged 85 seconds per grind.

I ground five times, starting the second, third, fourth and fifth grinds at 3 min, 6 min, 9 min and 12 min respectively. Each grind had the requisite rest period of at least 90 seconds prior to the next grind.

The 4 power indicator LEDs were lit up until the 4th grind when one dimmed leaving 3 LEDs fully lit. The 5th grind finished with 3 LEDs still all fully lit.

In short, I think that the recommendations in the manual are realistic and I would suggest following them.

From a battery point of view, and a motor point of view, you are super safe to grind for three coffees each morning; you just have to be OK with a pause of 90 seconds between grinds.

Unfortunately, a like-for-like comparison is literally impossible for me to make at this point. The Varia Evo is the first in a long line of many motorized hand grinders that I’ve bought that has been able to grind fine enough for espresso in an acceptable time.

Others either could not grind fine enough for espresso (despite the sales pages promising that they could and would) or they required me to endure hideously long grind times of 6, 8 and even 10 minutes.

I can tell you though that the espresso is more nuanced and brighter than the 1Zpresso J-Max and that the filter offers more body than the 1Zpresso ZP6, but still manages enough clarity to impress my taste buds.

If you like a choc-bomb espresso with milk added, the Evo won’t match either the Niche Zero or the DF64V or the Varia VS3s Supernova burrs, but my bet is that you’ll still very much enjoy your lattes with the Evo.

I’ll run a ‘Grind, Blind, Taste, Compare’ between the Comandante C60 and the Evo, once the latter returns from a friend that I’ve loaned it to.

God spare me small type fonts

The numbers or the dial and the lock/unlock icon are too small. Most people over 50 are going to agree.

There is enough real estate on the Grinder Body to have a larger font for the dial numbers. As alluded to above (way above), using a small font size is a common theme that flows through all things Varia.

In regard to chintzy little font sizes, I have a message for the designer: stop it.

It’s a triumph of form over function, of aesthetics over practicality. It may look nice in a promotional shoot (ok, it definitely does) but for the love of Pete, we have to use this thing, not just admire it from afar.

No range indicators for different coffee styles

No espresso, moka, filter range labelled. I agree that this becomes trickier with a dial that goes past zero, but may I have the espresso range marked at least? And maybe something like “filter ”?

Four is the new zero

The manual advises, via a graphically enhanced bright red warning notice, not to grind with the dial set to less than 4.

Like many of you, I tend to read manuals as a last resort and so it is inevitable that someone is going to open the box and try a grind at 1 on the dial to see how fine the grounds are. According to the manual, grinding at a dial setting less than 4 “will cause the burrs to touch and wear out at a faster rate”.

Call me crazy, but surely this is a design issue?

If you don’t want the dial to be turned to a setting under 4, make it so that the dial can’t be turned to less than four. Or change the numbers so that 4 is now 0 and a red sticker (NOT in size 4 font, please) declares that bad things will happen if you go any finer.

It’s not that there is any need to grind finer. At a setting of 4, you get powder fine enough for Turkish coffee. And nothing appeared to happen when I ground at 1 (yes I take these risks just for you).

Setting this not-so-grievous-wrong right, is most likely complicated and whilst I know next to nothing about designing and engineering a grinder, this one thing I do know: if you make a thing so that people can stuff it up, people will stuff it up.

To be a little gentler on the good people at Varia, who surely must have toiled for years to get the Evo as good as it is, the “4 that should be a zero” is not the end of the world (or the grinder). If I understand the implications correctly, it’s like the tires on your car wearing faster if you brake too hard. It’s not going to consign the car/grinder to the scrap heap, but it should be avoided if at all possible.

The arrows indicating the direction for attaching/detaching Motor Head

I’m being picky again but …

On the black Evo, the directional arrows just mentioned are printed in white, providing an easier to read clue (white on black background) but on the white Evo those same arrows are also white (white on white background) which means that the arrows are literally invisible to naked eye. I’m sure that’s a glitch that will be rectified in version two. And yes, it’s a tiny eensy thing, but it messes with the part of my brain that my wife refers to as being “on the spectrum”. (She may have a point.)

Dear Varia, while you are fixing the directional arrows, please make them bigger and the lock/unlock icons about ten times the current size. Thanks.

Light roasts may activate the Torque Overload kill switch (or may not)

Grinding Nordic Light beans (super light, super hard) at 80RPM is a BIG ask for a small footprint, battery powered grinder.

Many electric grinders (I’m looking at you DF64V) will stall with Nordic Light beans at 600RPM so it’s not surprising that the Evo might struggle with them.

I have two Evos, the white one being from the earliest production batch and the black one being from the second batch that came with an upgraded motor.

With the white Evo I ground 8 batches of Nordic Light and had the motor cut out on 5 of them and it didn’t seem to matter if I was grinding for espresso or filter (I still haven’t got my head around that).

I’ve since ground 5 batches of Nordic Light with the black Evo (upgraded motor) and it has not cut out once. So far, so good.

My tip for Nordic Light though: have the Crank Handle ready as a backup. Hand grinding on the Evo is very smooth and easy and at 150 clicks, it’s especially fast. So no biggie.

The precision of the battery indictor at low battery levels

There are four LEDs that can light up to give you an idea of how much battery life is left. But the LEDs can be a bit like one of those cars where the fuel gauge takes forever to move of full, then slowly goes to the half full point and them proceeds to head south to empty at an alarming rate.

As I understand it, these indicators are really tricky to dial in with small batteries and this is a work-in-progress for Varia.

And to be fair, the progression from four LEDs to three and then to two was reasonably steady. Just don’t expect much juice (i.e. potentially none) once you see only two LEDs lit. “Four, three, two … zero”

Nicks in the white paint work

I mentioned earlier that I have two Varia Evos: one black and one white. Both arrived in perfect condition.

But I managed to put a couple of chips/nicks into the paint work on the white Evo which is annoying and surprising because I thought I’d been very careful with it.

The black one remains unchipped. They appear to be completely different surface materials and coating processes (see Varia’s explanation below).

Still, at this stage I’d recommend the silver or black models if you want to keep your Evo in pristine condition.

In the meantime, I’ve patched my white Evo with a little typists white-out paint and I’m no longer annoyed because I can’t see the nicks.

The burrs

For a small conical grinder, they deliver a surprisingly clear espresso that’s silky smooth with a lot nuance, and plenty of body. Delicious. Tasty. Delightful. Of course, not everyone is going to like them as much as I do (some will find the espresso a bit bright for their liking) but that can also be balanced with the idea that if you are using the Evo as a travel grinder, it can be quite nice to push your taste buds out of their comfort zone once in a while.

On the subject of burrs, the outer burr in the entire VS3 range are identical unless coated. So the fact that the outer burr in the Evo is fixed is a moot point. You don’t need to swap it out because it’s only the cone/inner burr that has different geometry from burr to burr.

Want more body? Simple: pop the Supernova core burr into the Evo. Going to enjoy some medium roast espresso for the next month? Easy: pop the Hypernova burrs in.

This one feature, which is not even mentioned on Varia’s website, is pretty darned awesome and if I were Varia, I’d be shouting it from the rooftops: the Evo will easily accommodate any of the VS3s burrs.

External Stepped Adjustment at 10 micron increments

The stepped dial is very easy and smooth to adjust as well as being quite precise, which results in predictable pour times when making changes.

And small font aside, it’s easy to know where you are on the dial.

And there is plenty of precision with each click. I’ve used other hand grinders with dial adjustment mechanisms that are as good, but none that I would rate as better. And I love the fact that the adjustment is externally visible so I don’t have to take the catch cup off and count the clicks as I adjust the dial nut underneath the Grinder Body.

The design

The shape is elegant and practical. The surface on white Evo surface has a textured feel to it whereas the black Evo is super smooth. And IMHO the Evo looks sleek, and it looks like quality.

If you have the good fortune to own an Evo, take another look at the Crank Handle to fully appreciate that it’s a work of art, even on its own. The Evo is, in my eyes, a pleasure to look at and it’s a pleasure to hold.

Padded posterior

Further evidence of the amount of thought that has gone into the Evo is the small silicon ring that covers the circumference of the base. This makes for a softer landing when placing the Evo on a bench and it probably also soaks up any small vibrations when grinding. Another nice touch

The smarts

The Evo is not just a pretty face. It has so many features: The space-age materials, the torque protection, a decent battery life, magnetic Catch Cup, super smooth surfaces, external dial, 10 micron adjustability, the ability to churn out filter grounds at one end of the dial or choke your espresso machine with super fine powder at the other. It really is quite a masterpiece.

The hush

The Lagom Mini is the only other motorized grinder that I can think of that may be as quiet at the Evo. It is genuinely super quiet.

The handle

Some of the new battery/motorized grinders don’t come with a handle. Putting aside that in my opinion, the handle is a work of art, not having a handle for a motorized grinder is like driving your car without a spare tire in the trunk: if something goes flat (battery or tire) you’re stuffed. But not with the Evo. And the hand cranking is easy, smooth and relative to other hand grinders, quite time efficient.

It’s hard to answer this one because I don’t know of any other motorized grinders that can easily grind for espresso, with so much fine adjustment available, and in such an acceptable (to me at least) grind time. The Evo stands alone in achieving these twin features.

The Evo is a clear winner for anyone who wants a travel grinder but doesn’t want the hassle of hand grinding. It will be doubly desirable for people like me who want both top quality espresso and filter coffee when travelling.

With the motor, it’s weighing in at well under one kilo and it fits snugly into the custom made carry case so travelling with it will be a breeze.

It would also suit someone who wants a grinder for three of four coffees a day, that takes up very little space, and is quiet in the extreme. Seriously, I’d be quite with the Evo as my daily grinder.

The Evo is a breakthrough in hybrid/motorized hand grinders. At time of writing, it is without question my number one rated grinder in that genre. It’s beautifully designed, it appears to have been built with quality components, it’s offers very low retention with or without RDT, it comes with a custom fitted carry case and it’s not outrageously priced (I’m looking at you, Comandante C60) for what it is.

The Evo is a worthy contemporary of the ground-breaking VS3. They are both in a class of their own in regard to their unbeatable performance to price ratio.

• A world-leading travel grinder that would also be excellent for home use.
• Delicious espresso for most roast depths, very good for filter.
• Grinds fine enough for the lightest roasted espresso, and finer.
• Adjustable with 10 micron steps
• Around a 2:00 minute grind for medium to light espresso, and around 1:15 minutes for light filter.
• Conical 38mm Hypernova Ultra S burr reduces fines.

Aesthetics: 
No hybrid can match the Evo for both grind speed and fineness of the grounds. The hand-powered Evo costs less than a 1Zpresso J-Max, and the motorized Evo is only US$30 more. Personally, I would pay another 50% so I’m awarding it five stars.

Workflow: 
Maybe a bit harsh but see the QUIRKS section.

Value: 
No hybrid can match the Evo for both grind speed and fineness of the grounds. The hand-powered Evo costs less than a 1Zpresso J-Max, and the motorized Evo is only US$30 more. Personally, I would pay another 50% so I’m awarding it five stars.

Espresso: 
The Hypernova Ultra S burrs give a brighter, clearer espresso than my other favorite espresso hand grinder, the 1Zpresso J-Max. Both are delicious, but these days I lean toward a little less choc-notes and a little more clarity.

Filter: 
The Evo has true Omni burrs, but needs a very coarse grind before it delivers clarity, sweetness, and distinct flavor notes. Once you have that dialed in, it can deliver top quality filter as well as espresso.

I really enjoyed reading it, well done!

1. We do provide an electronic version of the manual on our website that our customers could download and zoom as much as they wish. We had to make the manual small to fit easily in the package, but I will share your feedback with the team.
2. Regarding the battery indicator, we are planning to improve its accuracy with future batches, but is a bit tough as considering the size of the battery and drainage with different roasts. 
3. As for the font, I will also share your feedback with the R&D team. They already did aim to improve it, but I agree, it could be better.
4. Regarding the paint, both black and silver are anodised as opposed to the powder coated white. It might be more prone to chips, will have to also share this feedback with the team. That being said, we guarantee that our customers should receive it with zero cosmetical issues and we will assist them if there was any issue upon delivery with our warranty. 
5. As for the filter results, could you try to grind coarser to see how it goes, the Hypernova Ultra S should be able to make delicious filter coffee. Of course I appreciate your opinion, but personally I enjoy it even more than the Hypernova Ultra.

Nonetheless, as you have mentioned, we wanted to be a versatile burr and glad to hear that you are loving it.

Thank you for taking the time and sharing your detailed input.

Have a lovely day and keep drinking delicious coffee.