I am a novice, and I need help selecting a grinder that will serve me as the student of making espresso that I am, giving me the control that I need to be able to make a consistent grind but not cost me my next born child. From what I have read, a grinder is really next in importance to having a decent machine. My goal is to develop a taste for producing decent shots of espresso by learning the controls in technique of grinding and pulling shots properly by accurately self-evaluating and learning to correct my mistakes.

And about how much do you want to spend?

Without knowing that it's hard to suggest anything. There are various good grinders to be had for less than the Baratza Vario: the Baratza Preciso, the Lelit PL53, Nemox Lux, and probably a few others that I'm not recalling at the moment. Then there's the manual Pharos from Orphan Espresso.

If I could spend less than $250 for a Pharos and get a consistent grind, than I would be happy. What is the minimum for a consistent grinder, and what are the trade-offs for spending less? I don't mind hand grinding if that is a cost saver.

Mondovino,

Welcome to HB. Yours is a fairly common query, but unfortunately the FAQ area has several topics that address it rather un-clearly:

Grinder burr types
Best inexpensive grinder
What is your grinder of choice?

Better yet are:
How to choose gear at the "right" price
First time buyers

mondovino wrote:From what I have read, a grinder is really next in importance to having a decent machine.

I'm not sure what you've been reading, but prevailing wisdom on HB suggests the opposite. Grinder first, then machine.

I've just wrapped up an extended testing session with the Pharos, and would recommend it as a great value. It competes with grinders 6 times' its price, but there are significant shortcomings in terms of ergonomics and grind retention.

Think more in concrete terms. What is your budget, and how much flexibility do you have? What are your must-haves, your nice-to-haves? What machine will you be using? If the Faemina will be your primary machine, then I'd think that you could get away with a less expensive grinder. I'm of the opinion that lever machines as a whole are more forgiving and can tolerate greater variation in overall grind quality, so $250 might be a much more reasonable target.

If at all possible, visit a vendor or a local HBer and see if you can get some hands-on time with a grinder. IIRC, 1st-Line (an HB sponsor) is in Manalpan, but I don't know if they have a retail presence.

As you read and participate more on HB, I expect you'll find that your mindset of being a "student of making espresso" is shared by many here. Good luck, and enjoy the journey. Oh, and make sure you're using fresh coffee!

The famous Four Emms: Mano, Machina, Miscela, Machina Dosatore. Loosely translated: Barista Skills, Espresso Machine, Coffee Beans, and Grinder.

I put them in an unusual order to make the point that one is not more important than any other. To the extent any one of them is deficient, no matter how good the others are, it will pull the overall quality of the shot down to the level of the deficiency.

A pretty good rule of thumb, true for espresso as it is for many other things: The less you spend on equipment and the more "beginner oriented" it claims to be, the more difficult it will be to get good performance out of it. True for an expert using low end equipment, and triply true for a beginner.

The Pharos grinders are very much "flavor of the month," and it might be a good idea to discount some of the current enthusiasm. Like any manual, a Pharos takes a lot of effort and time. There are some consistency issues -- which may or may not be a problem for any given Pharos. When they work well, they work great -- better than other popular manuals. I make 4 - 6 doubles most days, and more on the rest. A Pharos would suck for me. Whether or not a Pharos is a good grinder for you, I couldn't say.

Think of your machine and grinder as a single system. When you think about buying, think about them as a single budgetary expense.

What kind of espresso machine will you be buying?

What's your total budget?

How much crap are you willing to put up with from your grinder?

BDL

mondovino wrote:I am a novice, and I need help selecting a grinder that will serve me as the student of making espresso that I am, giving me the control that I need to be able to make a consistent grind but not cost me my next born child. From what I have read, a grinder is really next in importance to having a decent machine. My goal is to develop a taste for producing decent shots of espresso by learning the controls in technique of grinding and pulling shots properly by accurately self-evaluating and learning to correct my mistakes.

Espresso grinders have four quality dimensions: grind quality, ease of use, durability, and counter friendliness (not too ugly, not too big, not too messy, not too noisy).

-- You are up at $1200 for the ProM for a grinder that does well on all four.
-- In the $700 to $1500 price range, there are many great commercial grinders that do well in everything except counter friendliness (they are big, ugly and messy, but mostly quiet). Most of us are much too far gone to care about counter friendliness, so we usually own grinders in this class.
-- The $400 Baratza Vario is good to very good in everything except durability, being built to domestic appliance rather than commercial standards (they aren't bad, but I'd be surprised if they last more than about five years). This would be the natural choice for a not yet insane hobbyists's espresso grinder
-- Most other counter friendly small grinders are useless in terms of grind quality.
-- The PITA grinders with good grind quality are the many Lux style grinders (ultra noisy and messy, breakage prone plastic gears, but good ergonomics) and the Pharos manual (nightmarish ergonomics, but counter friendly, and will still work when archeologists dig one up in 10,000 years, since there's nothing there to break). These run from $200 to $300.
-- Other manual grinders are less than $100, but will not compete with any of these models in terms of grind quality, although they are better than cheap motorized coffee grinders.

My intent is to use the Faema Faemina as my primary espresso machine when it returns from being rebuilt. I have been a chef and although I don't cook professionally anymore, I enjoy cooking and producing delicacies for my family and friends. My days start early, and I don't normally have time to make espresso before I leave for work, and I don't have a high enough tolerance for caffeine to drink espresso on a weeknight evening. I don't drink coffee or espresso daily, but I savor the taste of it and desire to master the art of its preparation. I could see myself having a dinner party and having to make 10 cups of espresso at once, but on most days when I have the time to experiment, I will likely only produce two or three doubles. I don't want to skimp on the grinder unnecessarily, but I can save up for a more expensive one if $200 to $300 is running too lean for a grinder. With this background, is a suggested grinder easier to define?

How is it that the Baratza Vario is priced within $1 everywhere? Where is the price control coming from?

The Bezzera bb005 is an inexpensive grinder that should be considered also.
A good writeup here
Bezzera BB005 conical grinder

The Bezzera bb005 is an inexpensive grinder that should be considered also.

I don't believe the Bezzera 005 is distributed in North America.

B|Java