by wookie on Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:08 am Have you decided to move your Barista skills up to the next level? Does making really good espresso or a morning latte at home sound heavenly? Maybe you are looking forward to entertaining friends around some really good cups. Or did you discover really great coffee somewhere and the evil mermaid just doesn't cut it anymore? Whatever the reasons, one of the key things, probably the key thing you can do to improve your coffee at home is to invest in a really good coffee grinder.
Great coffee, whether it is in the form of espresso, a latte, cappuccino or a drip pot can be a sublime experience, an epiphany. But it's not the easiest thing to pull off either. Great coffee is the result of getting five or six different things all right at the same time. Mess up just one part and you end up with mediocre or worse coffee. So not everyone is going to be able to make great espresso. It demands a certain amount of time and effort, perfecting your skills & consistently applying what you have learned. But once you start to pull it all together and your barista skills are improving, then we need to talk about your coffee grinder.
Most new coffee connoisseurs center their attention on what machine they want to buy. Is the machine important? Sure, but here's a secret - the grinder is far, far more important if you want to make great tasting coffee. You can work around a mediocre machine, there's not a lot you can do if your coffee is inconsistently ground. A poor grind is going to result in bitter over-extraction, weak, dull or sour coffee, missing crema and a litany of other problems. That espresso or latte is a complex mixture of volatile oils and flavours. And how well those flavours are extracted into the cup depends heavily on the size and evenness of your ground coffee.
Now, you're probably thinking that this guy is nuts. Just how much difference can a grinder make anyway? Well, it's even more important than the coffee itself. Did that get your attention? Freshly roasted coffee can be a revelation. It is probably the second biggest improvement you could make, but a mediocre blend or even coffee beans that are a bit stale still won't ruin your cup as dramatically as a bad grind will. You can buy a $2,000 machine and $22 per pound fresh-roast coffee but it still isn't going to taste great if you're murdering the bean because you didn't have enough money left over for a real grinder. Make a decision: is mediocre coffee good enough for you? If it isn't. If you like the taste of great coffee and want to make it at home, then you must have a good grinder. It's not really optional.
Now this isn't going to be an inexpensive purchase. And you probably don't covet a grinder the way you do that shiny, new stainless steel espresso machine. But if you are like most of us and have limits as to how much you can reasonably spend on your coffee addiction, you're going to have to decide which is more important.. great tasting lattes or a stainless steel trophy for your kitchen counter? Espresso will suffer the most from a poor grind but it makes a big difference for vac-pot, French press & drip coffee lovers too. Lattes and cappuccinos are more forgiving - the milk hides some of the worst problems caused by a bad grind. But not having a competent grinder is still the biggest single thing holding you back from making those memorable cups that your friends rave about all of the time. And no you can't fudge this by having the store grind the coffee for you. It has to be freshly ground just before you brew it..
My advice is simple: buy the best grinder you can afford and you won't regret it. View it as an investment in all of the coffee that you intend to enjoy for years to come. Choose a good grinder first & then buy an espresso or coffee machine with whatever money you have left over. You can get good results with a basic machine. But fudging on the grinder will always show up in the taste. Don't bother wasting your money on a cheap grinder, thinking it will do for now. You'll regret it all too soon. You just cannot get a good cup from that $20 blade grinder that the supermarket had on sale. If you're not convinced that you need a good grinder, then find a competent coffee bar to hold you over until you are ready. There are some good burr grinders in the $150 - $250 range. And a top-notch grinder like a Mazzer or LaCimbali will cost $400 or $500 but will last a lifetime and you will taste the difference in every cup.
Wait a minute; you want me to spend how much on a coffee grinder? $200 isn't cheap, but that is what it takes. Spend less and you are settling for mediocre coffee. An effective burr grinder is simply the cost of admission if you are going to make great coffee at home. On the other hand, if you think that the sludge at work or 7-11 tastes just fine, then I agree that you are wasting your time reading this post. It is a fact that most people have never tasted great coffee. Come back again after one you drink five or six sublime cups somewhere and it ruins you. You found this website which probably means that you have decided that coffee will be an important part of your life. Commit to a decent grinder, grind fresh before each brew and you will be well on your way to enjoying each sip along the path to coffee nirvana.
Note: This was a contest entry that didn't make it in because it was submitted close to the deadline & there were no moderators around to vet it. [ bad mod, no Affogato :) ] It tries to persuade you that your next upgrade ought to be a coffee grinder, not an espresso machine. If it in any way influences you to get a better grinder & the result is that you are now enjoying some exceptional cups at home.. then it was worthwhile writing it
