Met a barista in Seattle who only uses a $20 hand grinder

He told me he gets better flavor from it than his old electric one, because he can feel the beans. Has anyone else tried a cheap grinder that worked better than expected?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_tessa2mo ago

Wait, so is the secret just paying more attention to what you're doing? I could see that making a real difference, like you're forced to actually notice the grind size instead of just hitting a button. Maybe the fancy gear just lets people zone out while they make coffee.

samk772mo ago

Remember my old drip machine with the single button? I made terrible coffee for a year before I noticed the "strength" switch on the back was set to "light.

drew_hart42mo ago

My old Baratza Encore grinder has numbers on the dial. I still had to learn what each number actually did to the coffee. The gear doesn't do the thinking for you, it just gives you more things to pay attention to. Good coffee comes from noticing those details, not from having expensive stuff.