If you’re not quite sure about getting into coffee, you can get started with a small budget, and you can make a nice cup of coffee that way. Probabaly not a great cup, but a cup of coffee you’ll find enjoyable at the time. Once you start experimenting with different variables and digging a bit deeper into different flavors, you may notice that you’re not getting the same cup every time. That’s when you start pushing the limit of what’s possible with the equipment you have available, and you’ll realize that using a cheap grinder is sort of like making you play this game in the hard mode.
Examples: Using a cheap blender type grinder (blade grinder) means you can easily chop coffee to some unknown random particle size. You don’t pay much, but at least you can use recently roasted whole bean coffee, which is great. If you want to adjust the particle size in a specific way, that’s when it gets very tricky. Did you grind one second longer than last time? Too bad, now it’s way too fine and you’re getting a bitter cup as a result. Fortunately, you can easily fix that with milk, but as you start noticing more details in the taste profile, you start demanding more and more. Consequently, fixing mistakes with milk won’t be as appealing as it once was.
Using a cheap hand grinder is a lot better than an electric blender. Once you set the screw at a specific position, you’ll get the same particle size every time, which is great for consistency. What if you decide to use a french press today, but tomorrow you want to switch back to pour over, moka pot or AeroPress? Too bad, the grinder has no markings on it, so you’ll just have to eye-ball the setting and hope for the best. That’s obviously easier than timing your blender perfectly every time, but it’s still not exactly easy to get great results.
The solution: Eventually you’ll want to buy a burr grinder (electric or manual) with clear markings for different grind sizes.
When to invest? Don’t spend any more money on better gear until you’ve already “needed” better gear a few times in order to fix something you’ve noticed in your cup. As long as you’re relatively happy with your current gear and the cup it produces, there’s no need to spend more on this hobby. However, when you start noticing new things, that’s the right time to buy something that really addresses a specific thing you have in mind.
Summary: Get started with cheap gear and upgrade only when you think it’s necessary. Getting some random cup of coffee using cheap gear is easy, but getting a specific kind of cup with that gear is hard. Using more expensive gear will make it easier.
Something else? This is based on my personal experiences, and your experiences may differ. This rule of thumb might apply to grinders, but it is not guaranteed to apply to other types of equipment. For instance, I don’t own an espresso machine, so I have no idea how price is reflected on the end result in that case.
I don’t agree to starting with cheap gear as always being a good choice. If you already know what good coffee tastes like and you like to get into the coffee game then buying a cheap (non burr) grinder is just a waste of money.
There’s a good chance that someone new to coffee will end up going down the rabbit hole sooner or later, so a getting a nicer grinder probably isn’t something you would end up regretting. However, at the beginning of the journey you just can’t tell for sure. That’s why I think it’s better to keep the barrier to entry as low as possible. When someone in that position is looking at the prices, they will probably see the 2-10x price difference and wonder if they can justify it.
Since coffee fanatics are often upgrading there is a pretty good market for decent used bur grinders and these can last a very long time. I’d recommend starting with a decent used bur grinder if price is a barrier to entry.
Can confirm. My first nice grinder (2nd gen Aergrind) was used when I got it. In addition to having a relatively low price, it also came with a regular sized AeroPress, which was nice. Before that, I was using my AeroPress Go, but now that I have the bigger one as well, I can do some interesting experiments with this duo. Also, the AP Go is so much nicer when traveling, whereas the normal one is a lot nicer when making coffee for multiple people.
I’ve been using a 1Zpresso grinder for years and I absolutely love it. It’s a little surprising that I never see it mentioned anywhere.
1zpresso seems popular. their product lineup is baffling to me, though.
Honestly, unless you know you’re going to stick to a single brew method, I’ll vouch for the J series. It’s their oldest lineup, so I would think that it will continue to be supported with replacement burrs for the foreseeable future (though mine hasn’t needed any replacement parts at all over the course of 7 years of moderately heavy usage). I used a Jx for pour over and espresso for 5 years before changing it up, and I still think it was the most dramatic change I’ve ever made with regards to cup quality. It’s now mostly my travel coffee grinder, but I’ll still pull it out from time to time since I enjoy the ritual of hand grinding.
I can’t speak to their other grinders, but I know that Lance Hedrick has reviewed all of the more expensive (and more singularly focused) 1zpresso grinders as well across various videos on his channel.
I agree! I love my 1zpresso K-Max and use it daily for pour over (V60, Orea V3) and use it for espresso (Cafelat Robot) when we go camping.
Q series is also very good if you camp or if you are the only coffee drinker in a household. 1 more minute if someone comes over and you have to make a second cup.
One of my regrets was buying a particular hario hand grinder. To adjust the size, you had to rotate a little knob underneath the burrs and it didnt have numbers, and didnt always “notch” and would spin freely, so I couldnt even count the discrete bumbs I would turn the screw.
I’ve since bought an encore, and I have a lot more confidence and convenience with my grinding.
But now that you’ve used a cheap grinder, you know exactly what you want or don’t want. Equipped with this knowledge, you’re likely to make a good investment.
My regret is buying a grinder with a timer instead of a scale. For a while I got consistent results from it, but now I get wildly different quantities from day to day. I want to replace it with one that works better, but haven’t been able to justify the cost yet.
I’ve never seen the draw for a timer or scale. I just grind a single dose at a time. I have seen the scale grinders, and they definitely are a jump in price
I grind a single dose at a time too and it works great. The only issue I have is that my Rancilio Rocky grinder has a fair amount of retention. Swapping out the stock elephant spout for a 3d printed open one allows me to scrape out the retained coffee.
I second the scale approach. I bought a kitchen scale for 20$. Put the beans in a small cup i leave on the scale and grind a single shot. I also use it for cooking which is really great, so its not only for coffee.
I got a multi purpose scale. It won’t fit under an espresso machine, but that’s ok since I don’t have one of those (yet). However, this scale has two plates; one for light things and the other for heavier stuff. Originally it was designed for pizza connoisseurs, but obviously the small (0.1-200 g) scale works with coffee beans as well as yeast. The larger scale (1 g - 10 kg) was designed for dough, but I can put my heaviest mug and a full AeroPress on it too. Besides, it’s good to weigh food in the kitchen, which made it easier to justify this purchase.
This is the path I’m on, so I tyink your post is pretty accurate.
My first two grinders taught me a lot about what I wanted in the third, and I’ve found uses for both of them: the first is now a spice grinder, and the second is for decaf (and for cold brew, so I don’t have to dick with grind settings too much). My third is pretty nice, and it’s going to be a bit before I can justify replacing it, but based on my experience with it my next grinder will be quieter. My BIL has a nearly silent burr grinder, so I know it’s possible, and I can’t use mine without waking up the entire house.
You could go into the first purchase with a clear list of all your desired features, but I think it’d be a large investment with a good chance of still discovering after a year that you wish it did something differently.
Grinders are handy tools. It’s not horrible to have a couple around the house.
It’s also been great to see new affordable entry-level equipment become available. I had a friend finally get an espresso machine a few months ago, and I was able to point him to the Fellow Opus, which is only $195 ( and was on sale for $150).
To your point on “When to invest?” - there are certainly things this grinder could do better, but he has yet to hit a real problem in his coffee making. So sure, an $800 grinder might have fewer fines or more micro-adjustments, but that’s not really offering any value to him at the moment.
Ultimately everyone needs to make their own decision as to what they’re willing to spend. There are inflection points in price where you can get a lot more for a relatively small amount of additional money, if you do your research.
Personally, if I were getting into it now, and I were already a daily coffee drinker, I’d go straight to the DF54.
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A lot of hobbies are like this where people can start with lower cost options and then upgrade.
On my journey I was using a blade grinder for a while and I think it’s a good starting place, but when setting up to a burr grinder, I recommend to not go entry level, mid level is going to yield a better investment.
I picked up the Encore ESP for the following reasons:
- I’m lazy and would be tired of manual grinding
- Coffee making not exclusive to me in the home
- Nice set of burrs and easy to clean
- Ability to add bellow to decrease retention
- Equal to price of a months coffee if going out
For machines, the aeropress is a great low effort and cost entry to making great tasting coffee.
Great post to get a discussion going. 👍
IMO if you aren’t making espresso then most burr grinders, even in the $40-50 are going to lead to more consistency and flavor in your brew.
If you are making espresso then my advice would be to budget enough to buy a grinder that is on par with the espresso machine itself, it makes more of a difference than I would have expected.
I struggled for years with an Encore before investing in a higher quality grinder, and now my espresso shots are much more consistent, without changing anything about the machine or process I’m using to pull the shot.
No for me personally because I don’t drink coffee
Maybe you’re into photography or something else where the same principle applies. First you’re tempted to start with the cheapest gear until you realize you’re actually playing in the hard mode. Then you finally justify spending some more and you realize how it makes things easier.
I think this applies to virtually everything. First time I tried to learn how to play the guitar I bought the cheapest thing, ugh, unplayable.
But thanks to your post I remember I’ve been thinking of getting myself a coffee grinder and still haven’t done it
Good analogy. Honestly I just wanted to see what would happen if I commented that here but this is a useful frame of thought, thanks
I thought that was just a troll comment, but I took the risk and responded anyway. Could have turned that into a joke too, but some times a sensible comment pays off.
