Over the years I have purchased several coffee grinders, each one fitting my needs at the time. Thinking about it now, I wish I would have looked forward to see myself getting deeply involved in making the perfect cup of coffee. I started with a blade coffee grinder, the type that you find at any coffee shop, grocery or kitchen store, for around for $20. I had relative good luck, making drip, Molita filter and French press coffee with it.
The frustrating part came when I started to make espresso; there you need a better coffee grinder. I finally settled on a cone coffee grinder. At first I went through the least expensive approach by getting the burr grinder, that was okay until I was up to making espresso with a counter top, pour over espresso machine. The grind from the burr grinder was not small enough, nor could I fine-tune the adjustments to make a good shot of espresso. Once I swallowed my Scottish pride and decided to spend some money, I purchased the cone grinder. At last, my frustrations of bad coffee grounds were over.
So look ahead, this is one piece of equipment that requires some long range thought. Are you going to make espresso? Or just be happy with making regular cup of Joe? Spend some time, talk with fellow coffee geeks and find out what they recommend before you buy that next item on your path to coffee heaven. The time spent on thought and study will pay off.
