Heard a barista call out my 8 year old grinder today and it stung

I was grabbing a pour over at a shop in Austin yesterday and the barista heard my grinder in my bag and said "sounds like a blade grinder, hope you're not using that for espresso." Thing is, it IS a blade grinder I got for $20 ages ago. I mostly make French press at home so I figured it was fine, but after hearing him talk about how uneven the grind is and how it affects extraction, I started wondering if I'm leaving flavor on the table. Has anyone else been called out for using cheap gear and actually noticed a big difference after upgrading?

2 comments

2 Comments

caseyclark25d ago

A buddy of mine had a similar moment at a shop in Portland a few years back. He was using this old Mr. Coffee grinder he got at a garage sale and was real proud of his morning brew. One day he brought some beans in for the staff to try and the owner took him aside, real polite like, and explained why his coffee tasted a bit muddy. Turns out all that uneven grinding was pulling out too much bitterness and not enough of the good flavors. He went out that weekend and bought a used Baratza Encore off Craigslist for like sixty bucks. Came over to my place the next week with a French press and I swear it was night and day, the same beans tasted completely different, way cleaner and sweeter. So yeah, those baristas can be snobby but they are usually right about the gear making a difference.

sandra69325d ago

$60 for a used grinder off Craigslist? That's still a lot of money for something that just spins blades, @caseyclark. I bet your buddy was perfectly happy with his old Mr. Coffee until someone told him it was wrong. I've been using the same $20 blade grinder from Target for 5 years and my coffee tastes fine. People act like you need a laboratory to brew a cup of coffee. My dad used a drip machine and pre-ground Folgers his whole life and never complained. Most of this stuff is just people trying to justify spending more money than they need to.