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I grind it in a basic cheap grinder. Studies in this stuff have shown that consistency in grind matters more than the amount of money spent on the grinder. I’m

I grind it in a basic cheap grinder. Studies in this stuff have shown that consistency in grind matters more than the amount of money spent on the grinder. I’m not sure what you mean by French presses being a pain to clean - you rinse out the pot, run the filter under hot water and you are good to go. Worried about coffee sludge build up on the filter? I guess you could soak it in some kind of cleaning product. I find the coffee residue comes right off with hot water.

OJFord 4y ago
> Studies in this stuff have shown that consistency in grind matters more than the amount of money spent on the grinder. But what's this super consistent 'basic cheap grinder' you have? The people buying expensive grinders know this too - that's why they're buying them, for their 'conical burrs' or 'ceramic' or some other promise of a great (consistent) grind.
- poulsbohemian 4y ago
  Studies have shown (I guess I could go google - last time coffee came up on HN there was info shared too) that you can use a very simple heuristic - you give it a little shake. That is to say - expensive grinders have various ways they create a consistent grind size, and they may even have ways to create different grinds (espresso, for Turkish coffee, etc). You can approximate this successfully with a cheap grinder by doing a grind-shake-grind-shake, as the primary problem with these cheap grinders is that they don't rotate the beans through the grinder as smoothly as the expensive guys. I am but a poor man and an amateur coffee drinker, but for my money (and again - according to the sources who blind studied this stuff...) you can get a perfectly good cup of coffee from a $10 no-name grinder. Now, whether the expensive grinder will make you more attractive to your desired mate or make your enemies jealous compared to the cheap grinder - that's a whole other conversation.
  - Kon-Peki 4y ago
    Ikea used to have a cheap (~$20?) hand-crank ceramic burr grinder. It was excellent for the money, but coffee snobs turned up their noses because it wasn't as good as ones costing 5x. There just isn't a market for such things, or at least there isn't if it is only being compared to very expensive stuff. Ikea might still sell it in some markets, but definitely not in the USA.
    - KptMarchewa 4y ago
      >It was excellent for the money, but coffee snobs turned up their noses because it wasn't as good as ones costing 5x. Problem with very cheap burr grinders is that burrs aren't very well supported and can move during grinding. This causes inconsistency in grinding.
      - Kon-Peki 4y ago
        Are you comparing it to a non-burr grinder of a similar price, or are you comparing it to a much more expensive burr grinder?
        KptMarchewa 4y ago
        More expensive burr grinder. Non-burr grinders are bad regardless of price.
  - roflyear 4y ago
    It will never be possible to get a consistent grind with blade grinders unfortunately.

OJFord 4y ago

> Studies in this stuff have shown that consistency in grind matters more than the amount of money spent on the grinder. But what's this super consistent 'basic cheap grinder' you have? The people buying expensive grinders know this too - that's why they're buying them, for their 'conical burrs' or 'ceramic' or some other promise of a great (consistent) grind.

poulsbohemian 4y ago
Studies have shown (I guess I could go google - last time coffee came up on HN there was info shared too) that you can use a very simple heuristic - you give it a little shake. That is to say - expensive grinders have various ways they create a consistent grind size, and they may even have ways to create different grinds (espresso, for Turkish coffee, etc). You can approximate this successfully with a cheap grinder by doing a grind-shake-grind-shake, as the primary problem with these cheap grinders is that they don't rotate the beans through the grinder as smoothly as the expensive guys. I am but a poor man and an amateur coffee drinker, but for my money (and again - according to the sources who blind studied this stuff...) you can get a perfectly good cup of coffee from a $10 no-name grinder. Now, whether the expensive grinder will make you more attractive to your desired mate or make your enemies jealous compared to the cheap grinder - that's a whole other conversation.
- Kon-Peki 4y ago
  Ikea used to have a cheap (~$20?) hand-crank ceramic burr grinder. It was excellent for the money, but coffee snobs turned up their noses because it wasn't as good as ones costing 5x. There just isn't a market for such things, or at least there isn't if it is only being compared to very expensive stuff. Ikea might still sell it in some markets, but definitely not in the USA.
  - KptMarchewa 4y ago
    >It was excellent for the money, but coffee snobs turned up their noses because it wasn't as good as ones costing 5x. Problem with very cheap burr grinders is that burrs aren't very well supported and can move during grinding. This causes inconsistency in grinding.
    - Kon-Peki 4y ago
      Are you comparing it to a non-burr grinder of a similar price, or are you comparing it to a much more expensive burr grinder?
      - KptMarchewa 4y ago
        More expensive burr grinder. Non-burr grinders are bad regardless of price.
- roflyear 4y ago
  It will never be possible to get a consistent grind with blade grinders unfortunately.