Yes. I was shocked at how much a good grinder improved my coffee. I thought it might be a slight improvement, and I felt potentially stupid spending the money.

Yes. I was shocked at how much a good grinder improved my coffee. I thought it might be a slight improvement, and I felt potentially stupid spending the money. But it was a 2x or 3x improvement. The only other variable that has a similar impact are the beans themselves. I'm not entirely convinced that the espresso maker itself has a huge impact, but given my (proved-wrong) skepticism about the grinder's impact, it may be worth looking into. Or, as I see the mountain of stuff required to make high-quality specialty coffee at home, I may do what James Hoffman does and just do drip coffee. There is wisdom in the old, simple ways, and the $4k you can easily spend on a full setup is 1000 espressos made by a professional with bar better, more consistent equipment and tons of practice.