Fresh Grind

Oh yeah. My burr grinder arrived yesterday from Costco.com. It arrived in the afternoon, an hour too late for my afternoon latte. I can't drink caffeine after 3pm or it keeps me awake at night. That's a sure sign I'm getting old.

Anyway, this grinder is replacing a Krups model that I bought in desperation because I could not convince myself to speand nearly $100 to grind coffee. The Krups was about $50 and I could live with that, but I was aware that the quality of grind might be subpar. Indeed it was. The Krups frequently jammed unless it was grinding very oily beans. It also could not create a grind fine enough for espresso, which is unfortunate as that is its main reason for being. The only thing I did like about the Krups was that it would grind and dispense a precise amount of coffee according to how you had the dial set. Push one button and, providing it didn't jam, out came the prescribed amount of coffee.

The new grinder is a Solis (see earlier post) made in Switzerland where they make great gears and cutting instruments. This thing will make coffee ground so fine it comes out in little clumps; so fine it has the consistency of powdered sugar. It's amazing. Fortunately, it does about 20 other grinds in between coarse and powdered sugar, so you can find precisely the right grind for your coffee brewing needs. And so, $100 later, I am happy with my grind.