Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/02/07/that-capresso-conical-burr-gri.html
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Meanwhile I can’t believe that an $80 machine would replace my $15 grinder from Wal-Mart nor that your $715 espresso machine will replace my $30 aeropress to an extent equal to the jump in costs.
Can anyone here vouch for how much better a burr grinder is for an Aeropress versus cheap blade style grinders? Tempted to get a hand grinder to test but I am too stupid before coffee to operate such a thing.
Edit: please note that while people complain about inconsistent grinds on blade grinders, I find it helps to pick the thing up and shake it while in operation. Yes I am serious.
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I’m in the market for a new burr grinder; my krups died after 15 yrs of good service.
No capresso dealers in the UK though - any recommendations sub-£100? We drink cafetière exclusively.
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Comparing espresso and aeropress coffee as Apples to Apples?
I think they are different coffee drinks. I’ll use an aeropress for single cup brewing but for that sort of coffee i find a French Press is more handy (I do not drink just 1 cup.)
Years ago a friend brought over an aeropress to show me they can make a cup of coffee faster than my espresso machine can make me a double shot of espresso. Thing is, I want a double shot of espresso and 10 years of using my $500 machine has proven it to be a good investment. If I bought your $30 aeropress I’d have had zero shots of espresso.Total waste of money.
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I bought this grinder based on a recommendation covered earlier by BB. It does work well but grinds tend to spill out all over the machine and the counter. I don’t believe I’m doing anything wrong.
Grinds go in the clear plastic box for me?
Ha ok valid point and I will not judge you or anyone any further here.
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This will likely be the selling point for me. I use a cheapo $15 blade grinder which requires a lot of shaking and sifting to get a consistent grind (but still often leaves whole or half beans behind) and it’s so loud that I have to wait for the rest of the house to get up before making coffee. Or use my backup supply of Bustelo.
It’ll depend on how good that blade grinder is, and how much finesse you’ve got with the thing.
Bur grinders are a lot more consistent, and have a much finer more accurate control of grind size. So a good one will make sure all the grounds are the same size, which will improve the coffee. And the control of grind size makes it easier to match your machine and control flavor by grind size.
I don’t drink a ton of coffee. But I tend to only drink small, strong coffee. And the difference is noticable for me, even in the same brewing equipment.
If you’re curious and want to keep it cheap there’s a bunch of cheaper, good quality hand cranked bur grinders out there.
As for aeropress vs the espresso machine I agree with @jlw . Aeropress coffee is good, but it isn’t exactly real espresso. So if what you’re looking for is good, real, espresso a dedicated espresso machine is gonna work better for you.
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There’s a Capresso at my office that I use occasionally. It definitely seems to do very well for the price.
I have a ridiculously-overkill Baratza grinder at home, which I got thinking I’d get into espresso, but then came to my senses (don’t have space for the machine, don’t need another thing that requires constant maintenance and cleaning, prefer regular brew anyway…) and use it for Chemex pourover.
The Baratza is definitely a bit more consistent in its grind size - but at ~5x the price. The one feature that stops me selling it is the built-in timer. I’ve got my dose dialed in, so I just hit one button and it produces exactly as much grounds as I need every time, which is a huge boon when I’m in my pre-coffee state.
Even fancier models will automatically grind by weight… but if you use the same dose every time, it’s easy enough to guesstimate the timing and dial it in as needed.
I have one of these (or probably, a predecessor, but it looks pretty much the same) that I’ve had for years. It works great, I like it. My one warning, on mine the markings wore off very quickly. Particularly around the dial, those wore off in less than a year and are completely gone now. It’s OK for me, I just eyeball it.
Ive needed a new burr grinder for months now, my beloved cuisinart DBM-8 finally blew up in november.
It worked well, but I wanted something better. I use one of those bullet type blade ones now and shake it, doesnt work as well.
Was willing to drop 500$ on a grinder since I drink a LOT of coffee, and do pourover when I get time with my other grinder, an awesome hand cranked ceramic burr Japanese Hario CMHN-4, that can grind coffee beyond turkish to powdered sugar fine (jf you set it watchmaker carefully like me), but couldn’t find anything that really stood out to me enough.
I’ll give this a look now, excellent
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America’s test kitchen figured this out a while back. The capresso was their #2, 50 bucks more gets you their #1
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This is exactly what I use to grind for my Aeropress. It has been reliable and easy enough to clean. Worth the price to me. I tend to grind slightly on the fine side but you can grind down to where an Aeropress will not press at all (been there done that). I like that it’ll work over a reasonably wide grind range, to experiment.
I prefer the Capresso over the Baratza. The Baratza doesn’t grind as fine as the Capresso and requires a lot more dicking around to get it to reliable for the Silva.
If you were happy with the Krups just buy another one. they are still very cheap in the UK and do a great job.
I used to use the Capresso grinder. It’s a good grinder. But now that I am a devotee in the church of the Magnifica, I don’t need it any more.
Magnifica. I press thy buttons.
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I have one of these. It’s worked decently well for ~8 years now. The motor is starting to seize up. There’s no way to repair the motor as the gear housing is snap fit together with plastic that will break if disassembly is attempted. I’m willing to pay more to get a grinder that can be fully serviced. I hate throwing something away that could otherwise be fixed.
@jlw When you say you Silvia fails on certain grinds does it choke and not deliver the shot? I found a solve for this on my old espresso machine. I too thought it was a grind or tamp issue but it was actually more of a pump priming issue. Let your machine run without the head for a good 30 seconds or so before you pull a shot. On my machine there was no grind or tamp that could stop it if I primed it accordingly. Good luck and thanks for the info.
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