Hi all,
Ive been reading a ton of information on grinders in this forum, and more often than not there is only around 6 or 7 grinders with worthy mentions. I got so caught up in which one to buy that I was going to PM peppino to buy his M4D and compliment it with something more fitting than the recent sunbeam single boiler I purchased.
Whats really been bugging me is what my local Barista said to me today which was quite contrary to the impression ive taken from this site. I will not mention the baristas name or where he works as I do not wish to alienate him, but for the record (according to the forum) a few CS regulars in this forum have bought beans from him on more than a few occasions.
I asked him about the M4D and his thoughts on other grinders he would recommend. He smirked at me and said, Ive got the M4D and its a beaut but its far from necessary (for a cappuccino). His reasoning was the final product would not be distinguishable to even most coffee connoisseurs He said the only reason why he bought the M4D was to try it out. It is clean and quick and that was basically it. I questioned him about the temperatures, dose etc.
His reply was - "to be honest all this business about bur temperature, clumps, exact amounts to the gram etc is really nonsense to all but maybe a handful of people in Australia. The tamper is important, but you only need a cheap grinder to get almost identical results. He then went on to tell me of a simple test he uses all the time using his $200 Delonghi. Apparently when fellow coffee lovers come over for a cuppa at his place. He pretended to use one of his high end grinders and switches to the Delonghi and nobody is the wiser. They then spend the next 10 minutes raving on about the flavours, aromas etc etc. He says only 2 persons have ever mentioned anything, and it was in the same group which to him, it simply could have been a bad pull.
Is there any weight in his opinion?
This got me thinking. How many CSs could honestly say they could taste the difference in say a double blind test without another coffee to follow and compare?
its not my place to judge and its certainly not my intention to belittle the shiny toys that we all love but with everyone buying these mazza minis, M4/D, k3s etc on recommendations made is it really best bang for buck? Is it just the placebo effect?
Has the wrong type of coffeesnobbery taken place?
Once again Im not judging at all, Im just trying to feel out what is real and what is not.
Thoughts all?
Ive been reading a ton of information on grinders in this forum, and more often than not there is only around 6 or 7 grinders with worthy mentions. I got so caught up in which one to buy that I was going to PM peppino to buy his M4D and compliment it with something more fitting than the recent sunbeam single boiler I purchased.
Whats really been bugging me is what my local Barista said to me today which was quite contrary to the impression ive taken from this site. I will not mention the baristas name or where he works as I do not wish to alienate him, but for the record (according to the forum) a few CS regulars in this forum have bought beans from him on more than a few occasions.
I asked him about the M4D and his thoughts on other grinders he would recommend. He smirked at me and said, Ive got the M4D and its a beaut but its far from necessary (for a cappuccino). His reasoning was the final product would not be distinguishable to even most coffee connoisseurs He said the only reason why he bought the M4D was to try it out. It is clean and quick and that was basically it. I questioned him about the temperatures, dose etc.
His reply was - "to be honest all this business about bur temperature, clumps, exact amounts to the gram etc is really nonsense to all but maybe a handful of people in Australia. The tamper is important, but you only need a cheap grinder to get almost identical results. He then went on to tell me of a simple test he uses all the time using his $200 Delonghi. Apparently when fellow coffee lovers come over for a cuppa at his place. He pretended to use one of his high end grinders and switches to the Delonghi and nobody is the wiser. They then spend the next 10 minutes raving on about the flavours, aromas etc etc. He says only 2 persons have ever mentioned anything, and it was in the same group which to him, it simply could have been a bad pull.
Is there any weight in his opinion?
This got me thinking. How many CSs could honestly say they could taste the difference in say a double blind test without another coffee to follow and compare?
its not my place to judge and its certainly not my intention to belittle the shiny toys that we all love but with everyone buying these mazza minis, M4/D, k3s etc on recommendations made is it really best bang for buck? Is it just the placebo effect?
Has the wrong type of coffeesnobbery taken place?
Once again Im not judging at all, Im just trying to feel out what is real and what is not.
Thoughts all?


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