I finally convinced myself to take the big plunge and listen to those who know and get the right grinder for the job.

I went through a denial period where I didn't believe that the grinder is indeed the biggest part of the coffee equation. I now know that to be true and there is no way around it.

The Gaggia MDF is not a bad grinder, and I would probably put it a little below the Rocky in terns of quality. The thing was noisy and the doser was pretty useless though.

After a lot of debate and coming really close to buying the Mazzer Mini, which I have always held in high regard, I decided to go with a stepless grinder to really have the opportunity to tweak settings for certain beans.

I ended up with the Macap M4 stepless and after setting it up and running the fisrt batch, I was amazed at the difference from my old grinder.

I had done some reading and followed the advice to turn it on, find the zero point where the burrs just begin to touch, then go 1.5 number higher. It turned out to be really close.

First impressions of this grinder are;

1. Very commercial in quality.
2. Much queiter than MDF
3. Many more grind settings.

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I did a little modifying on this, like NOT attaching the useless tamper where you press up, and also removing the finger gurard inside the doser to make it easy to clean.

I feel confident that I can remember not to stick my finger up the grind chute with the machine on.
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knock on wood...
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My grinder, love it.

I didn't put the tamper on either, and removed the finger guard as well, u should have no problems.

Unless you also stick your fingers inside a garbage disposal while it's on....:-)
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sweet! nice addition :-)
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Nice one. A good grinder makes all the dif.
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I've been doing my own roasting (last 9 years with a Fresh Roast), and I have been using a blade grinder for about 20 years. I don't do espresso, so don't need it that fine - normally my press pot or my Bunn.

What exactly is the benefit of a burr grinder? Is there that big of a difference?

To be honest, on my income, I need to have a really, really, good reason to make that jump.
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I think a burr from a blade grinder is a world of difference in terms of consistency of grind.

With 20 years of success with a blade grinder, I would be fool to tell you to change probably though.

I'd imagine there wil be others who will push you harder though.

I am far from an expert, but think for most brewing, I decent burr grinder can be had for under 50 bucks.

I still keep a Krupps burr grinder around for pourover and my wife's drip pot as adjusting the worm drive back and forth on my Macap for different grinds would drive me mad. It is exclusively for espresso and moka pot.

In the case of espresso, it gets a little pointless in trying to grind fine enough without a really good grinder and I hate to say it, but I don't think you're getting anything worthwhile for under $400 bucks, unless you find a good reconditioned one.

As far as stepless, probably not necessary for home grinding, but fun as heck for the OCD types.

That's my experience and I tried to justify half a grand on a grinder and tried my darndest to avoid it with no luck.

I had sporadic luck with my Gaggia MDF, but got to the point where sporadic was taking all the satisfaction out of the experience.

I have found the difference between my Gaggia and my Macap jawdropping.
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Res,

It doesn't seem all that hard, but have you taken off the hopper, ring, etc, and opened it up to the burrs?

I'm sure you have, and am sure I will, but for now, run rice through it once a week.

I know I don't have to tell you, but it's been emphasized to me a dozen times to NOT make any adjustments without the machine running.

There's also an interesting mod i saw where you can make the worm drive work like a swivel by removing two screws for easy large adjustments and easier cleaning, but am not sure if I am going there.

I can post a link to the procedure and it looks very easy. I just worry about the drive popping up while grinding, and also don't ever seem to turn more than a half turn at most depending on beans.
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+1 on a burr grinder. 20+ years as well with a blade grinder and fresh roasted beans and the best improvement I ever made to my coffee was a burr grinder. It all comes down to grind size and uniformity vs. extraction time when it comes to what is in your cup. As Pete mentioned some burr grinders are truly espresso only grinders that will make an awful french press but perfect espresso. A blade grinder is just bad for the bean, it smashes them, creates heat, and there is no real control of grind size or evenness of grind. I often wondered why some restaurants coffee was just so much better then drip I could make, it is the burr grinder. I found that out after a few cups with a new burr grinder of my own.

A Baratza reconditioned grinder is a good choice with a very good company.

http://www.baratza.com/refurb.php
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What he said.
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Get a burr grinder when your current whirleyblade collapses. In the meantime it's hard to improve on fresh roast. :-)
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