Why a burr grinder rather than a blade grinder? My old blade grinder can do either a very fine grind or a more coarse type grind, just adjusting the time! My coffee comes out strong and has good flavor?
R
[Reply]

Consistency. Heat. If you are happy and don't feel you need a reason, don't change.
[Reply]

A blade grinder chops. You may have one capable of chopping the coffee pretty fine, but you still have little chopped pieces.

A burr grinder grinds. When I set mine on the finest setting, the coffee comes out almost powder like.

My burr grinder is old and middle of the road. Many would probably tell me I should go out and drop a few hundred on a super duper muy expensive burr grinder. But like you, I'm in a happy place. For my needs and tastes, what I have is fine.

It just depends on how fine and consistent you feel you need to go. If you're happy with your blade grinder, I wouldn't let others convince you to be unhappy. :-)
[Reply]

Very true.
[Reply]

A burr gives you uniform coffee. There are those among us who are knowledgeable of the math and chemistry of such things so before I misspeak, look into these sites.

http://www.mpechicago.com/coffee/ima...ding_nov03.pdf

http://coffeechemistry.com/grinding/...damentals.html
[Reply]

Agree with all that if happy, that is all that counts.
However, there is a major difference you won't know or appreciate until you see it first hand.
For espresso, burr all the way.
[Reply]

Not necessarily. I've got a burr grinder (not a cheap one mind you but the sub $350-500 it takes to hit get the better grinders) that for a course grind would put out so much of a powder that it would clog the filter for cold brewing.
[Reply]

Just bought a baratza virtuoso that was $220 and it is supposed to perform very well across a wide range of grind types, including espresso. Will let you know if the sub $350 statement is actually true after a few days of chemex brews.
[Reply]

Okay so I don't cold brew and I use a stainless Abel Kone filter, but I'm happy to report the virtuoso does a fine job. Visually, there is no noticeable dust or clumping and the grind is very uniform. There is some dust, however, because I can see it at the end of my pour. It doesn't seem to have any effect on the flow rate of the Kone though. Since I don't typically cold brew ymmv, but I don't see why that would make a big difference.

I'm looking forward to doing a finer grind for my moka pot.
[Reply]