Watched a guy smash a $40 bag of single origin beans into a blade grinder

Was at a friend's house last weekend. He bragged about these expensive Ethiopian beans he bought. Then he pulls out this old blade grinder from the 90s. Dumped the whole bag in and ran it for 10 seconds. Burnt dust basically. I couldn't say anything without being rude. Has anyone else had to just watch someone ruin good coffee and stay quiet?

3 comments

3 Comments

jesser7918d agoMost Upvoted

Was he using the pre-ground setting or just straight up guessing on the grind time? Blade grinders are already bad news but running it for only 10 seconds on a light roast is basically just making chunky flavored dust. Did you mention anything about a burr grinder or did you just let the moment pass?

the_anthony18d ago

Did you try walking him through a simple ratio like 1:16 with a cheap scale?

drewsullivan15d agoMost Upvoted

Did you ever end up trying that with him? In my experience, the 1:16 ratio with a cheap scale is the single easiest way to get someone who's totally lost to actually taste a decent cup. I had a buddy who was using a blade grinder and eyeballing everything, and once I showed him how to just weigh the beans and water, it was like a light switch flipped. He still uses a blade grinder, but at least now his coffee doesn't taste like bitter dirt water. Your mileage may vary, but I've found that focusing on the basics like ratio and weight gets way better results than trying to talk someone into a $100 grinder they're not ready for.