ottawa foodies

I've got the President's Choice Burr Grinder which as far as price goes is pretty excellent around 30 bucks! It's adjustable and produces an excellent grind all things considered.

But it has 2 major problems :
- it's design is such that it creates a horrible mess. the static charge that builds up in combination with the way the catch cup connects to the side just makes a horrible mess everywhere. Pretty unavoidable.
- it clogs a lot. been using it about 2 years now and it seems to clog every time I grind with it now. and it's getting worse. never used to do that. when it clogs you have to stick a chopstick in there to clean it out.

I'm looking for recommendations on good burr grinders that (1) are adjustable, (2) produce a good even grind, (3) do not clog, and (4) don't make a mess.

I don't really care too much about (4)

Also, please let me know how long you've been using your grinder because as I've mentioned, mine never used to do this.

I'm willing to spend some money on a grinder but only if it solves my current problems :-)

This one looks good : Germany engineering!

www.greenbeanery.ca

And moving up in price :
www.greenbeanery.ca

I like the 'vertical drop' on this one. That's what I think is key to why the PC one clogs up because the grind exits out the side.

Krups is German, but I haven't been too thrilled with their blade "grinder." Mind you, my complaints probably apply to all blade grinders...

Solis is a Swiss company and is therefore superior to the Krups. ;-)

I was pricing all these out while trying to find something to use with my Aeropress. I was trying to get the Starbucks "Barista," which is a rebranded Solis unit. It was on sale for $120 over the xmas holidays (normal price $175). But it's sold out now, discontinued, and I have no hope of getting it.

I was leaning towards the Solis Maestro, but then if you add in shipping it pushes over $200. And you can get an incredible and extremely highly rated (see coffeegeek.com) Rancilio Rocky for $310 + free shipping...

After riding that slippery slope, I decided to take a break and live with my awful blade grinder for the time being. I still have my eye set on the Rocky though!

I *think* that the PC one is the exact same design as the Persona one that Canadian Tire supplied, and I went through two in two years before sucking up my losses and getting a Cuisinart one (www.cuisinart.ca) for fifty bucks.

It doesn't clog as much as the Persona one used to, and it makes a grind even enough for me to not howl with fury at my Bodum. Since it's got a lot of plastic on it, though, it has the same static issues that I had with the Persona. The next one I get will have to be static-free somehow, because it makes such an annoying mess otherwise!

FF : I'm off to T.O. in about a month and hope to stop by the Green Beanery. If there is anything there you want me to pick up, just let me know. Will save you on shipping.

I'm looking at the Solis units on www.greenbeanery.ca but the have 4 or 5 and I'm having trouble determining what the differences are between them. Gonna have to look for a good comparison matrix somewhere ... haven't looked for a Solis website yet.

The Rancilio Rock is allegedly the be all end all... I've been considering the PC burr grinder, thanks for posting your experiences with it. I've heard that Starbucks used to rebrand Solis burr grinders and put their logo on them to sell in-house, which, when on sale can be a steal! Keep your eyes peeled...

Dammit. I just realised that if I'm going to spend $200 on a coffee mill I should probably spend it on a real roaster instead, and finally upgrade from my corn poppers.

Sigh.

No, no. Keep your noisy corn popper for roasting so you can up the ante for a REAL grinder. Yeah, the one with 80 selectable grind positions. The Rancilio Rocky of course. You know you want it. :)

I agree with AMR, I would upgrade the grinder before the roaster, unless your partner is really annoyed with the popcorn-roasting process ;)

Clearly neither of you have roasted coffee before :-) The single biggest improvement you will ever make to your coffee experience is roasting your own. And while the corn-popper does a terrific job, a real roaster is easier to use and slightly better due to computer-controlled temperature and cooling. I know a guy who did the corn-popper thing for a few years and then bought a real roaster and said he'll never look back.

My grinder already does a terrific job of the actual grinding, as I originally stated. It just clogs a lot and makes a horrible mess. Those are admittedly big^H^H^Hhuge annoyance factors, but they don't affect the quality at all.

Ahh but roasters are so expensive, and when you can use a valuevillage popcorn maker... lol! I definitely see the advantage with a home roaster though, much easier to control the roast, I guess?

I was actually looking at the PC burr grinder in the store the other day and thinking of way to modify the side-port where the grounds shoot out more securely or something... a definite design flaw, but nothing that would deter me from buying it. The clogging thing must be an issue with dark roast coffee or something thats a bit oilier? What's your experience with different roasts? Or does it clog with every type of roast?

A good roaster is only about $200 so about the same as a good mill.

For 30 bucks the PC mill is pretty hard to beat. I may take mine apart to see if there is a way I can get it to exhaust out the bottom or something. The clogging seems to be worse as time goes on - also perhaps with the next-to-finest setting that I've been using. If I could get it apart and give it a good cleaning it might be OK for a while.

I don't make really oily beans so that's not it. Though of course all coffee has that oil in it so I'd guess there is the same amount of oil in all beans. The darker-roasted ones just has the oil all on the surface.

I owned a PC one and it did all the things you describe, right out of the box. Ground coffee everywhere, clogging and a pain to clean. But it did give a good grind for $30.

So nobody has a recommendation for a cheaper mill that doesn't have the problems of the PC?

I see a number of $25-$50 mills on Amazon.com. Any experience with any of them anyone?

Or anyone know of a store I can walk into to see a few? I'll check out coffee.ca across the river. Any others?

This might have promise from Sears - will have to go in and have a look

www.sears.ca

I've heard excellent things about the Capresso 560, but I think you'll have to order it in from the USA (usually < $100USD), or maybe find one at a Starbucks...

I've moved off of Bodums and on to Stovetop espresso. Since my blade grinder does a garbage job of grinding finely enough for this purpose I've been doing something slightly nuts: I've been buying quarter pounds of coffee from bridgehead, and taking them to loblaws and using their grinder. Impractical? Yes. Good for storytime? yes.

So I would love to get a proper burr grinder but that's going to have to wait until a wedding next year or a big influx of cash. I love the Solis maestro in particular.

Bridgehead won't grind your coffee for you?

Bridgehead will grind your coffee for you. In fact, they offered that service to me last time I bought a pound.

Yes of course. That was just a brain fart on my part. I meant that on occasion I buy fair trade beans at Loblaws, open the bag and use the store's grinder rather than buy the pre-ground stuff.

zy,

Not sure if you have pulled the trigger on a coffee grinder yet, but I was at Home Outfitters on Merivale and noticed a particularly good deal. They have the Kitchenaid Pro Line grinder for $299.99 - $120.00 instant rebate.

Basically, you're looking at $179.99+tax out the door for a great grinder that seems to have all of the features you're looking for. The sign (large standup sign) had a holiday tag on it, so i'm not sure that it was current. However, they do have to honor the price as long as the sign is there.

Here is a link to the product on Amazon: www.amazon.com

Too late :-) But I've seen that one before and it seems MASSIVE for the job. Looks like it's about as big as a kitchen aid mixer. In any case, I'm very happy with my Solis grinder so far.

Yes, that Kitchenaid unit is quite the beast for sure. It seems that you could throw anything in their Pro Line out a second story window and it would come away unscathed. Even though the line is a bit plain looking, i've got to say I really like the heavy, manual switches and overall solid construction of the items.

Where did you end up getting the Solis BTW? Green Beanery?

Yes, I was in Toronto 2 weeks ago and dropped in and picked it up. It's also very heavy duty construction (weighs quite a lot) and is bigger than my PC grinder. But the Kitchen Aid size seems to me to be somewhat superfluous. It looks just like a mixer perhaps on purpose. It's long and seems to have a huge footprint. When in fact it only needs to be vertical ( like the Solis). The Solis is BTW a very highly regarded line of grinders. It's size is bigger vertically, but the footprint is actually a bit smaller than the PC.

I thought I'd revitalize this thread upon finding 2 KitchenAid Proline burr grinders at Winners at Bayshore for $200 a piece, as of April 25th '08.

DEAL ALERT!

I was just in Homesense on Merivale Road, and they have one (and only one) of the aforementioned Kitchenaid Pro Line Burr Grinders on clearance for $148.00. Fantastic deal! You can find it on the clearance cart near the entrance/exit.

Would have snapped it up, but the WAF (wife acceptance factor) on coffee accessories is quite low. :\

And if you have a Costco membership, it's available for 18 bucks less: www.costco.ca

It's a truly beautiful grinder and not bad value for the money. Incidentally, I lived with the PC one for a few months (wifey picked it up for something like ten bucks earlier this year) but found myself always cursing the huge mess it made. I ended up splurging for the somewhat high end Rancilio Rocky, which is quite respected for its grind quality and low noise level. Yes it was a lot of money ($310) but it should last a lifetime and it's a joy to use!

Wow, thanks Foodie! They're really blowing these things out. I wonder if they have something new in the works?

I dunno, I just don't like the looks of that Kitchen Aid one. They seem to have wanted to make it look like their mixer, which is completely frivilous. I love the looks of my mixer, but I don't want a coffee grinder that looks like one. More practically, that one has a much bigger footprint than the one I bought at green beanery, and mine is every bit as good if not better.

Re: static in coffee grounds:

I have a Starbucks burr grinder which I'm quite happy with. I assume it is one of the rebranded Solis ones referred to above, which are no longer available. I did buy it on sale at Starbucks last November for $120, regularly $179 (and all electrical appliances came with a free pound of coffee that day, so it was actually an awesome deal!) Not only does it grind well, but for months I was delighted that the plastic container the grounds go into seemed to be static free. Then all of a sudden for no apparent reason it became charged and the grounds started making quite a mess, much to my disappointment. I hate wiping up counters before my first cup in the morning!

I read through this forum and saw that static was a common problem. However, I think I have found a solution, which is why I'm posting here. It occurred to me to try wiping the outside of the plastic receptacle with an ordinary dryer sheet. I use unscented ones, and of course I wipe only the outside of the container, taking care not to wipe it near the top edge where the grounds would come in contact. (Who knows what chemicals might lurk in those things.) Guess what?! So far, it is working like a charm: no more static! I now keep a dryer sheet in the cupboad beside the box of coffee filters, and every time the grounds start to jump around, I give the plastic container another wipe and they settle right down. Could the solution really be this simple? I'd like to hear if this works for anybody else.

I have been making do with a PC burr grinder for the past couple years, and more recently it has been making very poor grinds. It was producing both large particles, and some fine ones, which made it totally unsuitable for my stovetop espresso maker. I had a giftcard for Home Outfitters burning a hole in my pocket, so I went looking there, and thought I'd try the Breville grinder that grinds everything from a coarse drip grind, to Turkish coffee grind. I was totally disappointed with my search. Every Home Outfitters I went to (3) were VERY unhelpful. They 'didn't think' they had it in stock, they didn't know when it might be in stock, and suggested maybe I should just keep checking back to see if it is in stock. I suggested that maybe they could tell me how many were on order, and maybe an expected delivery time, and much to my surprise I was told 'We don't know what we're going to get, or when, we just get shipments of 'stuff', and put it on the shelf'!! I was incredulous at this sort of lack of knowledge, let alone customer service. Not being content to just keep making a lesser cup of coffee, I went at my PC burr grinder, and took it apart. It was pretty easy, and I found I could clean it, and remove the top part of the bur mechanism. I also found, that since the movable top burr is on a threaded mechanism (to set grind size) instead of a wedge system, that I could just tighten it independent of the grind adjustor ring (that was now removed) that only allows about 1/4 turn of adjustment. So, I cranked it down until the burrs were touching, and then eased it off a tiny bit. When I popped the adjustor ring back on, I made it so the 'almost touching burrs' was the finest setting. Upside, my PC burr grinder not only has new life, but is producing the finest and most consistent grind it's EVER MADE!! Downside is that since the adjustor ring only has 1/4 turn of movement, I can only grind espresso fine to espresso coarse across the whole range, and if I wanted to grind for my drip maker, I'd have to take it apart again and loosen the top burr. Either way, I won't be going back to Home Outfitters for a grinder, and might be able to stretch this very cheap workhorse grinder another couple years! Maybe one day I'll get a Mazzer, but not today ;-)

PiO - did I just read that correctly? You modded a coffee grinder?!? Welcome to the world of coffee geekdom! :) That's good to know re: the grinder, I had my reservations over buying one... do they even sell these anymore at Loblaws?

I have no idea if they still sell them at Loblaws.. guess you'd have to go look! Keep in mind that the other comments about it are still true.. it can clog with the oilier beans, and the flat burrs are not exactly high quality, they sort of 'chew' the beans, instead of cutting them like a $1000 grinder would do. But, it's better grind than I've ever had (with the cheapies) so I'm happy. I might have to talk to Zym about comparing the grind with his Solis to have a more comparative view of grind quality. The pluses are that the adjustment mechanism seems pretty good (when apart that is) and the motor is decently strong (100 watts).

My family has always used an old-fashioned hand crank one - so cute! The grinds end up in the little drawer! Obviously not as efficient and not appropriate for gigantic quantities, but it has charm and certainly gets the job done. This pic is just about an exact copy of the one I have - highly reccomended if you can find one.

Whoops, for some reson the pic was deleted when I previewed...

Food Is Hot - Cute indeed... geez I never really thought those things worked... somehow I just thought they were more for kitchen decor.

As for the pic thing... "Preview" always takes out the photo link... you have to remember to put it back in.

Indeed they do work - I woke up just about every morning of my childhood to my dad grinding beans in this thing in the kitchen :P

I am another user of the Rancilio Rocky. I have a "doser" model as I can't use the grinder first thing in the morning without waking other people up. It is also a lot handier when making coffee for a large group after a diner party.

Might as well just break down and get the Rocky. If you do a lot of grinding, you will end up buying one eventually. Might as well suck it up now and spend a couple hundred on it now.

And it does make some mess, I don't think there is such a thing as a grider that despenses coffee without getting some on the counter.

My machine was clogging shortly after I got it, but it turns out there was a huge rock in the machine!!!!! Turns out that I must have gotten a rock in one of my bags of beans at some point, once I found that and removed it, it has only jammed once, but a quick poke with a spoon cleared that out.

I've been having clogging problems with my Cuisinart DBM-8 over the last few months: the motor would run and run, but the beans wouldn't descend into the burrs. I finally took it apart yesterday to have a look (you just keep unscrewing the top past the coarsest setting, and the hopper eventually comes off.)

There was a crust of ultrafine grinds that had accumulated and hardened around the opening to the burr assembly, likely preventing the beans from falling into the grindy-bit. I scraped it away with a dinner knife, so hopefully that'll fix things.

I've used the thing a couple of times a week, every week, for the last two years. A little bit of cleaning now and again isn't that big a deal.

One thing I did notice was that the burrs have worn down quite a bit (either that or they were never that sharp to begin with.) Since it doesn't look like Cuisinart sells replacement burrs, I may end up buying a Rocky after all. (This despite the fact that replacement burrs for the Rocky (pictured) cost as much as a new DBM-8.)

"How to grind your coffee like a NINJA"...
vine.co/v/b2vV5TuzMvv

I knew these little wooden people slipped off the shelf and did this kind of thing when no one was around!

The Rocky is definitely a very good grinder, but pretty pricy if you are just a casual drinker of the black stuff. If you have the desire or the coin to get one, great. If not, I'd suggest looking to a Baratza for anywhere between $140 and $250 depending on which model you choose from their entry level grinders. A Baratza Vario is also amazing but a direct competitor and same price range as the Rocky. When doing research on various grinders, I noticed some Seattle based company that does a ton of testing, really like the Breville Smart Grinder. I've never actually used it, but it does get great reviews, both professional and user, and lately has been discounted on Amazon.ca for $150. An absolute steal for this level of grinder and it looks fantastic and has some great features.

I've had the Breville 2 years now and have been very happy with it. I like it's ease of use, cleanliness, consistency, and thoughtful design features. But I still want a hand cranked mill, cause as my wife says "What will we do if the power goes out?" And it does occasionally, just not in the morning. Of course, I haven't forgotten the 13 days without power during the ice storm of '98.