Nov 14 2008
bitchin about the burr
I bought a black and decker burr grinder from Target a few months back hoping to get with the program and increase my overall coffee experience. They say that Burr grinders offer a better taste experience because they give you a more consistent grind and do not wreak havoc upon the tasty oils within the bean that the whirly blade type grinders do.
Cruising online, I found several options for fancy burr grinders ranging from about a hundred to two hundred bucks for a fancy commercial use one. Being cheap, I searched further hoping to find one that was more in my price range. I almost bought a used one off of ebay before I found that Target, the lower middle class man’s Kmart, actually sold one for around 20 bucks. So I went ahead and bought it figuring that if it sucks, at least I am only out a Jackson and I do not have to wait for some dude from ebay to get off his butt and mail me his grandmas used one.
So, all in all I am happy with the results of the grinder. It seems to have enough settings for my range of coffee producing devices and with a little tweaking I have figured out the ideal notch for each. It is also a nicely streamlined machine with an appelaing black and stainless steel finish. However, in their efforts to make it look pretty, the boys and girls at black and decker gave up some functionality for its form. The little plastic container that catches the grounds is fit a little bit too snug, making it a bitch to pull out at times. There are little grip lines on each side of it, but they really do not help and since I am cursed with uber dry hands, I cannot get a grip on the sucker if my life depended upon it. Some mornings, I feel like shouting “Hulk Smash!” and throwing the device on the floor to crack it open and retrieve my precious, precious coffee. After watching The Jerk (that eighties flick starring Steve Martin) on Comedy Central, I gave thought to Super gluing a little handle on the device but then figured I will just make a bigger mess.
Another thing I do not like about the grind chamber is that the grounds have a tendency to stick to the edges of its plastic walls. I usually try to give it a few good whacks to try to dislodge the grounds but then end up using my fingers to scrape it out since whacking it too hard ends up sending coffee flying all over my kitchen.
Well, with all that said, the little grinder has made my coffee taste consistently better, and I now know why all the coffee fiends that post on the various coffee related sites that I am part of insist on using them. I guess I will live with my flawed grinder for a while until I can afford a nicer one.
