PSA: I started using a cheap blade grinder for my pour over and it's honestly fine

Everyone in here says you need a $200 burr grinder or your coffee will be trash. My old hand grinder broke last month and I grabbed a $15 Mr. Coffee electric blade grinder from Target as a stopgap. I was expecting awful, uneven grounds, but I tried pulsing it for 5 seconds, shaking it, then pulsing again for another 5. Did that three times total. The grind looked way more consistent than I thought it would. Made a V60 with some Ethiopian beans from my local shop, Blue Bottle, and it tasted... good? Not muddy, no crazy bitterness. It's been my method for three weeks now. Am I just not tasting the flaws, or is the 'you must have a burr grinder' rule a bit overblown for casual home brewing?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth_williams1mo ago

Blade grinders heat up the beans and make tons of fines, you just can't taste the difference yet lol. That muddy bitterness will show up once you try a proper burr grind side by side.

jadeg811mo ago

My old blade grinder made my coffee taste burnt for months. I switched to a cheap hand burr mill and the clarity was instant. Honestly, you don't need a fancy machine to fix the problem.