De'Longhi - KG89

I started with a cheap-ass electric grinder with pseudo-flat burrs (Delonghi KG89). Unfortunately, it was robust enough to last me 4-5 years. Then I bought a Timemore C2, which served me well for another good 5 years. Eventually, I got tired of hand grinding. I decided to step it up and bought a Fellow Ode 2 — beautiful design, fits nicely on my counter, easy to dial in, and coffee tastes great. Why haven't I switched to a decent electric sooner, I asked myself each morning. 6 months passed. I realized I missed *feeling* the grind in my hands. So, I came full circle and picked up a 1Zpresso ZP6. What I’m trying to say is that only you can decide what’s best for you. And not a today you, but a future you. (That said, today me would probably start all over with a decent handheld.)

The 'perfect' coffee grinder for espresso can be mad money. They would use a conical burr method to grind. But, you can get very good results with machines between 100 and 200 euro, and pretty good results for ones under 100 euro. deLonghi KC79/KC89 give rather good results for espresso (maybe not as good as a 800 euro machine), and really excellent for filter coffee and other non-espresso coffee. DID Electrical, Harvey Normans etc sell them. Ultimately, if the espresso machine is not 110% then one wouldn't notice the difference between a 50 to 90 euro grinder and one costing over 700 euro.

I switched to beans in the last year. I buy a few kg at a time, so the price is lower and quality better then buying ground coffee. I tried a hand grinder, quality was fine but I use a filter machine so I got bored of sitting and grinding coffee every day so I got a £50 DeLonghi burr grinder which is great. A lot of cheap grinders are actually choppers rather than a burr grinder, I was really pleased to find a burr grinder from an actual brand for that cheap - so many grinders are £200+

Seriously it’s so fast. Takes no time at all. Have had my grinder for over a decade. Still works great (delonghi)