Rocky

Used one for a while at an office setup. My $0.02: run. don't look back. Get the K6. As for the Rocky, I wrote about it a while ago: > It is a grinder of a bygone era; a miniature of antediluvian commercial/cafe grinders for home use. Hopper based, optional doser, tiny, fine-y burrs meant for dark, roasty beans rich in body and bitter as heartbreak. It is barely adjustable, with hilariously coarse steps meant for the pre-scientific alchemy of dosing by eye, tamping by feel, and pulling by luck. > > Also, some genius put the adjustment screw directly in the grind path. WTF. They really gave no shits about dialing in because after a while, you just can't. > > The inability to grind effectively for different (lighter) roast levels, the disregard for maintainability, the noise, the retention, the static, the noise -- all of these can be yours for an eye-watering $400-500. Yeah, you can do much better for your dollar these days. > > (no i am not bitter why do you ask) If you can stretch your budget: Fellow Opus 2 (not the original). I believe it's already released, for a raunchy $200 For a little less: Shardor 64mm -- somtimes on sale for ~$149. This is a proper 64mm grinder with decent stock burrs. It's a plastic-bodied copy of the venerable Mazzer Super Jolly, with a decently machined burr chamber, and a properly balanced chute/exit path (with an ionizer, no less). It punches way above its weight and you can upgrade to the plethora of cheap-n-cheerful 64mm burrs.

OP Please don't make your first espresso grinder one with a hopper, whether built into the espresso machine, or not. I had a Rancilio Rocky grinder..yes, I know it's not the same but it had a hopper and a dosing thing and initially gave that cafe experience. In loved it and it looked the part next to my Rancilio Silvia. And then I noted my beans go stale after a week and you end up single dosing anyway and wishing I'd got one without a hopper. Yeah you can modify to remove the hopper but do you really want that? And then I noted that the grind steps on the machine weren't fine enough. So between the beginning of the bag of beans and the end, I would go through steps of great, good, v great, good out sometimes just plain crap. I was needing to juggle dosing and then eventually releasing water pressure from the steam wand while brewing to make up for those half steps that the grinder couldn't do. The Bambino grinder might not like that, but I guess my point is don't be swayed by the family-image looks. there's so many great grinders out there now and lots of good suggestions to listen to on this thread.

I used a Rocky for 20 + years. If you want to factor that in.

Same— I bought a doserless rocky in 2004 and it’s still going strong. The only thing I’ve changed over the years is single dosing vs just filling the hopper, and I got a bellows hopper cover off Etsy to help clear out residual grinds.

Ranchillio Rocky. It’s a workhorse. 25 years and only change the grinder head every 5-7 years

A little tip for the OP, a good grinder can make a world of difference. I'm not recommending you spend a fortune that you don't have. But my progression went from a Rocky Rancilio to a Mazzer Super Jolly Electronic, to a Compak E10 conical, and now I have my end game, Mahlkonig E80S. Whilst I noticed increases in quality in the cup with each grinder change, I was not prepared for the jump in quality when I got the Mahlkonig. It was the second biggest single improvement to home coffee, behind home roasting. The key is consistency in particle size. A lesser grinder will have a wide bell curve between the smallest and largest particle size, with a good grinder having a much narrower variance. There is a lot more to good coffee at home, so enjoy the journey and congrats on the machine, have fun!

Yes, it is that much better in the long run. You mention that you cycle through 4-5 bags of beans but has any of them ever "wowed" you or stood out with some clean and standout flavors? It's really hard to achieve with a blade grinder because with the uneven grind size, the fines have more surface area and will over-extract leading to bitter notes, the boulders have less surface area and will under-extract, getting sour notes. This will lead to a muddled cup. So all beans kinda just taste the same. I would highly recommend getting a burr grinder as it will just augment every single cup of coffee that you brew moving forward. It's like a value modifier that is applied to all your beans that increases its taste. If you buy lets say low quality dark roast beans then I would say it is less of an issue (getting a burr grinder that is) and that there aren't that many tasting notes you can extract from those to begin with. As for grinder selection, if you don't mind some manual labor, I would recommend something like a Timemore C3. I have one of these and it works great for me. I downgraded from a Rancilio Rocky as it was too much (and too loud) for my needs. If you want an electric one, the tried and tested Baratza Encore works great for most people.