If you take nothing else away from this guide, please take this advice to heart:

The grinder is an integral, necessary part of making good espresso in the home.

I can't stress this enough.

As mentioned in the preamble to this guide, CoffeeGeek readers often ask me for help on what espresso machine to buy. Frequently, back when I was doling out advice, I'd get emails from folks who bought the machines I recommended, complaining about how the shots were lousy, running too fast, producing insufficient crema, or tasting excessively bitter. And 99% of the time, the problem was easily diagnosed; they didn't buy a grinder. They bought preground or prepackaged coffee instead.

Why the grinder is important

Espresso preparation is harsh. It's just about the harshest brewing method you can throw at a coffee bean and still produce something that tastes heavenly. Percolators can't do that. Even moka pots are finicky as all heck. Espresso brewing, using over 135 pounds of water pressure per square inch, extracting in 25 seconds, is near-torture for the ground coffee bean.

So why does espresso just "work" for some people? Why do some home baristas and many "third wave" professionals have the ability to pound out great tasting shots of espresso?

If you ask them for their secret, besides talking up good ingredients (quality, fresh roasted coffee, good water) and having a developed skillset for producing espresso, they'll all mention one other key thing: the grinder. One core item they all have in common is a quality grinder to freshly grind the coffee to the very precise particle sizes necessary to good extraction. Often, the grinder is the rock star of their little espresso show.

I've often said that I can make a better shot of espresso with a $200 espresso machine and a $400 grinder than I can with a $2,000 espresso machine and no grinder (or a blade grinder)... and it's absolutely true. Do not bother reading the rest of this guide if you plan on skimping on this vital necessity.

Budgeting for the grinder

How do you set a budget for the grinder? A simple, hard and fast rule I have offered to people for some time now is, "Spend at least the same amount on the grinder as you do on the espresso machine, up to $200 (the cost of the grinder). Then percentage it down as your budget goes higher."

That means that, if you have $500 for an espresso machine budget, spend $200-$250 on a grinder, and get a $250-$300 espresso machine. If your budget is $1,000, think $300-$350 or more for the grinder, and $650-$700 or less for the espresso machine.

I know a lot of readers are going to look at this and cry foul, or at least wonder how I can justify spending $300 or more on a grinder. But if you're thinking about spending $1000 on an espresso machine, $300 for the grinder isn't so much. You just have to wrap your head around the fact that the grinder is an integral part of the overall purchase. Think of it in terms of budget = espresso machine + grinder + accessories, instead of just budget = espresso machine, and you'll be surprised at how easy it is to justify. And after you have those shots that will blow away 95% of the cafés out there, it gets even easier. Here's a suggested budget breakdown for your purchase.

What grinder to choose

So now you've budgeted for your grinder and want to know what models to choose.

Your first stop should always be the CoffeeGeek Consumer Reviews for Grinders, but with over 900 reviews posted for grinders (and growing daily), it can be a bit difficult to navigate. Fortunately, one page of this guide gives you tips on how to more effectively use the consumer reviews section. Make sure you check it out.

In addition, I do have some recommendations, fresh as of this writing and amending of the guide (in July 2007), so keep this in mind if it's 2009 and you're reading this! I'll give my low end, medium price, and high end recommendations, as well as a tip for scoring an awesome grinder at a price way lower than the cost of many new high end consumer grinders.

Low End Champs

Baratza Virtuoso It's had some teething pains, but the latest incarnation is solid.

This is going to sound like a paid advertisement for Baratza, but it isn't - instead, it's an indication that we consumers are not well served by most grinder makers in the under $200 category.

With that out of the way, the entire line of grinders from Baratza (formerly Solis for some models) are great starting points for the new home espresso fan. At the low end, the Baratza Maestro grinder (around $100) will do nicely. This grinder has seen several minor revisions over the years since first being introduced, and, like the other Solis and Baratza grinders, can handle multiple duties. It is capable of doing a decent espresso grind, but it can also handle your press pot and auto drip grinding chores, too. Recently, the grinder has lost its timer dial (it's now a two position on/off dial), and its front push button on demand button, but gained a lower price, and an improved motor / burr setup.

I recently had the chance to use the Breville Ikon Grinder, which is also priced at $100 in the US. While it does not have the grind range of the Baratza lineup (for instance, the Maestro and Maestro Plus currently can "choke" a Silvia, or grind too fine for the espresso machine to produce a shot, the Breville's finest setting produced a normal 25 second shot on a Silvia), it does do a great job grinding, and can at the finest setting at least, produce a decent grind for espresso. At the coarsest settings, it produces big-chunk grinds great for press pot coffee, though the fines were a bit more present than other grinders.

The next step up in price are the Maestro Plus at $150, and the Baratza Virtuoso at $200. Both grinders feature the same motor, same gearing systems, and similar operation, but the Virtuoso features more metal on its body and a different burr set that cuts coffee better.

The Virtuoso has had some teething problems, but the latest version of the grinder solves almost all of them (including many complaints made in our consumer reviews section and noted by the manufacturer).

All four of these grinders have an additional bonus for you - if, down the road, you want to buy a dedicated espresso grinder, you can still make use of these grinders for your non-espresso grinding needs. On the other hand, they have a good resale value, should you choose to do a straight upgrade to avoid having two grinders on the kitchen counter.

Middle Priced Grinders

Rancilio Rocky Always a solid choice - current models ship with green tinted hoppers and doser chambers.

This is where we get into the "dedicated espresso grinder" arena. From $200 for a Gaggia MDF, to $250-$300 for the Anfim home grinders, to the Rancilio Rocky doser (or doserless model) at around $300, all of these grinders are well suited for producing a great espresso grind and, more importantly, will be serviceable for decades to come.

The favourite in this category is probably the Rocky. Rancilio has been manufacturing this grinder since 1990, and while it has seen some aesthetic and usability upgrades in recent years (including a model using a chute instead of a doser), some things have never changed - it possesses the same motor and internal parts as the Rancilio MD40 grinder, as well as a precision-milled flat burr set. I know people who have Rockys that are 15 years old, and they're still running fine today. Amortize the initial cost over 15 years, and that equals about $20 per year - not too shabby. You could go through five Braun KM grinders in that time and end up paying the same amount for a vastly inferior grinder.

I mention the Anfim grinders too, because I've had the chance recently to use one, and I was quite impressed with what I saw. I know that 49th Parallel Roasters is already selling them in Canada for $400 and $425, and I've seen them for as low as $265 in the US. That's quite a steal for the build quality and other features you're getting. They compare very well to the Rocky, and they beat the Rocky in one regard: dosing. They dose very clean and distribute the coffee very evenly into your filter basket. The Anfims would be a great choice as a grinder investment.

The High End Models

By the time you get up to the $400-$600 price range for grinders, you're fully into the commercial world; I don't just mean commercial parts in a consumer product - I'm talking full-blown commercial grinders designed for light café duty.

Macap's Doser Check out the quality in the doser portion of the Macap. Super thick plastic, and the doser lever sweeps like butter.

For a long time, I've been a fan and promoter of the Mazzer Mini grinder, and I remain so - it's a great choice that gives you the legendary Mazzer quality in a size that fits on most kitchen counters, and it won't break the bank as the Mazzer Robur (at $1500) might. You're getting a heavyweight machine, milled burrs that do an excellent job of slicing up particles to a consistent size, and a stepless grind selection. What does stepless mean? It means the grind settings are pretty much infinite on this grinder - no set steps or "notches" like the Rocky or Anfim models. This translates into more control over the grind you produce, leading to even better espresso extraction.

Lately, however, I've been just as impressed with the grinders from Macap. Their M4 and M5 (which is the same as the M4, but with a taller hopper) models have been on the market for the past few years but are only recently getting more attention. They are available in both stepped and stepless models, and I'd recommend going for the latter, unless you get a great deal on a stepped model.

In some ways, the Macaps are better than the Mazzer Mini (in regard to the doser assembly, doser "feel", amount of coffee left over, and overall noise), but in other aspects, the Mazzer still does a better job (fork, overall construction, and hopper design). I've come to prefer the Macap's "worm drive" stepless system over the Mazzer's heavy-to-turn direct design. At the end of the day, it may boil down to aesthetics when considering which one is right for you - you may find one of these grinders in a colour that best suits you and your decor choices, and that's all it comes down to.

Any of these grinders - and frankly, almost grinder in our review section over $400 - will deliver in the home for decades to come. These are grinders designed to plow through 100 lbs of coffee a week and more. In the home, you're lucky to do that much in a year.

And a Buying Tip!

Here's one more tip for you. In my main espresso room, I have a Mazzer Super Jolly that I found on eBay almost brand new - but not branded as a Mazzer Super Jolly; it had been rebranded as an Astoria "Manual" and used less than a month. The portafilter fork was pristine, the burrs were practically new... and I paid only $275, including shipping. The tip is this: find out under what names the Mazzers are rebranded, and search often on eBay for those names. The one I bid on didn't mention "Mazzer" once, and that kept the price low.

Now I know this tip runs somewhat contrary to my advice on another page in this guide, about treating after-sales service as an important part of your purchase, and not ditching one vendor for another just to save $10. But in this case, getting a $750 retail grinder for a fraction of the amount is just too good a bit of advice to pass up. Just keep in mind that you probably won't get any warranty or any after-sales service if you go this route.

Next Page...