I a coffee addict, but I never really knew how it’s made. For most of my life, I just drank instant coffee, it was cheap and convenient. Where I grew up, cafes were rare and kind of expensive. Old habits die hard, I guess.
But I developed a taste for real coffee when I moved to Moscow in 2013. Once you get used to the good stuff, there’s no going back to instant.
I’ve been drinking coffee in cafes since then, and I eventually bought a French Press to make an extra cup or two at home. Having a French Press meant I had to learn a few basics, like how coffee beans need to be roasted and ground before you can brew with one. Luckily, the local Starbucks would grind the beans right when I bought them, and I found some pretty decent pre-ground beans in vacuum packs at Ikea.
As my coffee obsession grew, I noticed that not all beans are the same. They lose their flavor and kick pretty quickly, especially if they’ve already been ground. So the key to good coffee is freshness, use the freshest beans you can find, and grind them right before you brew.
So you can’t really make good coffee without a grinder, and there are plenty of them out there. For a French press, any decent grinder costing $20 or more should do. But if you want to grind for espresso or Turkish coffee, you’ll probably need to spend at least $200.
I want to try different styles of coffee, so I opted for the pricier option and ordered 1Zpresso K-Ultra. I’ve been using it for a few days and I really like the results. Truth to be told, I would probably be okay with a slightly cheaper grinder from any other brand, but I really like the design and ergonomics of K-Ultra:
