My Coffee Setup

Ahh... the joys of coffee grinding. I'm surprised I haven't brought this up already.

I used to buy coffee beans and grind them in the store. I decided to give coffee-grinding at home a shot.

I was reading the reviews and they all said to get a burr grinder because it grinds more evenly. Of course, burr grinders are expensive (>$75) and blade grinders can be had for less than $20.

I bought this Hamilton Beach 80354 Platinum Custom Grind Coffee Grinder at Target:
It's a blade grinder. It has a retractable cord so it stores easily. It has settings for how many cups worth of beans and also grind fineness. The lid is convenient. You just scoop your beans with the lid and it has lines that measure for you. Of course your mileage may vary on what those lines mean to you, but you get the gist.

It's a little loud while grinding which is to be expected.

After brewing my first pot of coffee, I could see what people were saying about the grind evenness of blade grinders, or lack thereof. Looking at the the used grinds, larger bean chunks, half-ground, were clearly visible. They were hidden amongst the grinds before, but brewing compacted the finer grinds and brought these larger chunks to the surface.

I studied the grinding action a few more times over the next few days to see why it wasn't grinding everything. It seems the blade action doesn't disperse the grounds well enough while grinding and it grinds much of the same grinds over and over. (Can I say the word 'grind' one more time?) This was my solution: I shake the grinder up and down to get the grinds to turn over better while it is grinding.

The result is a MUCH more even grind. I'm not 100% sure it actually changed the way my freshly brewed coffee tastes, but I like to think so. Don't overgrind your coffee because you actually burn the grinds by doing so, changing the roast of your coffee.

Also, you shouldn't leave your coffee on the burner for more than 15 minutes. You change the taste of the coffee when you do that, which ruins the point of grinding your own coffee. Make sure to use filtered water, blah, blah, blah.

One more thing. This is what I take my coffee to work in:
Yes, a Stanley Vacuum Bottle. Mine is 1.1 quart. This thing is shaped and built like a 105mm tank shell. Literally. The bottom looks like a center-fire bullet casing, and the chrome lid looks like a bullet slug. Yes, it's dorky, but it keeps my coffee hot late into the afternoon.

The stopper is a really cool, simple design. You just unscrew it partially and there is a groove on either side of the threads that allows you to pour out your liquid without unscrewing the stopper all the way. This keeps all the hot air already in the bottle from escaping and being replaced by cold air. This in turn prevents your hot coffee from having to reheat the air inside the bottle and losing precious temperature. Obviously, new air still gets into the bottle, but this is minimized by the design itself.

The inside is supposedly glass, but I haven't confirmed that. The lining is reflective. The bottle is called a 'vacuum bottle' because between the lining and exterior casing, the space is vacuum sealed. The prevents heat exchange by reducing the number of molecules that would act as energy transports into or out of the bottle. Neat concept that isn't unique to this brand.

Cleaning it is kind of a pain. You are supposed to use pipe-cleaners and hot water. According to the directions, you aren't supposed to put it in the dishwasher.

Anyway, there you have it. My coffee setup.