Does a $1,400 Coffee Grinder Make Better Coffee?

"Despite the fact that I do it every day, I don't really like grinding coffee. It's loud, it's messy, and even though it's absolutely just as important as whatever brewing ritual I choose to engage in on any particular morning, I find the whole rigmarole a little annoying. Unfortunately for me, a well-measured, freshly ground dose of beans is the difference between something delicious and something that tastes like airplane coffee."

"The Philos is remarkably versatile, capable of grinding for every brewing method you might want to use, which is not always the case. Some higher-end home espresso grinders are calibrated specifically for espresso and produce mediocre results for pour-over or French press. The Philos has 130 settings that make six-micron adjustments, meaning the distance between the burrs moves six microns at a time. (For context, less expensive, mass-market grinders often have adjustment settings that are anywhere from two to five times as large.)"

Freshly ground, well-measured beans critically determine coffee quality, separating a delicious cup from one that tastes like airplane coffee. Single-dose grinding requires loading only the amount needed, which preserves remaining beans sealed from oxygen and staling. The Mazzer Philos is a quasi-commercial single-dose grinder offering 130 settings with six-micron incremental adjustments, enabling fine control across brewing methods from espresso to pour-over and French press. Many home grinders are optimized only for espresso and perform poorly for other methods; the Philos emphasizes versatility, precision, and shop-quality build for consistent, repeatable extraction and freshness preservation.

Read at Bon Appetit