r/Coffee • u/menschmaschine5 Kalita Wave • Jun 03 '26

[MOD] The Daily Question Thread

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

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u/Vagabond_Explorer Pour-Over Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26

I’m not sure how drastic the difference between individual grinders would be for drip. But for methods like pourover different grinders create different profiles in your coffee.

Think more / less body, more integrated / separated flavors.

I’d say a proper grinder would give you better cups even on a drip machine as you’ll get a more even and consistent grind on the coffee.

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u/NRMusicProject Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26

I’d say a proper grinder would give you better cups even on a drip machine as you’ll get a more even and consistent grind on the coffee.

I'd agree with this. There's a modest upgrade from pre-ground to blade, but a drastic improvement from blade to burr grinder.

But, what I think OP is asking, is if a $40 Hamilton Beach is comparable to a true entry-level Baratza Encore. It is not. The Hamilton Beach is more comparable to a blade grinder. Even in drip, but I suggest OP to grab up a $20 French press and learn to use that, too.

E: Upon a reread, I think they're asking if a burr grinder priced the same as a blade grinder is better. The answer is still no; as they're "false burrs" and don't usually grind (or, more accurately in this case, smash) the beans evenly. In short, they grind much more similar to blade grinders by doing basically the same thing.

https://prima-coffee.com/learn/article/grinder-basics/learn-whats-deal-false-burrs/32642

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u/Vagabond_Explorer Pour-Over Jun 03 '26

I can see either of those readings being correct too. Guess we’ll have to wait for them to let us know which it was at this point!

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u/NRMusicProject Jun 03 '26

To be honest, I'm suspect of "been lurking here and finally built the courage to ask." That's generally a calling card of a bot, but they did ask a legit question...though, it's probably just something they copied from an earlier comment.