These are coffee grinders from the 50s (photo by yellow_speedster):

This is a coffee grinder available in 2009:

I went with a Faema grinder here because I think the ones above are Faema too.

So – in 50+ years what has changed?  The cheeky answer would likely be that coffee grinders have gotten less beautiful, but that is besides the point.  There has been virtually no evolution.  A bean hopper above horiztonal burrs, feeding the ground coffee sideways into a dosing chamber.

Why haven’t coffee grinders evolved?  Because they don’t need to.  For a long time there was very little innovation in espresso machines too¹. I’ve probably mentioned before (ad nauseum) how Italy is pretty happy with espresso, and for a long time had little drive to improve it – I say this as a good thing in many ways, espresso in Italy is a lot better (on average) than anywhere else.

Just about everywhere espresso spread, Italian technique spread too: 6-7g doses, delivered from a dosing chamber with a goodly amount of coffee in it, ground that day.  Coffee grinders haven’t evolved because the vast, vast majority of technique hasn’t needed them too.

As well as being a moaner I hope I am a realist.  The size of the speciality coffee community, in terms of % of grinders bought annually, is very small. Just think of the ratio of good cafes to bad in your local area.  What we want would demand a healthy spend on R&D that would likely take a long time for the manufacturers to recoup due to limited sales of high end grinders.

With espresso machines I think there have been a few key differences that sped up evolution – one of which is the home user community, brought together by the internet.  There were probably more PIDs on home espresso machines globally than commercial ones for a little while – though someone from the alt.coffee days could probably give a more accurate timeline.  The R&D work, the beta-testing, to some extent was already done.  People were measuring and reporting the effects on shot temp stability and in only a very few years this technology has become a part of at least one of every manufacturers range of espresso machines.

Perhaps the home enthusiasts will create the breakthrough in grinders.  It really wouldn’t surprise me, going to be conversation already going on online.  So what do people want?  Interestingly a lot of what commercial operations want from a grinder, home baristas want from a grinder – despite the very different applications.

Grinding to order – without clumps

Grinding to order has two advantages:  firstly the coffee is fresh, secondly there is minimal waste.  To achieve this we are mostly using standard doser or doserless grinders with digital timers – either factory fitted, or hacked in afterwards.  No one really wants to use a dosing chamber – there is something quite silly about the extraordinary number of dosing pulls that a busy day requires, but we don’t want clumps.  Most grind on demand grinders produce clumps of grounds that don’t really help the even extraction of coffee.  The Mazzer Robur is better than most, but still not perfect.  The doser at least breaks up these clumps.

Annoyingly most of these clumps are created because even doserless grinders are based on doser grinders, and therefore have horizontal burrsets.  To get the coffee from the burrs to the portafilter it passes through a little tunnel and in that journey gets somewhat compacted causing clumps.  Not all grinders have horizontal burrs – a number of shop grinders have vertical burrsets.  The Simonelli Mythos grinder was interesting to me because it has angled burrs, fed by an auger.  However, the coffee still travels through a little tunnel on the way to the portafilter so clumping remained an issue.

The only espresso grinder that I’ve seen that doesn’t do the little tunnel thing is the Disco Volante grinder, made by La Marzocco some years ago, that has a dosing chamber all around the burrset.  A wonderful idea (photo by Mark Prince):

Cool running

A big problem with grinders in high volume locations was the build up of heat.  Adding fans to the casings of grinders has been going on a while, though in my opinion it doesn’t really address the source of heat.  Most fans remove heat generated by the motors, and no doubt the do generate some heat.  The most damaging heat is in the burr chamber.  Espresso brewed from grounds that were heated dramatically as they were ground doesn’t taste as good as coffee that was ground at a lower temperature.²

The biggest problem, when it comes to heat build up in the burrs, is coffee itself – specifically ground coffee.  Ground coffee does a superb job of insulating the burrs, meaning they get hotter quicker.  In an ideal world the burrs would grind until completely clear of coffee on each usage, which would significantly decrease the rate at which the grinder gets hot.  This is a problem – because that would mean measurement of the coffee before it is ground, something a timer could not do.  This is one problem that I hope someone comes up with an elegant solution for.  We could actively cool the burr chamber, but it would be tricky to cool the burrs themselves.

Just about every advancement in coffee grinders has been about trying to improve that basic model of grinder that we saw from the 50s. What if we just started again, what if we wrote a simple list of things we want a machine to be able to do and created a machine designed to only do that.  On my list would be the following:

- To finely grind a controlled portion of coffee quickly and repeatedly

- To retain no ground coffee

- To give accurate control over the size of the portion and the size of the grinds

- To prevent build up of heat around the coffee

I like a simple list, it feels more achievable.  Do we need it to do any more than that?  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Should any manufacturers be reading this – I will happily donate a good number of hours of my time to work in any way helpful if you want to build something like this.  Just drop me a line.

1. beyond inventive ways to stop customers cheating on coffee agreements with free-loan machines!
2. This is an observational opinion – I would welcome argument, clarification and more discussion

Back in 2006 I published a recommended reading list. Since that time my collection of books has (worryingly) increased so I thought I should probably update it. I could easily write a list of coffee books that one should avoid (having learned the hard way) but I suspect that would get me into rather a lot of trouble, so I shall leave that for now. I’ve broken it down into two parts and then down into sections, and have indicated which are nice to have, and which I would consider are essential on that subject.

I will try and keep this one updated – if you think I’ve missed something obvious then let me know.  I haven’t recommended books I don’t own, so this means some books may be missing that you would expect to see here.

This is quite a large post so if you want to skip down just click on the relevant section:

Part 1:

Espresso Preparation
Coffee History
Coffee Science
Coffee Origins

Part 2:

Coffee Growing
Coffee Roasting
Coffee Equipment
Hard to find/Rare Books

Espresso Preparaion

The Professional Barista’s Handbook – Scott Rao [Essential]

It often feels like no one is writing books on coffee any more, but this was a breath of fresh air. Detailed information on technique and theory, some new ideas well presented and written with an open mind.

Espresso Coffee: Professional Techniques – David Schomer [Essential]

I don’t think I know many coffee professionals who haven’t read this book. Whether you agree with some of his ideas, or his strict opinions on espresso preparation, you have to acknowledge the influence of both Schomer and his book. I read it twice through in one sitting when it first arrived, and it felt good to finally have a book that went some way to quenching my thirst for knowledge.

Technique may have moved on, but I think this will be a good and useful read for many more years.

Espresso Italiano Speciailist – Luigi Odello [Nice to have]

We often, as an industry, romanticise Italian Espresso while trying to do something totally different with our espresso set up. This is a great book for understanding where Italian Espresso is now, to get an idea of how it is seen and defined in Italy. There may be lots to disagree with, but there is also a lot of what we do put into better context.

Coffee History

Black Gold – Anthony Wild [Essential]

I will admit that this isn’t the liveliest book on coffee, and its approach to coffee trade and Fair Trade in particular are somewhat frustrating. To some extent it is a product of the time it was written in.

What makes this book valuable is the quality of research that went into it. This wasn’t a case of the author just spouting and regurgitating coffee’s history. Myths are debunked, accurate dates and events are given. This was particularly useful for me when trying to understand the real timeline for coffee’s spread across the globe – as both drink and crop.

Heavy reading but worth it.

Uncommon Grounds – Mark Pendergrast [Essential]

Very much a US-centric history of coffee, but nonethless still very interesting. Valuable again due to the quality of its research and the fact that the author came to clearly know and love his subject.

The Coffee-House: A Cultural History – Markman Ellis [Nice to have]

There are a number of good books on the coffeehouses of old – I also particularly like Anthony Clayton’s london centric one, as well as Ulla Heise’s more general book on European ones. This is a great overview, even if there is a little bit more detail in other texts. The coffee house society is something I find particularly fascinating, perhaps because I’d like to see a lot of that culture make a return!

Also recommended:

The Devil’s Cup – Stewart Lee Allen

Coffee – H.E. Jacob

Coffee Science

Espresso Coffee: The Science of Quality – Viani & Illy [Essential]

No great surprise here, but then no one has published anything that is both as broad and concise. A great wealth of information on coffee and espresso, from agronomy to roasting to tasting. And this is just the stuff the chose to publish – have no doubts that there is plenty they aren’t releasing. An amazing company, no matter what you think of the coffee. (Assuming you’ve had it fresh!)

Coffee: Recent Developments – Clarke & Vitzthum [Essential]

Following on from the Illy book, this is a pretty hardcore text but I consult it often when looking for specific research. It covers everything from instant coffee to espresso (though is woefully light on other brewing methods). It briefly appeared on Scribd but I think it has disappeared since.

Coffee Flavor Chemistry – Ivon Flament [Nice to have]

The title is at once completely accurate and slightly misleading. This book is essentially a reference text cataloguing the individual aromatic compounds found in both green and roasted coffee. It should be deeply boring, and I suppose it is. I am amazed, however, at both the range of compounds that smell similar as well as the baffling complexity of coffee. Sometimes the extra detail on how they identified which compound, or in which coffee it is often found is very interesting. If pictures of aldehydes sound like a terrible thing then this book is best avoided.

Coffee Volumes 1-6 – R.J.Clarke [Nice to have]

I spent a very long time looking for the complete collection of these 6 books, and if you see anywhere for under £300 then I would advise buying it for no other reason than it would be a great investment. (I am grateful to a blog reader who kindly sent me a link to a scandalously cheap collection). A huge collection of information on just about every aspect of coffee (the volumes are titled, in order: Chemistry, Technology, Physiology, Agronomy, Related Beverages & Commercial and Technological Aspects)

It is perhaps a little outdated, but I still find a great deal of valuable information inside them and I’ve barely dipped a toe.

Coffee Origins

Cafe De El Salvador, Land of Coffee [Essential]

I had to debate whether to put this one in under essential, but as it is my favourite book on origin then I think I have to. I am not sure of the best place to buy this – if anyone has a link please let me know.

I may be a sucker for El Salvador but I think this is one of the most beautifully photographed books on coffee growing, as well as the most detailed. It covers each of El Salvadors growing regions well – in a way that makes me wish I had a book like this for every producing country.

The History of Coffee in Guatemala – Regina Wagner [Essential]

Much like the previous book I wish there were one of these for every producing country.  The level of detail in the history of Guatemalan coffee is superb.

Brown Gold – Andrew Uribe C. [Nice to have]

This probably belongs in the rare and hard to find section, but I do think it is a great book. Written over 50 years ago it offers amazing insight into the world of coffee at that time. The photos are pretty amazing too, but you can ignore the recipes thrown in at the end – I assume they were to make the book more saleable at the time.

Look for Part 2 before new year.  Comments, recommendations or thoughts welcome!

These days there is a huge variation in the taste of macchiatos.  Whilst they mostly consist of about an ounce of espresso (be it a short double or a single) the amount of milk going into them varies wildly from the old fashioned teaspoon of milk with a dot of foam to signal its addition to equal quantities of coffee and milk, or in some cases about two parts milk to one part coffee.  Whilst the variation in ml of milk is quite small the ratios, hence the taste and texture of the drink vary wildly.

For me there was a pivotal moment in my approach to this drink where I went from the old fashioned way to the 1:1 ratio way:  I got good enough at latte art to pour a half decent rosetta in an espresso cup.  I would quietly hope that people who order macchiatos from me would let me decide how to make so I could show off my new found skills (no point lying about this).  But most of the time they didn’t because I worked out quite early that macchiato drinkers are fussy.  (Well, you are!)  Let me turn this around into a few questions:

When was the last time you asked for a macchiato (from somewhere you expected it to taste good from) and were served the full espresso cup version without latte art?  Do we make the full cup because it tastes good or looks good?  Why are we adding the milk – at what point does the milk go from softening the espresso to smothering it?

I’ve had lots of old fashioned ones, and plenty with nice art but nothing really in between.  This isn’t to say that one tastes better than the other.  I think a teaspoon of milk in an espresso can soften the experience of a straight shot without masking the espresso too much.  It seems to be the drink of people who drink a lot of coffee, who can’t face another straight shot but would like to see how good the coffee is.   For me the other drink with more milk is more like a cortado though I’ve struggled to really pin down what a cortado is, perhaps because I’ve struggled to find particularly tasty coffee when I have been down in Spain and I have yet to make it to Portugal.  Oddly the cortado was a drink I saw quite a lot in Norway though it was amusingly explained as the manly way to have a cappuccino, and it was a bit milkier than I would have expected though was served in a short glass which I thought was appropriate.

I am not claiming to have any answers on this.  I’ll be honest – I prefer drinking the old fashioned ones, but prefer pouring the full cup ones, but I think in any cafe environment it is always worthwhile getting as much input from the customer as possible (they usually know exactly what they want….)

Whilst wandering in London the other day it crossed my mind that I had never been to St. Michael’s Alley where London had its first coffee house. In fact it is likely that it was England’s as well as Oxford’s claim of 1650 is a little dubious – not much more than an account of someone consuming coffee privately rewritten years later with different claims.

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to see, if anything at all. The alley really is tiny and on the wall of a pub I found this sign. Not quite a blue plaque but better than nothing!

Elegant enough I suppose, something that cannot be said about this rather example of how not to use coffee in your logo (assuming you want it to be even vaguely tasteful):

On a completely different note Anette added another book to the coffee library. If the roasting chapter in the Illy book is a little light on the chemistry for you then this may well be a book for you. Written by Gerhard Jansen just before he left Probat. Not a long book, just lots of condensed information. I have no idea if it is for sale, as it was a gift.

So now all I have to do is pack a few things (I plan on shopping aplenty in the US, as my pound is strong against your puny dollar!), find enough reading material for some long flights and drives and sort out a way to charge my camera battery over there (why can’t we all just agree 240V is better and make everyone use that?) and I am ready.

Looking forward to those of you we will see at this:

I’ll also try and take down more details about the images. They should load as a gallery you can scroll through (unless you are reading this on an RSS feedreader).

Enjoy!