Eleven years ago, I purchased the first of many kitchen appliances, a Krups adjustable coffee grinder. I’m not counting the mini coffee machine and cheap espresso machine that graced my dorm room bedside. This was the first “real” appliance – it cost more than $20 at Walmart, and was meant to last awhile. My grinder outlasted 3 coffee machines, an espresso machine, 4 roommates, and half-a-dozen residences. It was there for me, reliably, every morning, even during those difficult decaf days.

Yet during the last month or so, it was a bit less reliable. Beans would get stuck in the hopper, refusing to drop through the burrs to become part of the morning’s infusion of caffeine. Force was required to “encourage” said reluctant beans. More force became required, applied more rapidly and often. What used to take one timer cycle now required three, with constant attention. Andrea asked more often, “What are you doing?”

It was time.

So I started looking at options. I didn’t want to spend a small fortune. I refused to believe, as one blog author claimed, that a decent grinder couldn’t be had for less than $400. Thinking about the fatal flaws of my current grinder, I started looking for one with removable burrs, so I could clean them. In fact, I wanted to be able to disassemble the new grinder as much as possible, so that accumulated bean oil and dust wouldn’t be a factor. Reviews online were impossible to find; apparently no one in the mainstream considered coffee grinders a product worth reviewing, so the only articles were at coffee enthusiast sites, where the general ethic is “How much did you spend on product X? Not enough.”

Finally, while browsing the shelves of a local home product chain, I saw a possible candidate. It had a hopper and separate grounds bin. Less than $100, in fact less than half. Glancing around to see if any blue aprons were in sight, I picked it up, and started to see how many pieces came off. Twisting the hopper around, it popped right off. Wait, what’s this! That’s the top burr, and it pops right out! Sweet!

So, welcome the new member of the morning crew. It happens to go with my coffee machine, but that’s just a coincidence. Thankfully, the designers also like strong coffee – there’s a timer switch to tell it how many cups you want to make, and after a handful of pots, it’s right on. The hopper seals decently, so I can just leave a bit of beans in there and hit the button as I’m getting things going. It only holds about 4 of my morning pots, but I don’t know that I’d want to expose more than that to the air/light.

Here’s hoping for another happy decade, or more!