Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff
It's about coffee, food, life and what other randomness I feel that'll be helpful to the common coffee drinker or to anyone who likes to be entertained by a stranger, briefly.
Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff
Why You Need Multiple Coffee Grinders
I've been experimenting with my ZP6 grinder, also known as the Clarity King, for the past few weeks, and I've come to a fascinating realization that I need to share with you. In this episode, I challenge the common "this grinder versus that grinder" mentality that dominates coffee conversations. I explain why I've been rotating between my ZP6, K6, K2, and Fellow Ode grinders, and what this experience has taught me about how different grinders reveal different aspects of the same coffee.
I walk you through my conclusion that it's not about finding the one perfect grinder, but rather understanding that different grinders are tools for different applications. Some grinders, like the ZP6, separate and layer flavors in ways that can make even boring coffees interesting, while others provide a more uniform extraction that might be perfect for certain roasts. I also address the frustration many of us feel when we can't taste the tasting notes on a coffee bag, and why having multiple grinders might be the key to unlocking what roasters are actually experiencing. By listening to this episode, you'll learn why investing in two or three different grinders—rather than searching for the single "best" one—might transform your entire coffee experience and help you appreciate the complexity that's already in your cup.
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[00:00:00]
I've been playing around with my grinder for the past couple of weeks. The grinder in question is the ZP6 grinder, the Clarity King as they say. And I have some interesting things to talk about this grinder.
[00:00:21]
This isn't a first impression or a couple weeks review that's coming in the next couple days. But I have only been using this grinder when I'm drinking my coffee right now.
[00:00:40]
I've been using all the other grinders that I have. I have the K6 right here, King grinder. I have the K2. I have the Fellow Ode with standard burrs. I don't know why I keep saying that, but that's the truth.
[00:00:59]
And I've come to a conclusion here. Just hear me out. Maybe it's not so much of a disc grinder versus this grinder situation, right? Probably not. I don't think it is.
[00:01:16]
It's more so like this grinder and this grinder together. Let me explain. Okay, let's get these out the way.
[00:01:28]
What I mean by that is that yes, our grinders are expensive. Yes, they are. Already the key to unlocking anything and everything that we're trying to do with coffee. Yes, it is. So let's think about this in a way that where it's going to make our lives a lot better by opening up our pocketbooks a little bit. Okay. So yeah, one grinder that's like a clarity king that does something different to the coffee. Okay. You have another grinder that just does something uniform. You can see the difference in the coffee. You can taste different aspects of the coffee.
[00:02:18]
But it's not as complex, not as much separation of the layers of flavor as a ZP6 grinder, right, which is perfectly fine.
[00:02:36]
All coffee is going to be different, meaning that you may prefer a coffee on this particular grinder versus the ZP6. It's not so much that one is better than the other. For that moment in time, for whatever reason with your palate, that's what you prefer.
[00:03:01]
So it's one of those things or logics that I'm thinking about right now that it's more about what's the best tool for the application. Because if we start or keep putting this versus that, then we'll probably lose a lot of cool things in our particular coffee that we're drinking.
[00:03:28]
We'll realize that I don't want something that separates everything out of the coffee all the time. Or probably I want something that just puts that dark roast in its place to where it's jammy, it's delicious, it does something to my mouth that any other grinder can't really do, right? That's more so the situation I'm thinking about because as I was drinking my coffee for instance the past couple of days...
[00:04:03]
I'm sure you're probably wondering why I have a Fellow Ode if I'm starting to go down this rabbit hole of hand grinders. I like the Fellow Ode. Again, that's a conversation for another day, but I'm also a coffee roaster. So it's very important that I do use a grinder that's more similar to what other people may be using when they're drinking my particular coffee. It gives me a better understanding of those things, those flavors, what they're going to sense and taste because of the situation.
[00:04:44]
Same thing with this particular grinder. And I'm happy to say that what this grinder has helped me realize and understand is that coffee, even a boring coffee, is more interesting.
[00:05:00]
I'm happy to say that this coffee has different layers to it. And with time, I can start to understand that even more so I can get more different tasty notes. And I think that brings us right back into the situation that we're in right now.
[00:05:23]
Not too long ago, I was talking about tasting notes. I was talking about how do you feel duped when a coffee roaster puts vanilla and fruits onto that bag of coffee and when you're actually drinking your cup of coffee, you're not getting any of that. Right? And that's perfectly fine.
[00:06:16]
It is a situation that represents that coffee, probably to the best that they can actually describe what they're tasting.
[00:06:31]
So when we put it in context and put it in that type of realm, I think we're going to be in a better place. Meaning that it's not so much of a blame game to that particular roaster. It's something to where you are getting that understanding from what that person is tasting.
[00:06:57]
And let's not forget that roasters roast coffee each and every day. They cup, they taste coffees every day. So the amount of frequency that they go through, even though your frequency may be high, it's on a totally different spectrum here.
[00:07:17]
So what am I saying here? I'm not saying buy 15 grinders. I'm not saying that. I'm saying buy two, three grinders. Hopefully they're different than each other. So then you can get different tastes and variations in a coffee.
[00:07:36]
And then when you do that and test the coffee and see what it's all about, then you can start to see which one that you gravitate more towards for whatever reasons. It doesn't matter. And the beauty of this is that you're in your own house. You're thinking this through and you're in a place to where you can be objective about the things that you're trying to find in all of this.
[00:08:04]
Because yeah, as much as I like this grinder, the ZP6 grinder right here, it doesn't work for everything.
[00:08:18]
Sometimes the layering or the exaggeration if you want to call it that of what you're tasting, it doesn't make the coffee interesting all the time. Sometimes it just makes it just coffee. But there's other times when you're drinking it, you're like, wow. I can taste that red fruit. Is that strawberry or is that cherry? What am I really tasting here? Different degrees of layering that this particular grinder does.
[00:08:56]
And then the other grinder can be delicious too. And again, it depends on the coffee, it depends on the situation.
[00:09:29]
So before we leave off today, I do want to express to you is that gear doesn't matter, but the right gear does. And again, this is not a versus that, right? It's really not.
[00:09:50]
It's using these tools that highlights the best in the coffee as much as you can. And that's all you're really trying to do because don't get me wrong, it's really cool that whenever I'm drinking coffee now and when I'm drinking it from this grinder right here and this grinder right here, I can see how somebody can lose faith in coffee.
[00:10:20]
It's not the coffee's fault. The coffee is just there. You're not realizing that you probably like the difference in what that coffee does because of the different complexities that you're actually tasting in a cup of coffee now.
[00:10:50]
Being in a place to where it's more detrimental to the way that you look at things and coffee and drinking and brewing because the truth is, is that that coffee is probably really spectacular. It's probably actually special. It's probably actually something that we look forward to drinking every day.
[00:11:13]
But if we don't push ourselves and see the coffee for what it is, then we're in a place to where it's like wow, I don't know really what I'm missing.
[00:11:27]
So this is just somebody online on the radio just talking about grinders and coffee and I think the beauty of all of this is that I don't care about if you get one versus the other or get both of them. Because at the end of the day it's your money, it's your palate, it's your life. Different grinders of course, close to $400.
[00:12:29]
Probably you like a, what do they call that other one, Timemore? The hot one that everybody's talking about? $78 whatever? Probably you want that.
[00:12:44]
Probably you don't care and just want a big grinder that lives in your garage that once you drink one particular coffee, you're done with it because those tasty notes are not there. Or you just don't like that coffee. Whatever it may be, think wisely, take your time.
[00:13:05]
And if possible, if the pocketbook allows you to get two of these, one of each, and just explore and love your coffee the way it is.
[00:13:23]
The way that it expresses itself to you, the way that it opens up to you. The things that we're doing with these grinders, the water, and our imagination is quite magical. I know I say that a lot, but when you have the tools to help you throughout your whole coffee journey, it just elevates everything that you do.
[00:13:51]
You're not so much worried about did I get the right grinder for this job? You already have it. And you have the other one too. And once that starts to open up the coffee for you, those are some of the things that's going to help you more than anything that you do.
[00:14:11]
So this is Okay at Everyday Beans, signing off. Let me know what you think. It's just coffee, right? But grinders play a really big part of this. So talk to you later. Bye.