Geoff Duncan

You know, back at the beginning of May, all I wanted was a coffee grinder. Maybe one that held a few more beans than the one I'd been using for ten years, but just a coffee grinder. Really, the old one was just fine, but the switch was getting finicky so converting some roasted beans into a serviceable powder involved a great deal of snarky tapping and pounding and shifting and twisting. And the process had to be repeated many times because, like I said, it didn't hold many beans and I tend to grind a bunch of coffee at once.

I looked at places like Target and kitchen stores. Grinders, sure, but they're in the $30-$50 range if they aren't flimsy plastic things made to last half a semester in some kid's dorm room. And the little switches seemed just as fragile as the one I'd be replacing. And they didn't hold any more beans. Froo-froo kitchen stores, same thing, except they have mills going up to $80.

So, a random kitchen store in a mall; reasonable, large-sized grinder for $22 (including a 10 percent discount easily obtained by my sassy neighbor - thanks!). And it's cute. It holds more beans. It's quieter. It seems to do a good job.

And two-and-half-weeks (two uses) later, it just stops working altogether. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Inaminate matter.

So. Back to the random kitchen store (I had somehow managed to retain the reciept) where they cheerfully give me a new grinder and $5 or so (since the only replacement available is black plastic rather than chrome - oh well). Points to the store for good sportsmanship. And this grinder seems to work... except it's a lot louder, and a lot hotter than the chrome version. I don't think it's going to hold up.

So. Today I bought an actual coffee mill (for $16, rather than $50+) on a deal at your Friendly Local Giant Membership Warehouse Store where you can buy Very Large Quantities of Darn Near Anything while pushing unsteerable orange flatbed carts.

Maybe I should give in and buy a whole $3,000 automatic coffee machine thing with an 6-cylinder engine, air conditioning, sun roof, CD player, cruise control, and a cup holder, rather than being continually nickle-and-dimed on this stuff...