The perfect shot.......

Originally Posted by floydpink

The grinder is the heart of the whole operation and must not be underestimated.

Quote for truth.

When my faithful "Barista" gave up the ghost after five years of heavy use at my hands, I purchased a QuickMill Silvano. Very nice Italina made machine...copper boiler, heat exchanger for steam, PID to control the boiler, E61 group head...WAAAAY too much money, but a stellar little home machine.

And I got frustrated. Ohhhhhh so frustrated. My cruddy little burr grinder wasn't able to get the grind size right to consistently get good extraction on a non-pressurized portafilter.

So then I went out and spent half the price of the machine on a Baratza Vario grinder...and suddenly all was right in the world. By just twiddling the micro adjust lever on the machine, I can dial the grind so that my double pull extracts in exactly 23 seconds. Or 25 seconds. Or 29 seconds. You can match the length of time that you pull to the flavour profile of the bean wonderfully.

So yes...the grinder is important.