Wow, I know I am a loser and all for becoming a coffee fiend, but I was pretty lost up until last night. You see, I was using ESE (Espresso coffee pods) in our Krups XP4050 espresso machine. For a while I thought that the machine was really at fault for making espresso that definitely leaned towards the bitter side. I kept telling myself that at some point it was going to make sense to pony up for one of those high-dollar (read $1,500) espresso machines, but until then this was fine.

Well, I had read a couple of things and decided that it was time to see if grinding my own beans, ready to order, each morning was a better solution. Supposedly, the pods I have been using are typically on the bitter side. Mind you, I have been trying many different kinds and was buying what were supposed to be the top of the line pods. I ordered up a Capresso 560 burr grinder from Amazon based on the user reviews and some other research. Arriving home last night, Danielle informs me that the “Amazon package” had arrived. I put my stuff down tore into it and told her we needed to get some coffee beans. After a trip to the local Starbucks we cleaned everything off, read the instructions and had at it.

I set the Capresso at the lower end of the fine setting, loaded up some beans, and turned on the timer. Boom, we had some finely ground coffee that smelled awesome. The Krups espresso machine had been warming up while all of this was going on and I loaded up a single shot and let ‘er rip. I immediately took a sip when it was done and was pretty amazed to find that the coffee didn’t have that burnt rubber bitter aftertaste I was used to from this thing. Hmm. I then steamed up some non-fat milk in the new Krups 20oz milk frothing pitcher (very nice, but too big for single servings of froth) and poured some froth and steamed milk into the remaining coffee. Danielle took a sip and said, “it tastes like Italy.” Oh, snap? I took a sip and she was dead on. The rookie noob had finally figured out he was making crap every day.

Thoughts on the Capresso 560

According to the directions, you are supposed to clean this grinder up after every use. Well, I don’t see that being reality. Grinding your own coffee each morning for one or two double espresso shots is a lot of mess….but, still worth it. Opening up the grinding chamber you find a lot of left over grinds that did not make their way down to the receptacle. I am going to have to work on tilting the grinder forward to help them fall down into the slot. Capresso gives you a little brush to clean off the grinding wheels and clean out the chamber, but this is pretty much a PITA.

Other than the clean up routine, this thing is solid. It is also pretty big. It is about half the size of our espresso machine, so plan accordingly.

There is a lot more cleanup involved all over the kitchen when grinding your own coffee each day. The pods are pretty nice that way. You open up the vacum sealed bag, throw the pod in and you are done. No real cleaning to speak of. Grinding is a whole different experience. Coffee grounds can be found just about anywhere after you are done. But, when you try the coffee, you really won’t mind. It really makes that much of a difference.

Frothing Pitcher

I also picked up a Krups 20oz frothing pitcher and a thermometer. I will get to them later, but stainless steel is the only way to go. The Krups pitcher is very nice and the handle has had a lot of thought put into it. It keeps your hand away from the pitcher and is wide and sturdy. This might be the best thing I have seen Krups make.

tags: burr grinder, capresso, espresso, frothing pitcher, krups