Grinder care in five minutes a month

Your grinder is the most important machine you own, and the easiest to neglect.

Monthly: empty the hopper, run a handful of grinder-cleaning pellets (or plain rice in a pinch) through the burrs, then purge with 20 g of cheap beans. The pellets absorb the rancid oils that make yesterday’s coffee taste like last month’s.

Quarterly: pop the burrs out — most hand grinders open with one screw — and brush them dry. No water, ever. Water is how burrs rust and how warranties die.

The test: grind 10 g and smell it. Fresh grounds should smell like the bag. If you get a stale, oily undertone, the grinder is seasoning your coffee with its own history.

Five minutes a month. Your future espresso will taste like it came from a machine twice the price.