For those of you out there who may think that little old guy on gas-lit street corners of old who played the organ while his adorable capuchin monkey looked adoringly on had anything to do with the coffee grinder, you need another cup of coffee right now. The coffee grinder has its own specific history and it has nothing to do with organs or monkeys or even street corners for that matter.
The first people to grind coffee (probably the Arabs) smashed the beans with flat rocks and possibly hammers. Later, mortar and pestle alternated between spices medicines and coffee grinds possibly resulting in really eclectic and unique café (Ugh!). Obviously, the end result was not a uniform grind size, but the process did relieve a lot of tension between early coffee drinkers and their close relatives. Even before the mechanized age, grinding coffee in this manner worked relatively well and went unchallenged for centuries.
The size of the roasted grind was unimportant until the last century when different types of coffee brewers came on the scene. There were no standards for coffee shops either (grinds just ran amuck in city streets) until drip, percolator and espresso coffee makers were developed. The old way of grinding the beans by hand worked well enough, but proved to be both labor-intensive and time-consuming. With the advent of the electrical age, the coffee grinder went the way of all flesh and matter before it and it became independent of the spice world (the mother country to boot).
Electric grinders, in their never ending quest to re-invent themselves, got smaller and better with each passing grind. They also became cheaper. Today people often grind their own beans upon purchase as it is known that coffee lasts longer in its whole bean state than when ground. Two important things to remember about grinding your own coffee are: grind for the specific type of brewer you own and remember that once the coffee bean is ground, the taste changes rather quickly.
Do YOU take your coffee grinder for granted? Yes? Well, you should be ashamed of yourself. Give it a pat on its metal lid the next time you seek to smash and grind those innocent beans for your daily brew. Otherwise, it might be time to part and such action is considered ample grounds for divorce.
Happy grinds.
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“The Measuring Cup: A Formidable Past”