Basically, the “blade grinder” is just a subversively named food processor; some blades whirl around and chop up the coffee beans, with no regard for the size of the pieces they’re producing. If you have used a food processor, you know how this works: One has to watch closely in an attempt to get the results “just right,” but even then some of the pieces are going to be larger than the others.

Well, a coffee ground’s thickness determines how much water (and how much time) is needed to produce an appropriate flavor from that ground; with an inconsistent grind, there is simply no way to get consistent results.

To some — maybe most — this really doesn’t matter. An unrefined palette may not notice the differences from pot to pot, although I would venture that what’s happening is the drinker is rarely getting a really great cup of coffee, and on those few occasions when she does, she cannot quite place why it is better.

Contrast this with someone who is uncompromisingly using quality coffee, with a consistent grind, and who from pot to pot is tasting the exact same thing. It’s the difference between eating soup made by a recipe nazi as opposed to someone like myself, who never measures anything. (Yes, I realize it’s weird that I’m so particular about the coffee I serve, yet my soups from week to week can taste decidedly different — yet still pretty amazing in their own right!)

Another commenter, Yura, called and purchased a vacpot from me just hours ago. He is one of the few who is truly in search of something better. He, too, is using a “blade grinder,” though not for long; I suggested he hold off on that purchase and put it on his Christmas list, so as not to get too spoiled too soon. A side benefit is that he’ll be able to gauge the effects of each improvement: a better brewing system will kick it up a notch, and once he has a burr grinder I suspect he’ll notice a second improvement in taste.

This, of course, is the natural path of any sort of connoisseur: Single steps along a journey — with no “arrival,” but a continuing pursuit of quality. Yura asked me if he’ll ever have “the perfect cup,” to which I replied (in less thought-out phraseology) that he’ll probably have many perfect cups, getting more perfect as time goes on. This is how it has been for me, and continues to be. In matters of art, spirit, and extreme flavor, there is no end point… only ascent after ascent to higher planes — and better cups.