Recently, in an article written for Serious Eats, Nick Cho of Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters suggested that the first thing to do to make better-tasting coffee at home is throw your blade grinder away.

Nick’s article prompted plenty of online discussion among coffee consumers. Many of the comments were from average folks claiming they are not trained coffee people, and as such, they could not taste the difference between coffee made with, or without a blade grinder.

On Friday August 15th, our own Ryan Willbur, along with Bronwen Serna and David Yake of Tony’s Coffee, will be facilitating a taste test at the La Marzocco lab in Seattle. Folks will blindly taste coffees ground with a professional-grade burr grinder; a blade grinder; a coffee grinder that cost less than $30; a commercial grinder; and coffees ground using the new “perfect coffee” non-oxidized grinder. The samples will be labeled A through E and each person will get to taste each coffee, then vote for the one they think tastes the best. Anyone is welcome to stop by, taste some coffee, and vote.

The goal is to help facilitate a discussion among people who enjoy coffee, but who may not have professionally-trained palates. Join us for a conversation about your experience tasting each of these coffees, and whether you experience different flavors when different grinders are used.

Please join us at La Marzocco USA anytime between 9:00am and 11:30am to taste coffee with us, cast your vote, and discuss.