Grinders. Hmm.

Brain fart while traffic jamming.

A lot has been said about the importance of grinders. But I do have my doubts about the relative importance of grinders in the espresso stack. (I borrow the term "stack," from software engineering, where it refers to the supply-chain of machines which are critical to the delivery of a particular result.)

Why do grinders matter? Consistency of grindsize distribution and temperature for sure; consistency of dosage, probably not so much, except when orders are piling up - if you find it hard to modify a dose, you simply need a better scale or a smaller spoon. (Some of my colleagues and I weigh every dose - we find it not too hard to get within 0.1g of a target dose with a teaspoon.)

This is my first job calibrating espresso, but those with prior experience tell me that it is hard to know where variance creeps into a stack - I believe them. I am just wondering if a Robur is worth the retention waste, for a very small shop. A scale and an espresso machine for consistent water temperature, dose mass, and brew pressure readings are probably of greater importance until business is very heavy. Over to the definition of "heavy." :)