The honest answer

If you can afford to spend more on the grinder than the espresso machine, do that. A cheap grinder with a great machine will always lose to a great grinder with a cheap machine. We've tested both combinations on the bar.

Three we recommend

Under £200 — Eureka Mignon Specialita. Stepless, quiet, holds calibration through a busy week. The dial is fiddly but you'll touch it twice and then leave it alone for months.

£200–£500 — DF64 Gen 2. Single-dose, low retention, 64mm flat burrs. The cheapest grinder we trust to give us repeatable shots. Comes with a slightly questionable funnel; replace it.

£500+ — Niche Zero. The one we use at home. Conical burrs, near-zero retention, ergonomic enough to leave on the counter without flinching every time you look at it.

Things to ignore

Burr coating type, RPM, motor wattage, "AI grind suggestions". Marketing. The variables that matter are consistency (how tight is the particle distribution?) and retention (how much old coffee gets stuck inside between doses?).

What we use on the bar

Mahlkönig E80 Supreme for espresso, EK43 for filter. Combined retail price exceeds our entire cafe fit-out from year one. They're worth it for a 200-cups-a-day operation; they would be ridiculous in a kitchen.