However, a Burr grinder is good investment, especially if you need the finer grinds. The cheapest one you can find will do fine, however.

The blade-grinder will beat randomly around all your beans for the entire grind-time. This will kick the crap out of the aromatic oils, and you lose some flavour. The Burr grinder "crunches" each bean once and never touches it again, leaving the oils alone.

Keep the blade grinder around though; they're still good for spices :)

A good cup of coffee should taste wonderful without anything added. Of course, I know nothing about making my own - the coffee shop around the corner makes fantastic coffee and espresso :)

EDIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_preparation#Grinding

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&client=safari&r...

Works fantastic so far. Pretty highly recommended by me.

Coffee is very much about the extraction: under-extract, and the coffee will have a sour edge; over-extract, and the extra caffeine extracted will bring bitterness to the cup. Using a blade grinder means introducing a huge range of differently-sized solids that will extract at different rates, meaning even if you hit a nice middle ground, you're introducing sour and bitter flavor components into your cup. Burr grinders provide a very even grind and minimize this.

Next time you go to a place that roasts freshly, try to take home a little bit pre-ground. It will have less flavor (due to rapid oxidization), but the flavor should be better: more balanced and consistent (as long as it was a good brew). Don't get me wrong: pull an espresso shot from just-ground coffee, and pull another one from coffee ground 15 minutes ago, and the crema deprecation is pretty amazing. Pre-grinding kills a lot of coffee's oomph. Still, blade-grinding mangles a lot of coffee's hidden potential :)

I have one of these http://www.ambexroasters.com/pages/ym5.jsp

Although it's older and not as shiny.

Wow, you weren't kidding. The brand name is "If You Care"..

Wouldn't one of those micro-mesh cones that you can use forever be more eco?

I also hope to give this low cost, hand operated vacuum sealer a try, to keep my roasted beans in a low oxygen environment:

http://www.pump-n-seal.com/

Presently, I keep them in a foil bag having a one-wave valve to vent CO2. I repeatedly fold down and then rubber band the opening to eliminate excess air. Works pretty well.

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Ep...

As for the proper temperature, as soon as bubbles start to float to the top (but way before rolling), I find it's about right.

You can buy mugs that have a french press built in - see http://www.amazon.com/Planetary-Design-Commuter-Double-Shot-...

I have a similar though cheaper version of one of these and it's pretty good.

I mean, keep in mind that the drip filter I linked is 14 grams. =D

And then you just reuse with whatever cup you are already using.