In America, I had been grinding ($6 a pound) Dunkin Donuts Original beans in a Krups burr grinder, and brewing three to four cups of supermarket brand purified water with 4-5 tablespoon scoops of grounds in a small 4-cup Cusinart drip coffee maker. I would put one teaspoon of sugar and a small amount of Land-O-Lakes "Half and Half" to get what the Dunkin shops call "Dark" coffee. This gave a very smooth, thick feeling coffee that was not strong, not "woody", not creamy, and not sweet. (I'm quite sure many would call it "not coffee".)
I brought several bags of these beans and a bag or two ground to Israel with a Melitta #4 drip cone and 8 cup thermal carafe, and began searching for an inexpensive 220 volt burr grinder.
Israeli home coffee is most often either "Nes" (Nescafe or Elite) instant, or in a growing trend from a Nespresso machine. There are a few folks that brew (strong) coffee in an ArcoSteel or Bialetti moka pot with Elite "Turki", and apparently some folks are using "universal" ground Italian coffee, as Mauro, LavAzza, and Illy are available in all the supermarkets (at $15-$25 a pound!).
While there are many American brands here in Israel, I have not found Land-O-Lakes and their Half-and-Half, nor any similar tasting coffee creamer.
The day after arriving to Israel, I began brewing from my pre-ground Dunkin coffee each morning with three and a half tablespoon size scoops of coffee to "three cups" (18 oz - 530 ml) of Kiryat Yam tap water boiled in the kum-kum and slowly poured over the grounds. After adding about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and a tiny bit of 3% milk I had a quite thin feeling imitation of our morning American coffee.
My search for an inexpensive burr grinder led me to discover that coffee specialty stores in Israel do not usually stock "coffee grinders", only espresso grinders which start around $225. Blade type coffee grinders are available in the supermarkets. Kedmagift.co.il does list both a Severin and a Gaggia burr grinder on their website at around 490 shekels ($137). None of their local shops had them in stock, and I didn't really want to pay over $75-$80. Coffee-express.co.il does not show any of these less inexpensive grinders.
Turning online to the "Amazon of Israel", zap.co.il I found a Sol-Exclusive burr grinder to be available, which had no reviews and no representation on the manufacturer's website.
Taking the risk I ordered online (fullfilled by olsale.co.il). Zap.co.il listed it available from several sources at "267-315 shekels" ($74-$88) and after signing up at the only name I recognized, olsale, I understood that I would be making an offer/bid, so the displayed "price" was simply advertising. I bid the 199 minimum, then with the aid of Google Translate suggesting I raise my bid, a bid of 260 (299 total with shipping) was finally accepted. Ten days later my doorbell rang at 8:30 AM and I had my "inexpensive" burr grinder.
The grinder has two safety switches, and I discovered one of them was so determined to keep me safe that the grinder would not function. With a little re-engineering I was able to start testing with beans.
The finest setting is no where near as fine as my Krups grinder was able to spit out, and the improved consistency that burr grinders have over blade grinders is also missing. The grinder is imported from Germany and does evidence some "German Design", but the quality control engineer must have had the day off when they assembled my grinder.
Even though I washed the grinder thoroughly, and ran a "coat the surfaces" grind, I tossed all the test grinds to be sure I wouldn't be tasting plasticizers or soap in the coffee.
Flashback: Having run out of ground Dunkin coffee before the grinder arrived, I picked up a 250 gram brick of LavAzza Qualita Rossa universal ground for 33.55 shekels ($9.50, equivalent to $17 a pound) at the supermarket.I chose this coffee because it purports to be medium dark and claims to be good for everything from drip to moka pot to true espresso machines. It is a blend of 30% Robusta and 70% Arabica, which did not mean anything to me at the time.
My wife and I have been pleasantly surprised with this LavAzza Qualita Rossa coffee actually. Three tablespoon size scoops of the (quite fine) ground coffee to the "three cups" of tap water, boiled in the kum-kum and very slowly poured into the grounds results in a darker-than-Dunkin, more flavorful than Dunkin, while every bit as smooth as Dunkin coffee. (The water takes much longer to pass through the LavAzza grounds than through the pre-ground Dunkin coffee.)
Back to the future: Now that I have a grinder and can go back to drinking Dunkin Donuts' coffee, I decided to check the directions on the bag: 2 scoops for every 6 oz. of water. A test brew with this ratio put 6 scoops of fresh ground coffee to "three cups" of boiled water, again poured slowly over the grounds in the Melitta.
This resulted in a slightly darker, astringent coffee that is totally unpleasant.
This morning I made coffee with my traditional 3.5 scoops of freshly ground Dunkin beans to 3 cups of water. It tasted like weakly flavored water.
Our taste buds are demanding the LavAzza Qualita Rossa for tomorrow's morning coffee.
(I am also searching for a Bialetti Brikka "4-cup" special technology moka pot, so this tale is probably not complete yet.)
