[CamB]

Pretty much what MFAFF said (I'm only an enthusiastic drinker, not much of a maker).

The actual blend is personal taste. The guy from Starbucks came to New Zealand and said something condescending about how the local coffee roasters weren't bad but their roasts were a little "green", which is amusing because Starbucks has a reputation for being heavily over-roasted.

I like quite a full bodied and relatively dark roast with not much milk if it is a milk based drink (eg, a double shot, plus about the same amount of milk). This sort of coffee tastes great black too. Most of New Zealand likes lighter, medium bodied roasts with a lot more milk (Allpress coffee is much loved but kinda tastes like dishwater to me).

So it comes down to taste (assuming it is made well).

That $400 grinder will last 50 years with periodic burr replacements, and can grind 7kg a week(!). A $100 plastic burr grinder isn't really worth the cost of servicing, so you would buy a new one. Up front cost for quality or disposable and cheap? The performance difference is apparently fairly minimal for the average home user.

I would never buy a fully automated machine as, if they break, it will cost a bomb to fix. And they will break.