What often gets missed, both in the filter and espresso world, is that the grinder is generally speaking, much more important than the machine you are using to brew/produce. A good grinder will take you a lot further than a high end machine.
When you hit a certain point, there is undoubtedly a point of diminishing returns. For some that is earlier than others (much like types of alcohol
).
I have gone extremely extremely down the rabbit hole, both in filter and espresso, so happy to answer any questions!
Often, the issue with high end grinders, is, generally speaking, they are built for either pour-over/french/etc or espresso. *Very* few grinders can do both well, and even these, they are better on one than the other.