Ceramic filter holder, gold filter and brown paper into a thermos. Freshest beans I can find, Mr. Coffee blade grinder. As a pro, convince me I'd tell a difference with a burr grinder. I've avoided them 'cuz the ones I' ve seen are hell to clean.
I've got a Hario Mini Mill - They're 30 bucks. I definitely find a difference, but I also generally do french press - there's very little between me and the beans, so it's one of the few things I could change.
What a former roommate and I used to do was hook up his Hario to a cordless drill. Instant power grinder, AND it's a multitasker! but I definitely understand where you're coming from.
And I approve of him - though I wish he'd do more actual cookery, and less cutthroat kitchen. And also less of his variety show tour. Really I just want more Good Eats.
Should it be? You watch Alton Brown make something, and you are told in no uncertain terms that there is ONE RIGHT WAY TO DO IT. You're given an elaborate background as to the science and meaning behind this, so it must be true. Then you are shown the ONE RIGHT WAY TO MAKE IT involving the ONLY GOOD TOOLS YOU SHOULD USE because everything else is a "unitasker." Unitasker, by the way, is Brown-speak for "tool I don't like." If you actually watch him cook, you'll see he's surrounded by "unitaskers" that are somehow blessed, while at least once per episode some kitchen gadget or other is held up to shame and ridicule. Meanwhile you are given something that involves seven steps all of equal (high) importance and given nothing in the way of a timeframe. So when you set out to make Alton Brown's magic munchies, you find that you've spent three hours making a pie crust that tastes remarkably like wallpaper paste. I made Alton Brown's turkey two years in a row. The third year, I recognized that the likelihood of my needing to spend $40 on vegetable broth for brining was slim to none, seeing as brine is mostly salt. Guess what? Turkey's just as good if you just use salt. As a ward against evil spirits I throw a bunch of herbs in there but nobody has ever commented. It doesn't even change the flavor of the gravy. Now, when we see Alton Brown cooking something we look up the reviews online. They're universally terrible. Of course, those are all the reviews not on Food Network, so how much credibility do they have? Again, I'm a fan of Alton Brown. I think his was the best show on Food Network. But it definitely panders to a crowd that likes to watch cooking, as opposed to a crowd that likes to cook. You know the Thomas Keller roast chicken? The one that /r/food worships like it's the fuckin' 10 commandments? The one where he waves a sprig of rosemary over the chicken, but out of view of its neck hole so that he doesn't upset the chicken's dear, departed spirit? Go check out Julia Child's roast chicken and compare and contrast. Better yet, make 'em both. The point is not that Thomas Keller sucks - the point is that the modern food fetishism - led by Alton Brown - is bad for cooking. Great for TV, sure... but bad for people who actually want to make food.
My favorite cooking resource is cooks magazine. If you never picked one up it's not glossy and mostly just recipes. They pick a dish, make it a gazillion times outlining what they tried and what worked well and what didn't and leave you with their favorite. There are a few gadget reviews and ingredient rundown but mostly just practical food that isn't impossible to make.
I need to rewatch his one on shucking clams - working in a kitchen has made me want to improve my knife skills, and shucking is one of those "high likelihood of laceration" areas. I also need to try his winter vegetable soup that is actually 100% vegetarian. I mostly just think it's an impressive feat - It's surprising the amount of veg soups that have a meat broth base. basically, I just need to rewatch the entirety of good eats.
You shouldn't need to clean every grind if you have a decent grinder. Grind is the next step in improving taste and with a consistant grind you could ditch the paper filter if your gold is fine enough. My stainless could go a hair slower but It's leaving almost no visible solids even when I'm not bothering to head to the shop to Burr grind.
My problem is that ground coffee goes rancid and stale and I can taste that rancid staleness that comes out of grinders that have been sitting. I suspect it's less of a problem in a high-capacity environment but at my house, I'm the only one who drinks coffee and I usually only grind about 4tbsp per day.
I also do not grind much coffee per day. I use an inexpensive (sub $100) Capresso burr grinder. It is consistent and has steel burrs. And you simply lift the top burr off the top as seen in the picture below, and you can take a stiff brush on which your maybe cut the bristles down to the inside for fairly effortless cleaning. The chute the grounds slide down isn't terribly vertical though, so you will leave coffee behind unless you tap it on the counter. That's the main flaw with this one imo. But I've not found it bad at all as far as cleaning goes. Also, I wouldn't try an espresso grind in it. This is probably where it would show it's price range the most I'm guessing.
The weight of good beans at retail keeps going down and the price stays the same here. First it was a thee quarters of a pound than some shops went metric and got down to around a half pound, the other day I saw a third pound of decent but not amazing coffee for fourteen a pound. If these shifty trends continue you will be able to get through a bag in a week.