Mikhail Idov was born in Riga and has lived in New York since 1998, where he works as a regular columnist for New York Magazine. Idov’s journalism in English and Russian was published by The New Republic, Vogue, Slate, Kommersant, Bolshoy Gorod, Snob and other publications. “The Coffee Grinder” is his first novel. The couple, Mark and Nina, young New York intellectuals looking for a real deal, open a cute cafe in the spirit of Viennese traditions for an intelligent, discerning public, thus hoping to combine a successful business with an interesting social life. However, the enterprise is steadily going down, taking Mark and Nina's dreams with it and subjecting their marriage to a severe test.