Did you used to think exclusives were everything too?

My buddy swore by subnetting practice on paper until his coworker showed him the binary trick.

Man, I used to be the guy telling everyone the grinder was the answer. Spent years saying "fix your grind first" whenever someone posted about bad coffee. Then I got a decent grinder myself and learned the hard way that it mostly just makes bad beans taste more clearly bad. Sounds like your beans might be old or roasted too light, which reads as sour no matter what you do. Fresh beans from a local roaster with a roast date on the bag changed more for me than any gear ever did. What beans are you using and when were they roasted?