Coffee grinders take your coffee beans and ground them into the fine powder, which you commonly see in the supermarket.
Below is a guide of what to look for, what to consider when buying a coffee grinder and which coffee grinders we think are the best.
What is a coffee grinder?
Commonly, coffee is bought with coffee beans already ground. A coffee grinder grinds down the coffee beans into a powder, allowing it to dissolve in water to make the perfect cup of coffee.
Put simply, all coffee grinders work the same, they just use different ways to grind the beans down.
The coffee beans go in – say if you’re using a ‘coffee mill’, you would use your hand to wind the blade around inside to chop the coffee beans – once the mechanism has ground down the coffee beans, fresh ground coffee is produced.
What should I look for in a coffee grinder?
The main factors that you want to look for is that the coffee grinder is:
- Easy to use
- Easy to clean and maintain
- Able to handle the amount of coffee you’d want to grind
Depending on how you like your coffees, you may want your coffee grinder to be able to offer you multiple ways of grinding coffee beans to present more or less intense flavors.
Ease of Use
Having an automatic coffee grinder is the best for ease of use. Simply put your coffee beans in the grinder, press a button and away it goes; freshly ground coffee at your fingertips.
Capacity
Are you making coffee in the morning for yourself or for the family? Coffee grinders come in all sorts of scales, so what capacity you’ll be searching for will depend on the amount of ground coffee you’ll use.
Speed
The higher the RPM (Revolutions Per Minute), the better ground the coffee beans will be. Some burr coffee grinders have speed ranges from 10,000 to 20,000 RPM.
Grind settings
The grind settings on a coffee machine vary; some will only have one and some will have them all. It all depends on what coffee you most enjoy.
If you enjoy a cold coffee, like an iced latte, then it will be best to be able to grind at an extra coarse ground level, whereas if you enjoy a Turkish style coffee, then it would be best to be able to extra finely grind your coffee beans.
Aesthetics
Aesthetics are quite frankly, completely up to you. The coffee grinder you choose will be going into your kitchen and therefore, may need to fit with the style and ambiance of your kitchen.
What to consider when buying a coffee grinder
The coffee grinder you choose all comes down to your personal preferences, with how much coffee you drink, who else in your house drinks coffee and what sort of coffee you would want to make.
How much coffee you are going to be grinding
The amount of people within your household that drink coffee will either increase or decrease the amount you will be grinding coffee beans.
How often you need to grind coffee beans
Is having a coffee your morning ritual? If so, then you’ll most likely be grinding a lot of coffee beans and so will want a coffee grinder that has a bigger capacity.
What kind of coffee machine you have
Do you want a black coffee? A flat white? Or even a cappuccino? Well, your favorite type of coffee may influence what coffee grinder and potential machine you want to invest in.
Types of Coffee Grinders
There are multiple types of coffee grinders which in the end all do the same job, but some will be better equipped for it than others.
Some are able to grind more coffee in one go, whilst some focus more on how they are grinding the coffee, whether that be extra fine or extra coarse.
Manual/Hand Coffee Grinders
If you are only making a couple cups of coffee at a time, then a manual grinder is perfect for you. This is because they’re small, simple, easy to use and very inexpensive.
On top of this, most manual grinders use burrs, allowing for the coffee beans to be grounded evenly, meaning that the coffee powder produced is uniform across each cup.
Electric Coffee Grinders
Electric, or automatic, coffee grinders come with the convenience of speed. Grinding much faster with a lot less effort will help you create amazing cups of coffee every time.
As the burr is in constant motion, coffee beans are ground more consistently.
Blade Grinders
Blade grinders are similar to food processors or smoothie blenders, with a propeller like blade at the bottom.
They will chop coffee beans up and grind them to powder at an alarming rate, but may also not have uniformity across the size of the individual coffee grounds.
Burr Grinders
Burr coffee grinders use different surfaces to grind down coffee beans. The first is a grinder wheel, which crushes the coffee beans between the wheel and an in-place surface.
These types of coffee grinders are mostly used in coffee shops, where the coffee ground produced is almost perfect in uniformity.
Built-in Coffee Grinders
If you’re looking for efficiency and to save space within your kitchen, then it would be best to have a built-in coffee grinder with your coffee making machine.
If you are making multiple cups of coffee in the morning, or a decaffeinated coffee before bedtime, then a built-in coffee grinder will help out a lot.
Is a flat or conical burr grinder better?
Conical burrs allow for coffee to be ground more quietly than when using flat burrs.
Flat burrs can also be more expensive and will also heat up rapidly, therefore will need good quality ventilation.
If you are making coffee in a coffee shop, then it would be best to purchase a flat burr coffee grinder as this makes better quality coffee, but if you’re making coffee at home and aren’t that fussy, then a conical burr coffee grinder is the one for you.
Top rated coffee grinders
Built in
To make those mornings more bearable, an easy-to-use coffee machine is what you want. The best way to do this is by purchasing a coffee machine with a built-in coffee grinder. Not only does this save time, but it will also save space in your kitchen. instead.
The Siemens Automatic s100 Coffee Machine produces a less bitter tasting, extra-strong coffee through the aroma double grinding and brewing process. The in-built iAroma technology allows for you to seamlessly choose which type of coffee you would like.
The Delonghi Eletta Bean to Cup Coffee Machine also has a built-in adjustable coffee bean grinder, meaning you can get just the right grind for your taste. The machine also has an inbuilt bypass for when you don’t want to use the bean grinder, for example, if you have been gifted some ground coffee or want to make a decaffeinated coffee.
Electric
The Cuisinart Burr Mill Coffee Grinder is a great choice for an easy, and affordable, electric grinder. It has 18 grind settings and a 250g capacity, meaning that you could make around 14 cups of coffee with one full chamber.
Hand
The Hario Mini Mill Plus Grinder is a simple hand grinder, small enough to be easily stored and much more affordable than electric grinders. It holds up to 24g of coffee beans, making around 2 cups of coffee a time; perfect for those who only drink a small amount.
Blade
The Krups One Touch Blade Grinder is a top seller for those looking for blade-style coffee bean grinders. It holds up to 85g of coffee beans and grinds quickly in around 15-20 seconds.