Which Coffee Grinder Should I Buy?
If you read our recent Blog post featuring our own, unofficial Best 5 Barista’s , you’d quickly notice that each and every featured Barista’s home-user advice was to use fresh coffee beans and grind them at home before use. Now, in my humble opinion, if someone who has dedicated their entire life to coffee gives me advice on coffee – I am going to take it! Why did they all give this recommendation? Well, in it’s simplest form -freshly ground coffee beans offer a taste quality surpassing your wildest dreams. There is literally no comparison between freshly ground beans and any pother form of coffee- it’s as easy as that. Now, if you find yourself wanting to buy and grind your own coffee beans – you may now be considering what type of coffee grinder to buy. We discuss your best and worst options.
Coffee Grinder Type 1: Burr Grinder
A very popular choice amongst coffee professionals – and probably the most popular type of coffee grinder overall. A burr grinder uses two roughened plates, placed directly underneath one another, to grind the coffee beans. The plates can be moved farther away to allow for a larger grind – perfect for your filter coffee blends – or closer together to grind the coffee even smaller – best suited to your Espresso drinks. This type of grinder produces the most consistently sized coffee grind types and can range in price from R 1000.00 upwards. A bit costly, yes, but for what is ensures and produces – well worth the cost. There are also different types of burr grinders – both steel and ceramic – as explained in this foodall.com article. A ceramic grinder will allow for less heat to be emitted during the grinding process – and is of course a higher quality material. The different materials will affect the pricing too, so weight up your priorities.
Coffee Grinder Type 2: Blade Grinder
Why doe this rank second? Simply put: Quality. Also, thekitchn.com offers some useful side-by-side comparisons between the two. The blade grinder sells for a considerably lower cost. Why? The blades that are used to grind the coffee, firstly, are already of inferior quality to the materials used in the Burr grinder. Also, the blades may do a good job of quickly grinding your coffee beans, but the consistency in sizing of these beans leaves a lot to be desired. Now, knowing that, we must also consider that coffee brews optimally (in any type of machine) when the coffee grounds are of a consistent size. However, if you are happy to spend less on the equipment in order to be able to have freshly ground coffee – this is in no way a bad decision!
How Do I Decide Which Coffee Grinder to Buy?
As with any decision – deciding what fits your budget, lifestyle and preferences will always be the starting point.
If price is of no concern, or if you would settle for nothing less than top-notch, then the burr grinder is a great choice. You will need to decide between the steel and ceramic grinder – a greta tool to help you decide can be found here.
If you would just like to witness the difference a freshly-ground pot of coffee can offer, maybe buy a blade grinder first – to “test the waters”. You can always move onto a better grinder at a later stage.
Either way, excellent choice! Freshly ground coffee is going to change your Java journey forever – I promise!
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