Grinding Your Way To Better Coffee

I’ve been drinking coffee for a big chunk of my life, but using a coffee grinder changed it from a morning ritual to an pleasurable experience. If you want great tasting coffee, sooner or later you’re going to have to buy a coffee grinder too.

Ground coffee is great because it makes brewing coffee very easy, but the problem is that it starts to go stale in minutes. Who knows how long it was sitting on the shelf before you bought it, so the taste results can be hit and miss, with more emphasis on miss.

There’s two basic types – Blade and Burr grinders. I have a blade grinder, it gets the job, done but it’s not perfect either.

Blade Grinders

Mr. Coffee Electric Coffee Grinder with Chamber Maid Cleaning System

$19.95 from Amazon

They use a chopping method to grind the beans into grounds. They’re inexpensive, but their can have low quality results. The level of consistency can vary and for the best taste results, you want consistent grinds. There’s also the possibility of getting a burnt taste because of friction caused by the blades and beans.

However, they are easy to clean and maintain, so they’re good for basic use and still an improvement over buying regular ground coffee at the grocery store.

Burr Grinders

There’s two different kinds of Burr Grinders.

Flat Wheel

KitchenAid Pro Line Burr Grinder KPCG100

$299.99 $177.50 from Amazon

This is considered to be one of the best methods of grinding coffee. The beans are crushed between one semi-concave wheel and one that is stationary. The discs spin slower than with a blade grinder, so the grounds are more even and there’s no burnt taste.

Of course, there are some drawbacks. They can be a pain to clean and can get very messy. They can also be very noisy. Some models also have problems with beans getting jammed between the hopper and the grinding area below, requiring extra effort to unjam them.

Conical

Capresso Infinity Conical Burr Grinders

$120.00 $89.00 from Amazon

Conical grinders are the best of the best, however they are (usually) the most expensive. If you have the budget for one and love great tasting coffee, they’re a very good investment.

They use a conical (cone) shaped grinding device which results in a more consistent grind. They also spin slower than either of the two methods. The result is that there’s less problems with friction and static electricity, which causes grinds to get stuck. Therefore, they’re a lot easier to clean. Also, they don’t usually have problems with clogging. Maybe the best benefit is that they’re usually the quietest of all of the methods.

More Coffee Grinders

Tags: Blade Grinders, Burr Grinders, Coffee Grinders

Category: Coffee Grinders