Krups Burr Grinder GVX 2 Review
Krups Burr Grinder GVX 2
The Good
- Key Step In Making Better Tasting Coffee
- Reasonably Quiet
- Reasonably Priced
The Bad
- Slightly Messy
- Difficult To Clean Completely
I’m not throwing out my old blade grinder yet, but I think I could get used to having the Krups Burr Grinder in the Daily Shot Of Coffee kitchen.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to notice a difference in the quality of the grind between my old blade grinder and the Krups Burr Grinder, but there was a noticeable difference. That improvement was a lot more than just eliminating the half ground beans. It was obvious that the grounds were a lot more evenly ground. It didn’t stop at looks either, I could taste the difference. There were more of the flavors in coffee ground in this grinder.
One of my least favorite things about my blade grinder is the noise. I swear it’s loud enough to wake up my neighbors. The Krups Burr Grinder was significantly quieter. There was still some noise, but nothing I would complain about.
The suggested retail price of the Krups Burr Grinder is $49.95. My blade grinder was less than twenty bucks, so it’s more expensive, but I could taste difference. There are better quality burr grinders out there, but they’re also more expensive. The quality of this one seems just about right for the price.
The Krups Burr Grinder isn’t perfect, but the negatives are minor.
The first problem is that it does leave a bit of a mess on the counter. However, it’s nothing that can’t be cleaned up with a swipe of a paper towel.
The other minor flaw is that it’s kind of a pain to clean completely. The grinder produces a lot of static electricity and the grinds end up sticky to the coffee container. It’s difficult to get all of the grounds out and into the coffee maker or french press. Then it requires hot water to rinse out the remaining grinds. Plus, the grinder itself is slightly annoying to clean out. I know it sounds like a lot, but really it’s just minor problems.
I did read some complaints of this grinder failing after a short, however it worked fine for me. Of course, I only tested it in the Daily Shot Of Coffee kitchen for a week, so I’ll be keeping an eye on it long term. It does come with a one year warranty.
Overall, I would have no problem recommending this Krups Burr Grinder to someone that’s looking to step up from a blade coffee grinder or has no grinder at all. It’s not perfect, but it is affordable and gets the job done.
Thanks again 1800Parts.Com for supplying the grinder for review. Don’t forget, you can win a Krups Burr Grinder, it’s part of the Starter Kit Giveaway. Head over to this post to enter the contest.
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Category: Coffee Equipment Reviews, Coffee Grinders
About the Author (Author Profile)
Mike Crimmins is the highly caffeinated blogger behind Daily Shot Of Coffee. Besides drinking way too much coffee, he's obsessed with the Yankees and getting dirty on his mountain bike.Subscribe
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Mike – you said the coffee tasted better.
as in how much better?
was it twice as good?
i have a blade unit and it seems to work pretty well.
the blade grinder product tastes as good as or better
than a commercial burr grind same bean roast
‘pre-ground’ coffee i buy in bags.
i actually think i get more flavor by grinding the
beans as fine as possible. people say or write
that this burns the beans. well, mine don’t smoke
or get that hot. the one benefit i see from burr grind
is that the cup brews faster in my drip through unit.
the water flow is improved by the uniform particle size.
Read Rory’s comment for the details, but let me be frank…you will never…ever…find a blade grinder that will give you a consistent grind size. Each coffee brewing method requires a specific sized coffee grind. If you grind too fine for that method, your coffee will be bitter and muddy…too coarse and the brew will be left thin and lacking in flavor. When you use a blade grinder you get both, some particles that are over extracted (too fine) making it bitter, while other parts will be under extracted (too coarse). Once you use a fresh, whole bean, quality coffee in a decent burr grinder, you will taste the difference! After all of that, if you are happy with what you already do, then who am I to say that it’s wrong? Heck, I don’t have to drink it!
Howard,
Let me shed a little light on this. As Mike mentioned the grind is uniform with the burr. The burr grinders crush the beans between a moving grinding wheel and a non-moving surface. Since you can adjust the positioning of the wheels (to get a finer or coarser grind) it will allow for a more consistent grind giving you a much fuller and optimal brew from each and every single bean, extracting as many oils and flavors as possible. The blade grinder uses a metal blade to chop up the beans rather than grinding them. The blade will cut up the beans and you control the fineness depending on how long you let the grinder run for. Unfortunately, the end result will be uneven grinds (in size and shape) leading to inconsistent brew quality. Another flaw of the blade grinder is because you must leave the machine on longer to get a finer grind, there can be a significant amount of heat created by the blades which could lead to the coffee having a burnt taste due to the oils being extracted earlier than necessary by the blades rather than water.
Thanks for taking the time to give a better answer than I ever could Rory!
Good review Mike! This is obviously an entry level burr grinder and even many expensive models have some issues with static electricity. I HATE that though! This unit looks like it has quite a bit of cling. I used to have a Cuisinart of the same price point, and I found that although it was MUCH more consistent than my blade grinder had been, it still left quite a bit of dust. It looks like from that last shot that this may be the case here as well. The point of the burr grinder is to get consistent grind size with a negligible amount of fines or dust. My Cuisinart surely failed at that, but moving up to my all purpose Breville BCG850XL proved to be a huge improvement! It wasn’t very good for espresso, but it has done an admirable job everyday for 18 months for everything but the spro! It is also less than $100. If someone is looking to improve the quality of their coffee, the first thing I tell them to do is to get a decent burr grinder and a $30 french press. Then all they need is a quality coffee and they have all they need to get the entire coffee experience!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Nate! I agree it’s not the best burr grinder because of the static cling, but overall it’s a whole lot better than my old grinder even if it isn’t perfect.
from what you guys have posted here,
my approach (totally non professional i admit)
would be for the burrs to be set to make the
finest coffee grounds and let the hot water
pull out the most of whatever is in the beans.
i suspect that extraction is a function of the
surface area of the grounds.
['...extracting as many oils and flavors as possible...]
That is exactly opposite of my recommendation. French press brewing requires COARSE grounds. If you use fine ground coffee, it will over extract the coffee, resulting in an extremely bitter brew and tons o’ sludge to boot. The coarseness of the grind size is determined by the brewing method and is directly proportional to the amount of time the coffee is in direct contact with the water. French press requires a steep time of about 4 minutes (coarse) while espresso is about 26 seconds (very fine).
I agree with Nate. Using fine grounds in a french press will clock the machine and give you a terrible, muddy type of finish. The coarser the better when it comes to french press. If using a machine like the GVX or any other machine like it, always be sure to leave the knob set so that you get the coarsest grounds, this will optimize the amount of oils and flavor you get from each particular grind as well as not clog the mesh filter. Great break down Nate.