Choosing a coffee grinder for your daily habit can be, well… even more difficult than choosing a coffee maker!
There are many different kinds of coffee grinders and for many different budgets.
The thing is, though, it would be pretty difficult to say what’s the best coffee grinder… it can really depend on what a person’s looking for and what the needs are.
But what I want is to help you choose the best coffee grinder for YOU! For your needs and your budget.
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There’s burr grinders, blade grinders, automatic grinders, manual hand-held grinders, and more!
In this article we’ll navigate which kind would be the best choice for you.
So I want to be upfront from the start and say that I don’t think I could say that there’s one single, best coffee grinder.
But, I’d say there are top choices for the different types of them.
And we’ll look at those.
Burr Is Better
But before we look at the different grinders, there’s something to know about them in general.
The two different types of coffee grinders are burr grinders and blade grinders.
The difference is in what they use to grind the coffee beans.
A blade grinder uses a spinning blade to grind the beans, almost like it’s chopping them.
A burr grinder uses two revolving burrs and the coffee is ground in between the burrs.
The coffee beans are crushed in between a moving grinder wheel and a non-moving surface, both of which are burrs.
If you’ve never seen one or don’t know what they look like, here’s a picture of a few different types.
The reason why a burr grinder is better is because it gives you a better, more even grind for your coffee.
Blade grinders get the job done, to be sure, but they aren’t quite as accurate in making a nice even grind. If you were to try the two side by side, you’ll notice that there will be more smaller or larger grinds from the blade grinder, but the burr grinder will have more consistency in the size of the coffee grinds.
Now, I’m not saying never ever get a blade grinder.
But I am saying that if you want the best, most consistent grind that will maybe yield better coffee, you should consider having a burr grinder.
The reason why an inconsistent grind will probably not be as good is because having different coarseness will cause some of the coffee to be under-extracted and some to be over-extracted.
But blade grinders are wonderfully inexpensive, and if your budget calls for that, you can most certainly get one.
And I’ll put a link for one in this article!
So let’s get into the list of the best coffee makers.
Best Overall Coffee Grinder
Baratza Encore Electric Burr Grinder
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Baratza is a world glass brand that makes coffee grinders which are favored by baristas and professionals.
With its quality performance and solid build, this is Baratza’s entry level electric grinder.
But even so, it’s a benchmark for quality, precision and just an overall fine machine.
Most professionals in the world of coffee will recommend this very machine, especially if it’s for home brewing.
Baratza has other higher-end, more expensive models, but this is a superb coffee grinder for home use that will get the job done for any home brewing needs.
It’s extremely well built, and designed to be repaired rather than thrown away if something should go wrong with it or break. The company has very good support, which is one of the most important things for a company regardless of what their product is.
The Encore electric coffee grinder comes with a convenient, front-mounted pulse button, and a simple ON/OFF switch which makes it simple to grind fresh coffee.
There are an impressive 40 different grind settings on the Encore!
It’s engineered with 40mm commercial-grade conical burrs that grind with the perfect precision to help you explore the wide range of brew methods.
It can, of course, grind coffee for everything from espresso, Aeropress, Chemex, Hario V60, any other pour over, French Press, and automatic drip or single serve brewers.
It’s a bit loud, but it’s so intuitive, user-friendly and performs wonderfully.
This machine is worth every penny you spend on it, and it lasts.
Best Lower Priced Coffee Grinder
Krups Precision Grinder
If you’re looking for an electric coffee grinder that’s lower priced than, for example, the Baratza Encore just above this one, then this Krups grinder is a wonderful option.
Not everyone has the budget to spend well over $100 for a coffee grinder.
This is a pretty simple machine but has all the essentials to get you all set for your morning (or afternoon, or evening…) brew.
It has 12 settings for the grind size and a “cup selector” dial, which will help grind the exact amount of coffee you need for the number of cups of coffee you want to make.
The Krups Precision Grinder features an 8 ounce hopper (the top container that stores the whole beans before they’re ground), and a removable grounds container that has the capacity to hold enough grounds for 30-32 cups of coffee.
This is a very nice machine that has everything you need for making great coffee.
Best Hand-Held Coffee Grinder
Manual Stainless Steel Grinder
And now, looking at the other end of the spectrum from their automatic, electric friends, we have the hand-held, manual coffee grinder.
There are some big differences between this one and its electric, automatic, counterpart.
The main differences are that it’s much, much quieter than electric grinder. Almost silent.
It’s not silent, take note.
But in comparison to the noisy, electric ones, we could almost say it’s silent.
Another big difference is that it takes a lot more time and effort to use this hand-held grinder.
This is because you have to crank the burrs by hand to grind the coffee… which takes much longer than any electric grinder.
It’s not really a strain or too much of a workout to use it, but you do have to crank it for a bit to pop out those little pieces of black gold.
You know what they say, hard work pays off 🙂
It’s actually a nice morning ritual to grind the coffee beans by hand. But I digress…
This manual coffee grinder is best for making either shots of espresso or for making smaller amounts of coffee, about 1 to 4 cups. Although you can absolutely make more, it just takes that much more time, which many of us may not have in the morning…
Because of this it’s also great for pour over like Chemex, Hario V60, and any other pour over brewer.
It has about 20 different grind settings which is certainly enough for any brewing method you’ll use.
This is a very affordable option for a nice, hand mill coffee grinder in my own web store, Coffee Cheers Merch!
I bought the same grinder by one of the leading brands in these manual grinders, Javapresse, and it’s twice as expensive as the one I sell, and the company seems (in my opinion) to be charlatans.
But anyway, this manual coffee grinder may not be for everyone, but if you like putting effort into your craft of coffee brewing and want to save a lot of money, this is a great option.
Best Blade Grinder
Hamilton Beach Blade Grinder
To be sure, this is the only blade grinder in this article.
All the other ones are burr grinders, as they give a better and more consistent grind.
I recently wrote an article about Hamilton Beach coffee makers.
They’ve been around for a long time and offer a wide range of coffee brewers for most every want or need. And their machines are very nice.
They offer a wide variety of other products, too.
And this coffee grinder is the most “classic” blade grinder I can think of. I’ve seen it in many homes, and I’ve used one many times myself.
It’s the lowest priced coffee grinder on this list.
So if you’re looking for something that works, quick, very easy and will hardly make a dent in your wallet, this is a very good option for you.
It’s pretty noisy, but it grinds your coffee quite quickly, and it’s ultra simple to use. And in terms of blade grinders, this is just an all around great pick.
But, just remember that this is, well… a blade grinder.
The two main cons about blade grinders, and thus this one, are that…
For one, it’s difficult to grind your coffee to the right fineness/coarseness.
There are no settings. That means that however long you push the button and grind the beans for is how fine they will be.
You have to eye it.
And it’s practically impossible to grind it fine enough for espresso, by the way. I’ve tried many times and I haven’t been able to.
It can only grind them so fine. So it would only be good for anything from French press to pour over, and maybe AeroPress, in terms of the fineness.
The second con about it is that, as we’ve already talked about, blade grinders tend to make an inconsistent grind. Which leads to some grinds being over-extracted, and some being under-extracted.
But on the other hand – and this is me speaking as a trained barista and self-proclaimed coffee enthusiast – this is extremely hard to notice when you taste the coffee.
So honestly, in my opinion, while it’s nice to have your coffee properly ground with a consistent grind, I’m not sure it makes all that much of a difference in the end… the taste, aka the most important part.
The bigger problem is that it’s hard to grind it to the right fineness/coarseness.
Best Looking Coffee Grinder
Fellow Ode Brew Grinder
This coffee grinder is just good looking.
But, that’s not the only awesome thing about it.
The fact that it looks so sleek and can beautifully compliment any kitchen is just a big plus.
And if style is what you’re after, you should definitely take a look at this one.
The Fellow Ode combines fast, consistent, and typically commercial-grade flat burr technology with a quiet mechanism, a small footprint, and the thoughtful design details that Fellow is known for.
One of the big perks about this grinder is that it’s very quiet, which is of course nice if you want a more peaceful coffee making experience.
Some of the other, amazing features about it are that the dial for the grind size is very intuitive and has 31 grind settings, the cup that the grinds fall into is magnetic and beautifully locks into place, and this machine has a button that shakes out any excess coffee chaff.
That’s something I personally have never even heard of before.
With a one year warranty, an ultra sleek look, exclusive features, and a quiet functionality… in my opinion, this is maybe the most desirable grinder on this list.
Wrapping It Up
Well, it seems like it would be impossible to say what the best coffee grinder is.
Although, just as a side note, this coffee grinder is quite possibly the best one out there.
We could probably say that.
But anyway, I’m a pretty opinionated person who does like to choose favorites a lot of the time.
I do have my favorite coffee maker, after all.
But with so many different kinds of coffee grinders that honestly all yield the same exact thing – ground coffee beans – the waters get a little muddy when it comes to which one does that job best.
It’s more of a style, look, ease of use and price differentiation than anything else.
When it comes to the taste of your coffee and overall goodness of your cup of Joe, what really makes the difference are the coffee beans you choose, making sure you keep it fresh, the brewing method that you use, and using proper technique and measurement.
That’s not at all to say that a coffee grinder is important… of course they’re important!
Just important in a different way.
We all need a way to grind our coffee.
And this article is, again, to help you choose the best coffee grinder for your wants, needs, and budget.
All of them that I’ve mentioned in this article are awesome coffee grinders and you can’t go wrong with any of them. And in all honesty there are so many more good ones that aren’t on this list.
But with all that being said, here’s to you choosing the best grinder for YOU, and I hope if you end up going with one of the ones from here that you enjoy it and get good use from it!
Coffee cheers, and have an awesome day!
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