All coffee will go stale. While ground coffee is convenient, its most likely stale before it finds its way to the shelf. Coffee grinders range from moderately affordable prices to the ridiculously expensive. Finding the best coffee grinder, even for the aficionado like ourselves, can be difficult with so many options available. Even the best coffee grinder consumer reports can be misleading.

Which leaves many coffee lovers asking why is finding the best budget coffee grinder so important?

Choose The Best Affordable Manual Coffee Grinder

Coffee is very similar to food. While any type can get the job done, there’s certain types that taste amazing when prepared properly. This is where the grinder comes in to play. By waiting to grind the bean until the last minute, you’ve brought forth flavors that would get lost if pre-ground and packaged ahead of time.

The bottom line is that coffee beans don’t brew themselves. By using a coffee grinder you’re bringing the best quality out of every bean you purchase. Owning a grinder also allows you to have versatility in enjoying different styles while using the same beans. For instance, you might want to use a drip coffee maker one morning and a French press for after dinner.

In an effort to make purchasing a coffee grinder simple, we’ve gone through the painstaking efforts of drinking and grinding massive amounts of coffee. Not that any of us were complaining. From blade styles to the big debate of whether electric or manual is number one, here is the Best coffee grinder 2017 guide for every type of coffee drinker.

There are two major types of coffee grinders. An electric and a manual. Each type uses either a blade or burr mechanism to grind the beans.

A manual coffee grinder is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of relying on a motor, the beans are ground by the power of your muscles. These are great to take on-the-go, economical, smaller than electric grinders, and produce consistent results. The best manual coffee grinder will most often have a burr mechanism, not a blade. While manual coffee grinders have less parts that can wear out or break, they’re not designed for grinding large amounts of beans at one time. But if you don’t mind putting in the effort, the rewards of using the best manual coffee grinder can be extremely beneficial and economical on your wallet.

Read The Art of Hand Grinding Coffee

These types of grinders as fast and convenient. Simply add your beans into a top container, push a button, and watch the magic take place in less than a minute. Electric grinders are also powerful. Using a complex motor system, these bad-boys can be fine-tuned to produce the exact style grind you’re looking for. While they can produce more grounds per volume than a manual, the best burr coffee grinder contains more components that might wear and tear. Replacing parts on them is often not cheap, especially when you consider the amount of money it costs to purchase one.

Of all the coffee grinders, an electric blade grinder is the most affordable and offers a wide variety of products. Designed with a propeller like blade, the results however are inconsistent. Speed of the blade produces heat through friction, which causes oxidation. Also, it’s difficult to get a uniform grind. Blade grinders are fine for novices, but they won’t achieve high quality results often associated with the best burr coffee grinder.

The best burr coffee grinder can be manual or electric, grinding the beans through serrated gear-like discs called burrs. The discs rotate against each other as the bean passes through and is crushed. This technique produces a consistent grind with every use. A quality coffee maker with an attached grinder will most often have a burr grinding mechanism.

These styles of grinders are often the best coffee grinder for espresso and Turkish coffee. A dosing grinder has a container with pie cut sections. The ground coffee beans pass through the grinding burrs and into a chute which drops it into the separate pie sections. Each section holds around six to seven grams which is equivalent to one shot. The sections rotate, allowing only one pie section to disperse the grinds at a time.

The electric vs manual coffee grinder debate amongst coffee aficionados is like the argument of vinyl vs digital for the die-hard music fan. You might ask yourself then — does it matter which one I purchase? Both have their pros and cons, and each one produces a consistent high-quality grind. In determining which one would fit your needs the best, ask yourself these three questions:

Asking yourself these questions will help to determine which coffee grinder is better for your personal tastes. If answering these questions is too difficult, purchasing a manual and an electric grinder is not as absurd as it sounds. I’m not going to lie to you, we’ve got a nice collection going of both styles.

The differences in results between a flat and conical burr are subtle. Both grinds appear to be the same, but when examined at a microscopic level the conical has two particle sizes. The flat however, produces even particle grounds.

Conical burrs require less energy, which means less heat. They are also the preferred burr if you’re looking to have the best manual coffee grinder for French press. Flat burrs work well with longer shot espresso pulls.

Comparing these two burrs is like comparing a mustang to a lotus. Steel burrs work better with course grinds and are on the rugged side. They are the best budget coffee grinder on the market, but can dull over time.

Ceramic burrs last much longer than steel and are suited better for finer grinds. They have a longer life than steel if taken care of properly as they are much more fragile.

Depending on what type of coffee you prefer, the grind will vary. The best coffee grinder will allow you to produce various types of grinds through a settings feature. This is important, especially if you enjoy multiple types of coffee.

A coarse grind will look similar to large grains of salt. These grinds are best used when brewing with a French press, cold brews, plunger pot, and percolators. The best commercial coffee grinder should produce a large amount that is of a consistent grind.

Medium grind can range from medium coarse to medium fine. This grind is for drip coffee makers with flat bottom filters, pour-over, and vacuum pots.

A fine grind does not have visible individual grains. Its smooth, but not quite powdery in texture. Use a fine grind for drip coffee makers with a cone shaped filter, moka pots, and for espresso. The best manual coffee grinder for French press will produce a fine grind that is unbeatable amongst its competitors.

The Turkish grind is the finest possible type of grind you can create, much like flour or powder. This super fine grind should only be used with Turkish coffee pots. Having the best burr coffee grinder will ensure that the beans are ground fine enough to make a high quality cup that blows the competition away.

Here is how to make Turkish Coffee​.

You can use single cup coffee maker for automatic make your coffee within a minute or make coffee without coffee maker. 

Keeping your coffee grinder clean is essential regarding taste and quality. Grounds tend to get stuck in little nooks and crannies, especially fine grinds. The consequences of not performing maintenance on your grinder will cause broken parts, poor taste, oil buildup, and even a dead motor.

When purchasing the best coffee grinder available the last thing you want is to invest in replacement parts, or a new grinder. Taking care of a burr grinder on a weekly basis is simple, involving only a soft brush and a cloth.

Each month a thorough and deep clean of your grinder should be done to keep it running at its peak performance. This can be accomplished by using food safe cleaning pellets (not rice) which remove oil buildup and bean dust. Another option is to break the grinder components down and clean them individually. Using a brush, wooden toothpick, and a damp cloth will restore your grinder to an out-of-the box condition (be sure to grind small amount before using again).

baratza.com

hamiltonbeach.com

hario.co.uk

capresso.com