Do you love having a cup of coffee at least once a day, or bring a full mug with you to work? Do you buy ground coffee or prefer custom-ground coffee from beans processed in the comfort of your kitchen? Whether you need to replace your broken coffee grinder or simply want to grind coffee beans for the first time, you’re in the right place. Yeah, buying already ground coffee is convenient, but it doesn’t offer the same wonderful taste that home-ground coffee does. Plus, you can select the size of the grind to your exact preference.
For coffee aficionados, there is absolutely no comparison between the taste of a cup of java made from freshly ground beans and ones that come pre-ground in a bag. Grinding coffee beans as close to the time of brewing as possible protects them from contamination, moisture, and oxidation, not to mention preserves that wonderful coffee aroma.
When it comes to coffee grinder brands and products, there’s tons to choose from and it can get confusing. With all the amazing brands featured on our review there were still some we didn’t have room to feature. For example, Hamilton Beach. They’re a renowned brand in the kitchen products department with decades’ experience, evident in the quality of their
Hamilton Beach Fresh-Grind Coffee Grinder. It’s compact enough to fit in your hand, yet it grinds enough beans for 12 cups of coffee!
When we’re talking about great kitchen products, another brand you just can’t overlook KitchenAid. It’s right there in the name, they manufacture products that make your life in the kitchen easier and more enjoyable. That was their aim with the
KitchenAid Blade Coffee Grinder, which has a large 12-cup capacity and simple one-touch control.
Finally, some brands stand out for the longevity of their service. KRUPS is one such brand. It’s been on a journey to create the perfect coffee since 1846. Their experience is evident in the
KRUPS Electric Spice and Coffee Grinder that boasts a minimalist, compact design and powerful motor.
These are just some examples of other excellent brands and products that are on the market today, but read on to find out more consideration factors and see our top picks with five more awesome brands.
Price
When shopping for a coffee grinder, you need to work on a budget. How do you establish a working budget? If you’re shopping for a grinder, you probably already own an espresso machine or you’re likely to buy one. The cost of buying a grinder shouldn’t surpass what you’d spend on the coffee maker.
For instance, if your budget for the espresso machine is $900, establish a budget of $250 to $300 for a grinder. The price of a coffee grinder is totally dependent on the materials used to make it, the brand behind it, quality, built-in features, capacity, and size, among other important variables.
Although the market is flooded with various grinders with different price tags, ensure you pick a good quality machine to grind your coffee beans. It’s easy to be tempted to buy a cheap coffee grinder; however, it might turn out to be expensive in the long run. Invest in a good grinder that you can use for many years.
With brands such as Mr. Coffee and Hamilton Beach, you’ll find grinders priced as low as $20. On the other hand, a brand such as Mazzer has high-end grinders that retail at high costs of up to $1500. Generally, you’ll find a good grinder in the broad price range of $20 to $2,000. Simply pick the right grinder based on your budget and the features you’re likely to use when crushing your fresh beans.
Features
Coffee grinders come in different styles, designs, brands, and modes of operation. They also come with different features. As such, the quality of coffee grinders varies. Therefore, you need to pick a coffee grinder based on the coffee maker you have, hence the fineness level acceptable, and your established budget. Also choose a grinder depending on whether you intend to use it at home or commercially. Choose the right features for your grinder accordingly.
Here a few important features to look out for:
- Size of crushed coffee granules compatible with your coffee-maker
- Blade vs. burr grinders for coarse or fine coffee granules, respectively
- Low-speed vs. high-speed for quiet or noisy operations, respectively
- Gear reduction vs. direct drive for noisy operations or top-quality coffee, respectively
- Dosing vs. non-dosing grinders for convenience and good quality coffee
- Stepped or Stepless adjustment
With non-dosing and stepless adjustment grinders, you can expect to pay more than for their counterparts, due to increased convenience.
Construction and Design
Size of Crushed Coffee Granules
The evenness or size of crushed coffee granules depends on your particular grinder. The freshness of your coffee beans, the machine you use to brew coffee, and how the coffee is roasted, determine the size of crushed coffee granules your grinder is expected to produce.
Since different coffee machines are made to extract the aroma and flavor of coffee beans in various ways, you need to pick one that produces granule sizes that match your specific coffee brewing machine. For instance, French press coffee machines need very coarse coffee granules, whereas Turkish coffee requires powdery granules.
Blade vs. Burr
Next, decide whether you want a blade or burr grinder.
Blade grinders are designed to use blades to crush coffee beans. Since they don’t grind consistently, they don’t produce quality coffee. The longer you grind your coffee, the finer the granules. These blades usually feature built-in timers to set the duration you want a grinding session to last.
One con of using blade grinders is the fact that they generate static charge that can create a mess by throwing coffee granules all over the place. The charge causes the granules to stick on surfaces they fall onto. For these reasons, you might want to consider a burr grinder.
Burr grinders use burrs to evenly grind coffee beans into the same granule size, meaning they make good quality coffee. Choose between the two types of burr grinders: flat plate and conical grinders.
Designed for both home and commercial use, flat plate and conical burr grinders produce fine coffee for use with espresso machines. Flat plate burrs are used in grinders of varying qualities whereas conical burrs find use in low-speed gear-reduction grinders.
Low vs. High Speed
Low-speed grinders are also known as ‘Cadillac’ grinders. They operate quietly and produce little to no heat and static charge. The motor of low-speed grinders neither bogs down nor clogs up, finely grinding coffee beans. Available as flat or conical burr grinders, they’re categorized into ‘gear-reduction’ and ‘direct-drive’ grinders.
High-speed grinders generate heat just like blade grinders, but they give you more control in choosing a suitable size of coffee granules for your coffee-maker. Also known as ‘direct-drive’ grinders, they feature a motor built into the burrs for same-speed turns. These grinders deliver consistent grinds.
Gear Reduction vs. Direct Drive
Gear-reduction grinders feature high-speed motors built into a gear set for burr speed reduction. They work just like a bicycle going up a hill slowly with gears shifted down and legs moving fast. When in operation, these grinders are noisier than direct-drive grinders. However, the motors don’t bog down.
Direct drive grinders are designed for home and light commercial use, and are the best high-end grinding machines and the most expensive on the market. For same-speed spins, low-speed motors are built onto the burrs directly. High-quality motors are used for easy load handling as low-quality motors would bog down during operation. Moreover, these grinders generate low static charge and heat, and operate quietly.
Dosing vs. Non-Dosing Grinders
Dosing grinders are built to direct ground coffee granules into a container. With the pull of a handle, the granules are dispensed into a coffee-maker’s receptacle such as a porta-filter. The container that receives the ground coffee is divided into six equal sections of about six to seven grams of capacity. This is adjustable in some coffee grinders.
Non-dosing grinders grind coffee directly into a coffee-maker’s receptacle. Some brands can be both dosing and non-dosing grinders such as the Baratza grinders.
Stepped vs. Stepless Adjustment
Stepped grinders can either be ‘self-holding’ or ‘lever release’. Stepped adjustments remain fixed or locked once an adjustment on grinding setting is made.
Stepless grinders come with several fineness settings. Choose a setting as you desire with no limitations. You can easily fine-tune your grinder from coarse to fine settings as you deem necessary.
Performance and Ease of Use
Choose the right coffee grinder that produces coffee granules usable with your type of coffee maker. For instance, if you own an espresso machine, you need a grinder that finely crushes coffee beans. Choose the right speed, adjustment type, and whether you want a dosing or non-dosing style grinder. Since burr coffee grinders are the best, consider one of those if it’s important for you to produce top-quality coffee.
Whichever grinder you pick, ensure it’s high-performing and easy to use. Look out for a user manual and instructions on how to properly care for and maintain your grinder. Most importantly, buy a grinder with a warranty for protection from manufacturing faults.
The best coffee mills are designed for fast performance and can complete a grind cycle in a few seconds. You’ll also want to consider the size of the grinder, as well as the hopper capacity to make sure it can handle the amount of beans you want to grind at a time. Let’s take a look and see if one of our recommendations can suit your unique needs to grind coffee beans for a distinct aroma.
Features
Westinghouse Electric was founded in 1886. That’s over 130 years ago! They began with the development of the first industrial AC system and have since grown to manufacture a wide range of home electronics, smart appliances and energy saving solutions. Their products include microwaves, water heaters, home security, wine cellars, TV’s, headphones, lighting and more.
The Westinghouse Select Series Coffee Grinder is a compact device, measuring just 3.4 x 3.4 x 7.4-inches, meaning it’ll fit in almost any nook or cranny. With an attractive stainless-steel finish, this coffee grinder will fit seamlessly into any modern kitchen. All you need to do to operate this grinder is hold down the pulse button until your coffee beans or spices are ground sufficiently. With a 2.1-ounce capacity, there’s plenty of space and the container detaches easily for cleaning. The lid safety lock assures safe operation and the hidden power cord storage is ideal for storing your grinder when it’s not in use.
Features
Bodum is an entirely family-run company, founded in 1944. With over 70 years of experience in innovation and manufacturing coffee and tea solutions, Bodum is a brand trusted by millions. Bodum’s coffee makers, milk frothers, travel mugs, tea pots and tabletop products are sold in over 55 countries worldwide.
Today, we’ve decided to feature the Bodum Bistro Blade Grinder. It’s got a contemporary design, available in black, red or green, that would fit into any modern kitchen. With durable stainless-steel blades, you can grind beans from coarse to fine easily, quickly and with minimal effort. You can see if your beans are ground to the optimum coarseness through the transparent lid. The powerful motor spins at a precise RPM for up to 60 seconds at a time. This is long enough to produce enough coffee grinds for up to 8 cups. All you need to do to grind the perfect coffee beans is use the easy push-control button to either pulse or leave on a continuous grind. Measuring just 4.5 x 4.5 x 8.5-inches, it’ll fit nicely on the countertop and can be left there for use daily. If you don’t use it often, the cord stores conveniently in the base for storage.
Features
Vremi started off as a solely kitchen products company, but they’ve now expanded to provide products for every room in the house (and even the yard). They produce high-quality, affordable products include bakeware, cookware, kitchen tools & gadgets, drinkware, barware and small appliances. Their products are not only user-friendly, but they’re stylish and fun too!
Get your grind on with the Vremi Bump ‘N Grind Coffee Grinder. It’s constructed with durable, double stainless-steel blades that can easily grind coffee beans into coarse or fine grounds. With one-touch operation, grind your beans for 8 seconds for French press coffee, 10 seconds for mocha coffee and 20 seconds for a fine grind, ideal for espresso. Thanks to the powerful 150-watt motor and 25,000 – 28,000 RPM speed, this grinder doesn’t only work for coffee beans. You can also use it for nuts, herbs, spices, grains and whatever else you can think of.
Even though this coffee grinder is compact, measuring just 7.5 x 4 x 3.5-inches, it as a large 3.5-ounce capacity, large enough to supply your whole friendship squad with coffee! A lot of thought has gone into the design of this grinder to make it functional and easy-to-use for everyone. The rubber grip exterior and anti-slip feet mean it’s easy to handle and won’t knock over or move during use. The safety lock lid and handy cord storage also make this a convenient product. One slight inconvenience is that it’s hand-wash only, although it does come with a handy cleaning brush. If you already have a particular color scheme in your kitchen, you’ll probably want to get a grinder that fits in with it. You can choose from black with stainless steel or red with stainless steel.
Features
Since 1970, Mr. Coffee has been focused on one thing and one thing only, brewing delicious coffee. Their passion for great coffee is evident in all that they do. They manufacture a variety of high-quality products including coffee makers, cappuccino makers, hot tea makers, espresso machines, grinders, water filtration and milk frothers.
The Mr. Coffee Electric Coffee Bean Grinder has a simple, modern design, available in black and white so you can choose which color best fits in with your current décor. The automatic grinder has a simple on/off button and is so easy to use. The large capacity chamber grinds enough beans for 4-12 cups of coffee, meaning it’s perfect for just you or a whole dinner party! Ensure you get the ideal coarseness by peering through the transparent lid while you grind. Although some grinders can be messy, you won’t have an issue with this one; the large top allows for mess-free pouring. Measuring just 6.9 x 3.8 x 3.8-inches and weighing just 1.1-pounds, this compact grinder will fit almost anywhere.
Whether you run a bar or business in need of a large-capacity grinder, or you just want to grind your own coffee beans at home, there’s a product out there designed to meet your needs. We hope that the 5 popular brands of coffee grinders we’ve reviewed will take you a step closer to the best-tasting coffee you’ve ever brewed.
