Coffee Grinders — Burr Style Grinders

There is nothing like a freshly ground, freshly brewed cup of coffee. Coffee grinders for home use are plentiful but before you buy, you need to know what your options are. This is a mini tutorial to get you comfortable and knowledgeable before you dive into buying. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt!

Burr Coffee Grinders

A “burr” style coffee grinder crushes the beans between two moving wheels or elements. Old time coffee grinders used this type of process. Today, our burr coffee grinders are electric, much quicker and give a more uniform consistency to the level of coarse/fine grounds.

There is much disparity between costs of burr style grinders. The most inexpensive burr grinders still start at about $50 but can go up to over $1,000 depending on the size you want. Here, we are going to share grinders in a low, average and high price range giving you the benefits of each so you can make an informed decision. Here we go:

 Melitta Coffee Grinder (Discontinued) Cuisinart Programmable Conical Burr Mill, Stainless Steel, COMPACT Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

The Melitta coffee grinder on the left is the most affordable. The settings allow you to choose how many cups of coffee you want to make and how coarse a grind you would like. It then grinds the correct amount of beans to brew. It is a bit messy and can be noisy but most grinders, no matter the price are.

It’s a great place to start for around $50 if you are more than a beginner coffee connoisseur but you will probably be disappointed if you are a coffee guru.

The Cuisinart is a step up from the Melitta costing about double. This coffee grinder is fully programmable and has 18 grind selection settings. You can grind beans for use with percolator, drip, French press and espresso just to your liking. After you make your selections, it will grind until your choices are met and then shut off. It also has a manual mode if you prefer to do it yourself.

Like most grinders, it needs to be cleaned daily to make sure you get the full life from the motor. Ground coffee can get caught and cause problems if you don’t keep it clean. Overall, it’s a very good coffee grinder for the money.

The Baratza Encore Conical coffee grinder is a high quality product. Most lower end grinders can heat up the beans during the grinding process. The Encore doesn’t seem to do that and it’s a big plus for coffee aficionados. The burn flavor can ruin a great cup of coffee. It’s easy to clean and should be on a regular basis to keep it in tip top shape.

The gear box on this grinder has it rise above the others. It will hold up and last longer even with daily use due to the quality parts use it making it. And, speaking of parts, at the company website you can order replacement parts for most everything on the machine should it need it after the warranty runs out. And, reasonably so that’s a plus.

Burr Style Coffee Grinders

Burr style grinders are preferred by most coffee gurus as being more reliable in the coarseness of the grind which is very important for making espresso. They tend to last longer and deliver a better grind all around than their blade style counter parts.

When you are looking to make a perfect cup of coffee, grinding your own beans can make all the difference. Choose your grinder carefully!