Baristas all over the world agree on one thing: freshly ground coffee is better.
If you’re thinking about buying an espresso grinder, I’ll help you make a decision with these four essential things to know before buying one.
By Marcelo.
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Grinders Save you Money (In the long run)
Go online right now and look up your current favorite coffee; see how much it costs ground, and then look up that same coffee but whole bean.
See the price difference?
Sometimes, the difference can be one third of the price, which is actually crazy.
Imagine saving one third what you spend on coffee right now for the next ten years.
Approximately what a good grinder should last you—although many last longer than that.
If you think grinders are expensive, then think again. In just a few months, it’ll have paid for itself.
And from then on, it will prove to be one of the best investments you ever made!
By the way, have you had a look at our resources and deals page yet?
Blade Grinders Suck
Blade grinders are the worst.
Baristas hate them with a passion, and with good reason: these grinders consist of blades no different from a food processor or a blender.
They are not designed to achieve any sort of consistency.
They can’t actually grind to a desired setting, like it should be, so the type of coffee you drink is at the mercy of the blade grinder.
Not to mention, it overheats the grounds and can burn them, causing loss of flavor.
All in all, they are a very bad idea. They are sometimes marketed as “coffee grinders”, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Do not buy a blade grinder!
Coffee grinders must be burr grinders, and should allow you to switch between different settings (I always recommend a minimum of 9 settings).
Should You Get A Manual or Automatic Espresso Grinder?
Depending on what type of person you are, you’re going to have to decide between a manual or automatic grinder.
Manual grinders, you have to do the work yourself.
You have to crank it, which can be annoying to do as it takes a while and needs some muscle power.
Automatic grinders need only the push of a button.
The good thing about manual grinders, for me, is that they are small and cheap.
Automatic grinders and commercial use grinders are big and really heavy.
They take up too much space on your counter and whenever you have to move them it’s a whole thing.
Manual grinders? No problem.
And they’re several times cheaper than automatic grinders!
Automatic grinders are hard to beat, though.
They have a lot of capacity for beans and grounds, so you don’t need to be refilling them all the time.
And they can grind a lot of coffee in one go without you having to do any work.
I think each type of grinder has their advantages and disadvantages.
Manual grinders can be trickier, however, so if you’re a beginner then an automatic one might be better for you!
Espresso Grinders Are High Maintenance
Coffee grinders have to be clean. When grinding the beans, millions of coffee particles will fly all over the place and stick everywhere inside the grinder.
And you know what the problem is with coffee?
It goes rancid.
It goes rancid, it will start stinking up the place and before you know it, your coffee isn’t tasting as good anymore.
Is it the espresso machine? Is it the coffee? Is it you – the barista?
No.
It was actually the grinder all along!
To avoid this, you need to arm yourself with a good cleaning brush.
You can find grinder-specific brushes online that’ll help you get your grinder squeaky clean and help you make great coffee every time.
When cleaning, don’t use soap or anything else. Anything that has a scent can also prove to be a negative influence on the flavor of your coffee, so you’re better off just using the brushes.
Photo by Mateusz Dach
