Grinders are, according to most experts and most likely your local barista, the best tool you can have in your arsenal.
They will greatly enhance the flavor of your coffee, which is why we cannot recommend them enough: to have a grinder is to brew better coffee. Period.
Because grinders are relatively new ground for many coffee lovers, it can be a little confusing at first to know which one you should get.
In this article, we navigate a few things to take into consideration when shopping for a grinder.
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Grind settings
This is the main thing: how many settings you can choose from.
Each setting represents a different grind size: the lower the setting, the finer the grind is and vice versa.
You want more settings rather than less. Because the more you have, the more customizable the grind is.
You don’t want a grinder that has too few options because then there would be too big of a leap from say, coarse to medium grind.
When brewing, grind size is extremely important.
It can make the difference between sour, undrinkable coffee to a perfect brew.
When in doubt, don’t go for any less than 15 settings.
This is usually the standard and gives you enough room to play around with. But the more you have, as I said, the better, as you can achieve more unique results with more unique grind sizes.
There are grinders out there that have more than 100 settings: these are usually professional grade, but yield very consistent results and are some of the best you can hope for.
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Bean hopper
Another thing to take into consideration is the bean hopper.
This is the bean container on top of the grinder that holds beans for you so you don’t have to pour the beans in each time you want to grind.
You want a bean hopper that’s thick, and tinted.
Clear plastic hoppers don’t block UV rays, which will quickly ruin the freshness of your beans.
Some hoppers are way too clear because obviously you need to see how much is in there, but sacrificing freshness is not the way to go.
The bigger the hopper, the better
The idea is that you fill it as much as you can, close the lid and don’t open it again until you are completely out of beans.
This helps in preserving the freshness: an open lid lets oxygen in, which oxidizes the coffee and takes away flavor and aroma.
Additionally, some grinders also have a container for the fresh grounds: these also should be tinted, just in case.
Now, some grinders don’t have hoppers because they’re meant to be single-use: if that sounds convenient to you, then good. But for most of us a bean hopper is more convenient.
There are also grinders that instead of a container grind directly into the portafilter: if you don’t have an espresso machine this can be a little annoying and inconvenient, so steer away if you don’t own an espresso machine.
Manual or automatic
There are manual grinders out there which are much smaller, and a little more complicated to use, but have some advantages over automatic grinders.
For one, they don’t make so much noise!
Grinders are really noisy machines because the motor and burrs make a lot of noise: if you read reviews here and there you’ll notice it’s the number one thing people complain about when they buy a grinder.
But make no mistake: manual grinders make noise, too. When the burrs rotate and grind the beans that’s a lot of noise.
And yet, it is many times less than what automatic grinders make!
Manual grinders are also much cheaper, for obvious reasons.
Lastly, manual grinders offer portability and ease of storage that automatic grinders just don’t have.
They’re stationary machines that are heavy and chunky: a manual grinder can be carried in your backpack to grind beans and make fresh coffee whenever, wherever.
Conclusion
In the end, choosing a grinder isn’t really as hard as say an espresso machine, but it still warrants a little bit of thought.
This article will have helped you in thinking about all the right things when considering which grinder to buy – the only thing left is to wish you good luck!
Photos by Kimiya, Tim Douglas and Triin.
