Grinder Guidance

Gird your wallets gentlemen, the time has come for us to talk about grinders.

No single investment in your coffee ritual (outside of the purchase of fresh roasted, ethically-sourced coffees) will have greater impact than the quality of your grinder. Those $9 “coffee mill” whirly-blade grinders just chop your coffee into a dusty mess, cursing you with a bitter brew and forever keeping you in coffee purgatory.

What you want , what you need, what you must have to enter the gates of coffee heaven is a burr grinder. A proper burr grinder works the coffee between two metal burrs whose adjustable gap determines the final particle size which is relatively uniform. Whether you’re making drip coffee, cowboy coffee, or espresso coffee, a burr grinder is an essential upgrade that will elevate your brew quality by an order of magnitude.

The sad fact is that (not unlike the vast number of underpowered drip machines) the landscape for consumer grinders is a wasteland. The big companies that normally supply us with the cheap toasters and kitchen appliances that lard our landfills have failed to produce much worth noting in the category of good coffee grinding. I’ll recommend a few across the price spectrum after the jump.

The perfect home grinder has yet to be built but the ones listed below can give you good game. I’ll cover a few more high end grinders when we dig into espresso (where the rules shift and these grinders can fall short).

One bit of good advice with all these grinders is to not leave any coffee in the hopper. Measure out only the amount of beans you need for brewing and grind them through. Your remaining coffee will stay fresher in its airtight package and you wont risk having old coffee gumming up your works.

The cheap-o
I’m hesitant to recommend anything in this category except for the fact that its still a noticeable upgrade from the whirly blade. You’re on your own digging up links, but DeLonghi, Black and Decker, Krups and Cuisinart all produce flat burr grinders in the sub $50 range. They will undoubtedly break your heart in time, but having a fling with the $20 burr grinder you find on sale at Amazon might well be a suitable gateway drug to moving up to more serious gear.

The sub-$100

My barista friend and frequent co-conspirator Kyle has had one of these Capresso Infinitygrinders in his kitchen for the last year making french press coffee and is pretty satisfied with it. There are several grinders in this price range and reading the many Amazon and reviews of them is advisable but will make your head spin – people tend to love them or break them.

The tank
Heavy and attractive, the Kitchenaid Pro Lineburr grinder has the metal casing and solid construction of those KitchenAid mixers that outlast their owners. Contrary to its imposing look in pictures, the footprint is modest and it feels at home living on your kitchen counter. The drawbacks are that the burr set is a bit on the dull side producing less than perfect grind (putting it out of the running for espresso purists) and beans like to get stuck in the hopper. But for most consumers this is the grinder least likely to give you buyers remorse and is great bang for the buck – typically selling online for between $159 – $199.

The contender
The Baratza Virtuosois the latest improvement in the line of grinders that began with the Solis Maestro (widely considered to be the cheapest grinder good enough for great home espresso). Compared to the similarly priced KitchenAid it feels finicky and almost fragile, but it wins on the precision of the grinds. The conical burr set is serious, it grinds at a lower RPM than most cheaper grinders, and there is very little static charge. Baby it and keep it clean and the quality of your brew will outweigh its ergonomic shortcomings.

The old school
The Zassenhaus hand crank mills are awesome, giving you a workout as you prepare your fix. The perfect holiday gift for your luddite friends who still demand good coffee. They can be had for well under $100 when you can find them (Zass pimp Tom at SweetMarias.com has the definitive catalog but is terminally out of stock). Be sure to avoid the ones that are purely decorative.

The roughing it
Survival in the wilderness just got easier. With the compact, durable, lightweight GSI JavaGrind hand crank grinder, fresh roasted beans, and your 7″ Rambo knife you’ve got all you need flee to the woods and leave this wretched society to its ugly fate. Fit a cup or a GSI presspot onto the bottom and give your banana buffing arm a new workout. At $20 it’s the best grinder value on the planet.