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Coffee Grinders
What is the quickest way to improve the quality of your coffee or espresso-based beverage? It's the use of a quality coffee grinder to grind your coffee "fresh" immediately prior to use. The keyword here is "quality coffee grinder."
Quality in a coffee grinder can be evaluated on several attributes or variables. These include:
Materials utilized for the structural integrity of the grinder
The majority of grinders built for the domestic (home) market are manufactured
with ABS plastic. Although the ABS plastic does not maintain the structural
integrity of a metal frame/metal body grinder, the ABS plastic allows for a
wider variety of colors that would not chip and are resistant to rust from water
that exists in the kitchen of a home espresso bar. The ABS plastic grinders
also allow for easy storage into the cabinet or pantry/closet. With a metal
frame/metal body grinder, the heavier weight would not allow the grinder to
move during operation and the grinder would less likely be moved to an "out
of sight, out of mind" cabinet. Therefore, greater use would hopefully
occur. Another material utilized in grinders is wood. Wood is primarily used
in hand grinders. Although used for aesthetics, quality wood construction can
offer many years of useful life. Although the structural integrity of a grinder
is an important attribute to consider, it is not the most important - maybe
second or third in level of importance.
Type of grinding mechanism
This is a very important attribute. The grinding mechanism will be directly
related to the outcome of the next four variables for a coffee grinder. There
are two types of grinding mechanisms: blade and burr. More information on these
two types should be read here:
Blade Grinders vs. Burr Grinders
Resultant precision/consistency of the grind fineness
This is the MOST important attribute of a coffee grinder. A quality grinder
MUST be able to grind the coffee beans with precision so that the coffee grind
is consistent. Consistency of the coffee grind is required for maximum and proper
flavor extraction. The reason is simple. You just have ground 2-3 ounces of
freshly roasted coffee beans for drip coffee or you grind 14 grams of coffee
beans for espresso. The grind is not consistent throughout the 2-3 ounces or
14 grams. The result would be an un-even extraction. In drip machines, water
is dripped over the coffee grinds in the basket. In espresso makers, water
is forced through the coffee grind at 131 psi (pounds per square inch). In both
cases, the water will extract the solubles to form a good cup of coffee or a
decent shot of espresso. However, your grind was not consistent. The reason
is that the water (when dripped over the coffee coffee in a drip coffee maker
or forced through the coffee grind in an espresso maker) would find the path
of least resistance. In other words, the water would channel a path where it
would find a coarser grind as the finer coffee grind creates more resistance.
With a consistent and precise coffee grind, the resistance would be equal throughout
the 2-3 ounces or 14 grams of coffee in the aforementioned scenarios. An equal
extraction of the ground cup will result in a superior cup of coffee or superior
pull of espresso.
Range of grind settings
If you exclusively grind for espresso, or for drip, or for press pot (French
press), then this would NOT be an important attribute. However, if you need
to grind for multiple extraction methods, then this is "somewhat"
important to find a grinder that can be a little more accomodating. Usually,
a grinder with a greater number of settings will offer one of two scenarios.
First, it could allow very high precision of changing the grind fineness. In
other words, a one click setting change can make a minute difference (even to
the naked eye) in the grind fineness. Or, it can allow a wide range of grind
fineness to accomodate the different extraction methods for coffee preparation.
We have found that the majority of grinders with a greater number of settings
usually fit the latter category.
Great, a grinder with a greater number of settings is desirable. Well, not
really. We feel that this is ok, but it does pose a problem with the precision/consistency
attribute mentioned above. When you start widely changing grind settings on
a grinder, you end up mixing the coarser grind with the finer grind or vice
versa. In other words, immediately after the change in grind fineness, you have
an INconsitent grind.
Finest grind result
This is a very important attribute for espresso and turkish coffee extraction
methods. In both these cases, a very, very fine grind is needed. There are many
grinders that can not grind fine enough for these applications, and the grinders
that fit this category are usually priced under $125 (from our research). Grinders
priced $125 of above are usually designed to produce a very fine grind with
consistency. Although a very fine grind is not important for drip coffee methods,
it is EXTREMELY important for espresso and turkish coffee preparation methods.
Dispensing feature
Once the coffee beans are ground, where does the ground coffee go? In most cases,
it ends up in the catch bin (a.k.a. ground coffee bin). In some espresso grinders,
the ground coffee beans exit the grinding chamber into what we call a doser.
This is the apparatus that portions the ground coffee and is dosed into the
espresso maker's filter handle. These dosers are suitable for customers preferring
the grinder's doser to portion the coffee instead of using the handheld scoop.
We have some customers who prefer the espresso grinder's doser so they may portion
their coffee for drip by placing the filter basket right underneath the doser.
As far as importance, the doser feature is a "nice-to-have", but not
a must have.
Some newer models of espresso grinders today allow the dispensing of ground coffee directly into the drip coffee maker's filter basket or espresso maker's filter handle.
As you review these variables, you should be able to formulate the type of
grinder you need. We have a nice selection listed here: Coffee
Grinders
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LLC