What is the best grinder for brewing coffee?

Whether at home or at a cafe, grinding beans fresh before brewing is perhaps the second most essential step next to good quality beans in making great tasting coffee. Today, we’re taking a look at four of our favorite grinders and what kind of home-brewer each one is good for.

The first thing to consider is that beans begin to lose their “freshness” as soon as they come off the roaster, even when they are in whole bean form. (We’ll define “freshness” here as the keeping of aromas and flavor compounds.)

There are four main enemies of coffee freshness: space, oxygen, temperature, and time. So when beans are being ground, that is creating the most surface area (space) in beans to be exposed to the air (oxygen) for freshness to escape. That’s two major hits in the one action of grinding! If we’re brewing right away after grinding, that means all that freshness is escaping into our coffee (yay!) But if the coffee is ground and sitting a while (time) before being brewed, much of that freshness has already escaped before making it into the cup. That’s why we strongly recommend keeping beans in their whole form right until you brew, and you can do that by having your own home grinder.

When it comes to grinding, the second thing to consider is the precision and uniformity of the grinds. There are many different kinds of grinders on the market and generally speaking, their different price points are correlated to:

• Material of the grinder (i.e. steel, ceramic; how durable is it?)

• Position of grinders inside the machine (i.e. laying flat or conical)

• Range of grinds (how fine does it grind vs. how coarse does it grind?)

• Speed (how fast does it grind beans?)

• — which all lead to how precisely and uniformly it can grind beans.

Why is it important that grinds are uniform? If some grounds are coarse while other grounds are finer in the same brew, the hot water will extract the flavors and compounds of the beans at different rates. This means that some parts of the coffee is overextracting causing bitter notes, and some are being underextracted causing sour notes. The result is an unpleasant, unbalanced cup.

Hario Slim Hand Grinder

• Price: $33

• Material: Ceramic burr

• Position: Conical

• Range: Broad range, from fine to French Press

• Speed: Slow (takes about 2 minutes to grind a 20g serving)

This manual hand grinder is lightweight, made with ceramic burrs for great durability, perfect for travel, or for those with minimal counterspace. We recommend it for those the homebrewer who wants a reliable single-serving grinder for common filter methods (as fine as Aeropress and as coarse as French Press) while balancing cost. The burrs are spring-loaded which helps for greater consistency. While manual grinders ask for more time, we find that it’s easy to do while your water is coming up to boil and adds to the overall satisfaction in crafting your own cup!

Baratza Encore

• Price: $145

• Material: High-carbon steel

• Position: Conical

• Range: 40 steps of adjustment from espresso to French press (entire spectrum)

• Speed: Average (0.8 - 1.1 g per second)

This electric grinder is great for the entry level, home brewing enthusiast who enjoys exploring the various common homebrewing methods such as Drip, Aeropress, Chemex, and French Press while wanting to do it time-efficiently. While it’s capable of grinding as fine as an espresso, it will not be the best fit for one looking a great espresso grinder because there is no further fine-tuning. It has a pulse button on the front or a toggle on/off on the side. Weigh or measure the amount of beans you want to grind, and send it through the chute! We find that is produces a reliable, consistent grind and is practically priced for someone who is just looking to get a quality grind daily.

Baratza Virtuoso+

• Price: $269

• Material: Hardened alloy steel burrs

• Position: Conical

• Range: 40 steps of adjustment from espresso to French press (entire spectrum)

• Speed: Fast (1.5 - 2.4 g per second)

This electric grinder is also great for an entry level, home brewing enthusiast who wants another step up for a very uniform grind. The steel burrs will also remain sharp for many years. It uses a digital timer which can be set to a tenth of a second. This is ideal for a someone who needs repeatable dosing for the same brew method. For example, let’s say you want to grind 20g of beans for a pourover. Once you have figured out that it takes 10 seconds to do so, you can set the digitial timer to 10 seconds so that every time you grind, you will get 20g out. You can also “pulse” grind a little bit more, or grind continuously. The powerful, high torque DC motor delivers grinds in a cooler, quieter operation than the Encore and at an even faster rate.

Baratza Forte AP (‘All Purpose’)

• Price: $899

• Who We Recommend This For: The home espresso lover or low-volume cafe

• Material: Ceramic burrs

• Position: Flat

• Range: 10 macro-steps of adjustment and a secondary 26 micro-steps of adjustments.

• Speed: Very fast (2 - 3.7 g per second)

This beautiful electric grinder is operated by a touch screen and has a great range of adjustments. It’s great as a dedicated espresso or pourover grinder for a homebrewing espresso enthusiast or a low-volume cafe or restaurant that offers specialty coffee. Along with a manual option like the above Virtuoso+, there are two modes of grinding that can be set: by time and by weight. Need to grind 20g every time, regardless of time? Set it that way! This makes it easy to switch between different grinds for different brew methods. Its durable ceramic burrs are fit to handle 5 lbs. of coffee per day and is insanely accurate to plus or minus .2 grams. The Forte AP also includes a shut-off hopper, burr removal tools, and calibrations tools for maintenance and cleaning.

All purchases over $29.00 will be delivered with one (1) FREE bag of coffee (standard 12oz, whole bean, Roasters’ Choice). Retail value of coffees are $17.00-$22.00. You may request an origin, blend, or decaf, but selection is not guaranteed. We hope you enjoy your home- or office-brewing experience! Reach out to us anytime (orders@penstockcoffee.com) if you have questions our would like advice on brewing any of our coffees; we’d love to connect!

Be sure to add this item to your cart to receive the FREE bag of coffee!