When you are talking about fresh coffee, there is nothing fresher than grinding your own beans. This is my preferred method of making coffee. The problem is you need a coffee grinder but you don’t want to spend a ton of money.
Why would you want to? It’s just a glorified chopper designated for coffee beans. Not always. I’ll show you in this article, some inexpensive coffee grinders that won’t break the budget as well as the pricier ones so you can decide what works for you.
You can get really fancy when it comes to grinders. Some even have scales and timers in them. But I’m sure you are like me and thinking this stuff isn’t necessary. I prefer to save my money and use it to buy higher quality coffee.
The Different Kinds of Grinders
Manual
A grinder that you use by hand will provide a little less consistent grind than an electric one but lets you focus purely on the blade or burr quality instead of your money going into the motor or other parts. These grinders are perfect if you are using a French Press where you want to make sure to leave chunks of beans instead of finely ground bits.
You might need to have some arm strength because these require some work to get the beans ground sometimes.
Manual grinders can save you money and can also be portable to places where you can’t use an electric grinder. I wouldn’t recommend using them for coffee beans that require a fine grind.
Electric
Electric grinders yield a more consistent grind when compared to a manual. Most people prefer a burr to a blade because it crushes rather than just chopping the beans. They say it gives the coffee a better flavor when its crushed over being chopped.
I have a blade and it works great for my methods. If you are using it for finer grinds, you should get a burr grinder.
I have to tell this story…we were camping once and I brought beans but forgot my grinder so I took a plastic bag and a hammer to chop my beans. Lucky for me I was using a French Press so I didn’t have to work super hard.
Burr Grinders
Electric burr grinders are very consistent but can be pricey. They can grind a lot of coffee in a short time without much effort at all. They can be difficult to clean, loud, and bulky.
The ones I found a few below that won’t break the bank.
Blade Grinders
These grinders are quick but can be really loud. I have the hamilton beach one I have listed below. When my kids were little, I would go hide in the bathroom to grind my beans so that I didn’t wake them up with the noise.
The other downside to a blade is the inconsistency of the grind. As long as you don’t need it for a fine grind, you will be ok.
Grind Size
There are several different sizes of grinds that you can use.
Coarse– larger chunks
Medium– similar to kosher salt
Fine– looks like table salt
The French Press uses coarse grinds. Pour Over uses course. Drip coffee uses coarse to medium. Siphon uses fine. Espresso and Turkish makers use very fine. Not sure what some of these makers are? Read my post on Coffee Makers 101 to find out.
Blades of the Grinders
Blade grinders look like an airplane propeller that chop the beans. A Burr grinder crushes the beans for a more consistent texture.
Best Manual Grinder
The best there is in manual grinders is a little pricey. The JX-Pro beats them all in the review category.
The JavaPresse manuel grinder is a good lower priced grinder with over 11,000 reviews on Amazon.
I will leave you with this…
Picking coffee grinders all depend on what your end goal is. I hope I have been able to provide some insight as to what types of grinders are best for what types of coffee. With that being said, there is nothing quite like the taste of a high quality bean that has been freshly ground and brewed the same day.
Check out my Pinterest for coffee recipes and tips.
