I mainly want to get a coffee grinder because beans have a longer shelf life and are cheaper. If I also get better coffee, that’s a bonus! (Basically, I’m not looking for a premium option)
What is something I should pay attention to when buying a grinder. I see people mention “flat burr” grinders all the time. Is that something important?
A few years ago I bought a cheap terrible manual coffee grinder off Amazon. It took 5-10mins to grind my coffee. The grounds where too course and my hands hurt. Is the experience better with higher quality manual grinders? At the moment, I’m not a huge fan of manual grinders because of this experience and am leaning towards buying an electrical one.
What makes a coffee grinder better than others? What is the difference between premium and budget options?
I bought this a few years ago:
OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CSKGLMM
Would not recommend. Within a year the oil from the beans would gum up the works on the grinder and we’d be getting inconsistencies in the grind, less output than expected and eventually nothing coming out.
Ended up buying this:
CUISINART Coffee Grinder, Electric Burr One-Touch Automatic Grinder with18-Position Grind Selector, Stainless Steel, DBM-8P1 https://a.co/d/2iznxaE
Pretty happy with it so far
Edit: I’d also add that they do make electric Burr grinders with scales. If I were to choose again, I’d get one. The advantage there is you set how much you want in grams, ounces, whatever… it grinds until it hits that amount. It beats what is the common thing… setting to some arbitrary number, usually “cups”, which just sets a timer for the grinder. Over time, a grinder will grind less and less as it needs to be cleaned so you end up with inconsistent amounts over time and you’ll be wondering why your Coffee is weaker than it used to be ;)
I’ve got the Cuisinart too. Love it.
The scale is important if you’re filling the hopper with all your beans. If you measure before filling the hopper then you can just let the machine go till it’s empty.