Coffee 2 Tea

For people who appreciate the quality and flavor of a well-brewed cup of coffee, grinding your own beans at home is probably a common practice. Virtually every coffee aficionado recognizes that grinding your own roasts is the only way to ensure freshness and preserve the essence of the beans. If you are one of these coffee gurus, you probably already recognize the necessity of a coffee grinder.

Although a grinder is obviously ideal for creating coffee grounds, it has many other uses in the kitchen. Just like coffee beans, spices taste best when you buy them whole and grind them yourself. I keep a separate grinder at home to create my own fresh and unique spice blends.

Blade Grinders

You may ask “blade grinder” do you mean my blender… This type of grinder is more like a blender for coffee beans.  Blade grinders are very popular because they are quick,
cheap, readily available, and easy to use. However, blade grinders have serious drawbacks. First and foremost, they offer very little control.  Basically, you are guessing how
long you want the blades to chop, splinter the beans apart. Instead of a consistent, even grind, you can easily get chopped chunks mixed with powder.  Also, blade grinders produce
a lot of friction which produces heat. Heat actually starts to rob your coffee of it’s aroma and essences before it’s even brewed. Grind your coffee with a blade for long enough,
can give your final coffee a burned taste. These are fine grinders for basic use, but that’s about it.

Burr Grinders

The best and most common burr grinder is a conical burr grinder. These devices actually crush the beans between a moving surface and a non-moving surface. The positioning
on the burr is what regulates the ground size, which allows for a more consistent grind. Since the beans are being crushed rather than sliced, there is not a noticeable increase in
heat when using a burr grinder, so there will not be a burned taste or a loss in flavor.

Coffee roasters and commercial coffee companies use burr grinders, and they are available in all sizes from large commercial grinders to countertop models. While you could get
away with using a blade grinder for brewing coffee in a drip machine using paper filters, you should certainly only use a burr grinder if you are brewing coffee with a French press or
using a permanent filter.

Wheel Burr – The less expensive of the two burr grinders. The wheel spins very fast, and these grinders can be noisy. The higher speed rotations make these grinders more messy as well.

Conical Burr – The best grinders you can get are conical burr grinders. The burr spins slower than the wheel model, which makes them quieter and less messy. You can use a conical burr grinder for oily or flavoured coffees and it’s not likely to clog, like the other kinds of grinders. These are the best type, but you will pay the price for them.

In cities, suburbs and rural areas across the country, many people share one thing in common before beginning a busy work day – they indulge in an invigorating cup of coffee. Pre-ground coffee is fine for novices, but most coffee aficionados prefer to get in on the process themselves. Grinders transform whole roasted coffee beans into that magical, aromatic powder that wakes you up in a jiffy.

Coffee grinders can be grouped into two distinct categories: blade grinders and burr grinders. As one might imagine, the blade variety basically chops beans until they acquire a desired fineness. When grinding a lot of coffee at once, be sure to give the blades a rest; they can overheat and lend the final product a burned taste. Burr grinders work by crushing beans with a moving wheel. The grinds produced by the burr method tend to be more consistent.