What is a coffee grinder?

Coffee grinder is defined as “a machine that crushes coffee beans to make coffee power”. It is assumed that coffee grinders were first and mass manufactured in the early 1800s in France; however, who was the first to contrive is still unanswerable. By the mid-1800s, coffee machines became popular when diverse coffee grinders existed in most of the homes in Europe and America. At that time, the traditional design of grinder was similar to a handy tool regularly seen in the kitchen nowadays. Major of coffee grinders was designed with a grinding handle on the top of a box containing inside a bowl-shaped holder of roasted coffee beans. In addition, on the bottom of the box there was a drawer used for holding the coffee beans after grinding process. Moreover, “some grinders were elaborately made and decorated”.

Nevertheless, almost coffee grinders nowadays are automated by electricity and using ceramic burrs or stainless steel blades to grind coffee are most common. Here are details about blade and burr grinders.

Blade coffee grinder.

A spinning blade connected to a motor chops coffee beans. “Blade grinders tend to be simple, plastic-made, push-button machines, although some have multiple setting”. Besides the main purpose of grinding coffee beans, blade coffee grinders are also applied for grinding others like spices, seeds or nuts. By this way, however, the complete cleanliness of the grinders should be ensured so as not to mix flavors in coffee or spices. Users are encouraged to keep two blade grinders handy and not expensive one for coffee and another for spices. For those reasons, blade grinders are the great for drip coffee, spices, nuts and seeds”.

Burr coffee grinder.

The structure of burr coffee grinders includes two layers with a design to crush the beans into particles slowly. Otherwise, ceramic burr, which are believed to stay sharper and longer than others materials, are commonly used in almost burr coffee grinders. Whether the burrs are apical or flat plate, ceramic burr grinders can combine with both of them. Although some people are not in favor of flat plate burrs blue to they can heat up too much, almost latest advance grinders have technology to prevent that from happening. Additionally, for the purpose of protection, burr grinders are constructed with upscale metal that makes they have a solid, weighty feel. Generally, the price of grinders is higher than that of blade grinders but many specialists find that “ the added expensive is worth it to get the most precise grind- a necessary for specialty coffee and pour over or Turkish techniques like espresso, French press. Furthermore, these grinders are the best for the widest variety of specialty coffee and for the coffee aficionado. Actually, however, the grind quality of two styles is not distinguishable so it is just about a difference in style.

Anyway, although many coffee machines today do almost all the steps of coffee processing to provide the pleasure of barista made coffee, additional items (sold separately) like coffee grinders still have their own values. On condition that you buy a machine, which does not have a grinder followed, then choosing from a selection of stylish coffee grinders is considered as priority. The reason is that “making good quality coffee is all about getting the grind right. You should spend more on the grinder than any other piece of equipment. You want to achieve an accurate and consistent grind so that you get the best extraction of liquid”, says Elizabeth Plummer, senior buyer of Whittard.

To sum up, coffee grinder is very necessary for making a perfect cup of coffee. There are two main types of coffee grinders including blade grinders and burr grinders. Grinders have different levels to grind different particle sizes for coffee powder. A high quality coffee grinder will help you look very professionally.