Coffee Grinders

Coffee Grinders

The Gourmet Coffee Drinker’s Choice

When you’re ambling through the coffee aisle at the supermarket, familiar brands of pre-ground coffee are typically most prevalent. Brands like Folgers, Maxwell House, and Seattle’s Best dominate store shelves. And while these ground coffees are usually suitable for the average coffee consumer, truly great coffee is almost always ground fresh. If you’ve ever been to a more high-class coffee purveyor, you’ll find that whole coffee beans are typically ground to order. Even high-value retail chains like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts often do it. There’s without a doubt something to be said about this fact.

That something, of course, is that coffee simply tastes better when it’s ground fresh. As soon as the beans are ground, their flavor begins to diminish. This is because the oils that the beans contain aren’t preserved after the beans are ground. They begin to separate from the grounds and dissipate right after the process is finished. And, despite technology like Flavor-seal developed by coffeemakers’ marketing departments, the fact remains that fresh ground beans are richer tasting. So, with that established, here’s what you need to know about coffee grinders and grinding your own coffee.

Different Grinds for Different Coffees

Depending on the type of coffeemaker you use and type of coffee you like, certain grinds are suited better than others. For a French Press coffee maker, for example, a very coarse grind is necessary in order to avoid the buildup of residue in your coffee cup. Similarly, drip and single cup coffee brewers necessitate a medium grind. Moderate grinds make it easier for drip-style brewers to make strong coffee while avoiding going through the filter and getting into your cup. Percolators, meanwhile, also require a coarse grind to prevent considerable amounts of the grind from getting into the final product. The type of coffee you like matters as well. If you’re big one espresso, for instance, an extremely fine grind is best suited, as it will serve to strengthen the brew. With all these variables at hand, it’s easy to see why a versatile coffee grinder is a great tool for the avid coffee drinker.

Types of Coffee Grinders

For personal use, there are two main types of coffee grinders available. The first is called a blade grinder. It works much like a blender. You drop in the whole coffee beans, press the power button, and a high speed, double sided blade spins around – grinding the beans quickly and with little effort. Also known as the “propeller grinder”, blade grinders are often used for grinding spices and flavorings as well. In this way, they serve as a sort of all purpose kitchen appliance. One common difficulty had with them, though, is cleaning. According to the notable nonfiction book “The Joy of Cooking”, the easiest way to clean a blade grinder after use is to grind a tablespoon or two of sugar in it, and then wipe it down inside and out with a damp cloth.

The other type of grinder often used by coffee drinkers is called a burr grinder. Unlike the blender-style blade grinder, burr grinders have two plates that can either be flat or cones in shape. When powered on, one plate stays in the same position while the other spins around. Gourmet coffee drinkers are often careful with this type of grinder, because allowing the plates to spin too fast will heat the grounds prematurely and destroy some of its flavor. Most modern burr grinders account for this by automatically setting the plate RPM relatively slow.