Coffee bean grinder recommendations?

[Hemlock140]

I recently replaced my old cheap one with a Cuisinart burr grinder. What I like about it:

Storage for the beans at the top
Automatically grinds for number of cups selected
Settings for grind level (Drip, French press, espresso)
Easily removal of ground coffee container

What I don't like:
The clear plastic container generates static and the ground coffee sticks to the sides, and jumps around a bit.

[djmilf]

I started out with the KRUPS blade grinders. Easy to use, nearly indestructible, but yields an uneven grind, resulting in gritty coffee when using a French press. Additionally, blade grinding is rumored to heat up the beans and affect the taste of the coffee.

I've had Cuisinart electric burr grinders. First one I bought burned out in a matter of months. Second also burned out in a month.

I switched to a Bialetti manual burr grinder. It's cheap ($40), and cheaply built, but mine has lasted for over five years and counting. The money was spent on the burr grinding cones, but the body is plastic; use it wrong and it will eventually snap in two. I've found that holding at or above the rubberized midsection while grinding, never hold it by its detachable base, and never keep the base on a counter while grinding, is the secret to not breaking it.

How do I know that it will snap in two? I had one for the office and one for home. When the great COVID migration from office to home happened in March 2020, I brought the office one home, so had two of them at one time. My ham-handed roommate managed to destroy the grinder in a few weeks. I asked him to use the Krupps blade grinder after that.

I also have an OXO Electric Conical Burr Grinder, but I haven't gotten much use out of it. It's meant for when I need to grind a lot of beans at once for a full pot of coffee, but these days, I'm just making one cup at a time. Just easier to grab the Bialetti than pull out and set up the OXO for one cup.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by djmilf

I started out with the KRUPS blade grinders. Easy to use, nearly indestructible, but yields an uneven grind, resulting in gritty coffee when using a French press. Additionally, blade grinding is rumored to heat up the beans and affect the taste of the coffee.

I've had Cuisinart electric burr grinders. First one I bought burned out in a matter of months. Second also burned out in a month.

I switched to a Bialetti manual burr grinder. It's cheap ($40), and cheaply built, but mine has lasted for over five years and counting. The money was spent on the burr grinding cones, but the body is plastic; use it wrong and it will eventually snap in two. I've found that holding at or above the rubberized midsection while grinding, never hold it by its detachable base, and never keep the base on a counter while grinding, is the secret to not breaking it.

How do I know that it will snap in two? I had one for the office and one for home. When the great COVID migration from office to home happened in March 2020, I brought the office one home, so had two of them at one time. My ham-handed roommate managed to destroy the grinder in a few weeks. I asked him to use the Krupps blade grinder after that.

I also have an OXO Electric Conical Burr Grinder, but I haven't gotten much use out of it. It's meant for when I need to grind a lot of beans at once for a full pot of coffee, but these days, I'm just making one cup at a time. Just easier to grab the Bialetti than pull out and set up the OXO for one cup.

I have had a Bodun burr grinder for at least ten years now. I use it every day and it still works as good as when I bought it. I did break the glass cup it came with but I substituted a small thick glass cup which is just as good. They cost around $100, but as I said they are built very well (at least mine is) and it gets used daily. It gives a nice consistent grind.

[rrah]

Originally Posted by OI85N24U

I've never ground my own store-bought beans, but I want to start.
The grinder I'm looking for should be a small one, for it's only me.

I like my coffee strong, both in taste and caffeine content.

At minimum, I usually add two heaping tablespoons (usually more) of instant coffee into 16oz of water, so the grinder needs to be just large enough (or slightly larger) for that amount of beans (and buzz!), and only one batch at a time.
If I want more coffee, I won't mind just grinding more on the spot, rather than have ground coffee sitting around for any given time.

Price is not an object, as long as it is both a quality and efficient (burr?) grinder, as judging from this thread, it seems that the burr grinders are the way to go.

Can anyone shed some light on some brands of grinders, please?

I'd still recommend the Capresso I suggested a couple of years ago. Daily use and still going strong.

The caffeine content and taste will depend on the bean type, the bean roast, the grind and the coffee pot used to make it. I like a strong coffee flavor and typically use a medium-medium fine grind and something labeled Ethiopian or Columbian. I'm more focused on the flavor and not the caffeine. Oddly enough light roasts have a bit more caffeine. I'm not sure of the flavor as I've never had one and know what I like.

[rabbit33]

Seriously, can no one turn a crank handle?

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

We have a $20. electric one that we used for years. Works great.

Same... I actually have two of them: One for coffee beans and the other to grind spices. I've had both for years, and they work just fine.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by rabbit33

Seriously, can no one turn a crank handle?

Hey Rabbit, do you drive a Model T? Seriously, I still use a cranking hand egg beater for scrambled eggs, and sometimes use a cranking food mill for jams and jellies, and even my pasta maker is hand cranked. Still, I grind my coffee every day, those are used much less so not worth buying electric models. As for the sausage grinder, I don't use it often but it's an attachment on the Kitchen Aid mixer.

[rabbit33]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

Hey Rabbit, do you drive a Model T? Seriously, I still use a cranking hand egg beater for scrambled eggs, and sometimes use a cranking food mill for jams and jellies, and even my pasta maker is hand cranked. Still, I grind my coffee every day, those are used much less so not worth buying electric models. As for the sausage grinder, I don't use it often but it's an attachment on the Kitchen Aid mixer.

I don't want to listen to that noise in the morning when I'm trying to get conscious.

When I was a boy my morning task was to grind the coffee beans. It took about 3 minutes. Just dump 'em in the hopper, turn the crank till all the beans are gone and they're in the cup below.

For scrambled eggs I just use a fork. Yes, the traditional pasta machine is hand cranked.

For things that use very little force or speed (grinding coffee, rolling pasta) why would you complicate matters with yet another electric appliance?

For things that require a lot of force (I use a chainsaw to cut trees down) or high precision (metering fuel and air mixture in an automobile) I use the technology appropriate to the task - thus, chainsaws, modern automobiles with computerized ignition and fuel control, electronic calculators rather than slide rules, ANSYS rather than Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain.

For things where adding the power factor also increases danger, I choose - if I'm going to cut 200 2 x 4 studs to length, a chop saw is the right tool. If I'm going to cut 3/8" off a 1" long piece of wood, no way in hell I'm going to put my fingers that close to a circular saw. In that case the right technology for the job is a sharp crosscut saw.

Just because it's "power" or "computerized" does not automatically make it the best technology for the job.

[DontH8Me]

Originally Posted by rabbit33

Seriously, can no one turn a crank handle?

There are generations who don't know of a life before microwave popcorn. Or phones with those coiled cords. No one is going to play Mama Joad and start cranking beans in a manual grinder.

[rabbit33]

Really? "Mama Joad"?