To us coffee lovers, the tantalizing aroma of freshly brewed coffee is just heavenly. Of course, the best coffee is made from freshly-ground beans.

Therefore, it makes sense to grind our coffee beans just before we make a round of coffee, and only make as much as we can use immediately. That brings us (cleverly!) to coffee grinders.

Most commercial espresso and cappuccino machines have their own attached or integrated quality coffee grinder. At home we’re more likely to have a smaller domestic machine, or make brewed coffee and use a separate grinder. As you’d expect, there are various types of grinders available.

The old-style hand grinder can be quite an attractive display item in the home, looks great, and has romantic connotations with the past. Most modern grinders are power-operated however, and come in several different types. The least expensive of which - and the type most likely to be found in the home - is the blade grinder. A metal blade is driven at high speed by an electric motor. The fineness of the resulting grind is determined by the length of time the motor is turned on; leave it on longer and the granules are finer. Even so, this type of grinder isn’t really suitable for making espresso, where very fine grind is required.

A much better, albeit more expensive grinder is the burr type. Some are based on wheels or disks but are less expensive and less desirable than the cone-type burr grinder. Conical burr grinders effectively crush the coffee bean slowly, providing a more consistent and fine grind. They are better able to extract the full flavour of the bean, without spoiling the taste due to the friction scorching inherent in other methods.

So grab those gourmet coffee beans, grind them finely in your new burr-grinder, and join me in a cup of superb cappuccino while watching a late-release movie!

More information on Coffee Grinders can be found here.

Coffee lovers will tell you that the best coffee comes from beans grounded immediately before the coffee is brewed. Old Time coffee drinkers know this by heart. That ’s why No kitchen is complete without a coffee grinder. Waking up in the morning and grinding up a fresh batch of coffee beans and throwing it into the coffee maker and then anticipating that first sip of fresh hot coffee! Now that is the good life!

What Makes a Great Coffee Grinder?

When it comes to coffee grinders, there to basic types. One is called burr grinders and the other is called blade grinders. The difference between these two is basically how the beans are processed. Blade coffee grinders use a spinning blade to grind up the coffee beans. Burr grinders use burrs to grind up coffee beans. Burrs resemble plates with gears on them. One of the burrs is stationary, while the other one spins and grinds up the coffee beans.

When trying to make a great cup of coffee, one has to keep a couple things in mind. The taste of coffee will be affected by heat and uniformity. What this means is, heat is undesirable in a coffee grinder because it damages the coffee beans. The process of grinding coffee is relatively violent, because both blade and burr grinders in produce some heat. And of course, the faster the grinding mechanism runs; the more heat is being generated. Even finer grinds generate heat because of the extra time it takes to grind the coffee beans.

For those who are concerned about the quality of their coffee, one can purchase a low- speed burr grinder. A low speed burr will be more expensive. As well it will take longer to grind the coffee beans. But coffee purists will swear by these coffee grinders as the only way to go for a perfect cup of coffee.

Another very important factor is the uniformity of the grind. With the brewing process, the water spends a certain amount of time passing over the grinds. The uniform grinds are much more efficient at imparting flavor to the water. At first glance, the average coffee drinker may not be able to distinguish coffee that was ground from a blade grinder vs. a burr grinder. But, to a coffee purist, they will notice the difference. The blade grinder is not very good at creating a uniform grind. However, with burr grinders, they produce an exceptional uniform grind resulting in a much tastier cup of coffee.

Quite frankly, it ’s a no brainer when it comes to selecting a coffee grinder. The burr grinder s really the only way to go. However, some of the higher end models can cost several hundred dollars, thus putting them out of reach for some of the coffee lovers. However, this doesn’t mean that a small budget will always get a poor coffee grinder. Best to do a search online for burr coffee grinders. One can pick up a very nice coffee grinder for under hundred dollars. The selection is almost endless. Most coffee lovers consider a coffee grinder to be an investment and not an expense. After all, who can put the dollar value on a fantastic cup of coffee each and every morning? Yes, it is the good life!

About the Author

Kerry Ng is a successful Webmaster and publisher of The Coffee Blog. For more great helpful information about Coffee visit The Coffee Blog