I mainly want to get a coffee grinder because beans have a longer shelf life and are cheaper. If I also get better coffee, that’s a bonus! (Basically, I’m not looking for a premium option)
What is something I should pay attention to when buying a grinder. I see people mention “flat burr” grinders all the time. Is that something important?
A few years ago I bought a cheap terrible manual coffee grinder off Amazon. It took 5-10mins to grind my coffee. The grounds where too course and my hands hurt. Is the experience better with higher quality manual grinders? At the moment, I’m not a huge fan of manual grinders because of this experience and am leaning towards buying an electrical one.
What makes a coffee grinder better than others? What is the difference between premium and budget options?
What is your budget?
If you don’t have much money to spend then the Timemore C2 is often available for around $50. Around $100 there are the Kingrinder K0 and Timemore C3. Getting into the $150 are the Kingrinder K6 and some grinders from 1Zpresso.
If you have to have electric then don’t buy anything cheaper than a Baratza Encore.
Nice recommendations! I will keep that in mind. I dont want to mention a budget because this post isn’t supposed to be a “Pick a grinder for me post”. I’m just trying to understand what separates good grinders from bad grinders, so I can make an informed decision myself. The recommendations are still appreciated tho because it gives me a good idea of what brands are good.
Things are so much better now than they were 10 to 20 years ago. Now there are many good entry level hand grinders that are perfectly fine for the home brewer.
What makes a good grinder better than another are the same things for many tools or gear: Build quality and features.
Now there are quite a few well built inexpensive grinders. The differences are burr geometry but that is often a matter of personal preference and not a clear better or worse. The ability to easily adjust the grinder is nice. Ease of use. The amount of grinds they retain (more of an issue with electric grinders than hand grinders). Capacity: A lot of hand grinders don’t hold much more than 20 grams so brewing for more than one person is a lot of work.
If I were buying a pour over only electric grinder, I would probably buy a Fellow Ode 2.