Types of coffee grinders
If the grinder, is not of a very good quality, you will get lots of dust in the coffee. Dust will get into the coffee mainly when you do coffee via French press, Vietnamese or steel filters.
There are two basic types of coffee grinders: blade, and burr grinders.
Blade grinders
Blade coffee grinders use a simple technology and are therefore less expensive than burr grinders. They typically have a metal blade that starts to spin at a high speed once we press the button. The coffee beans are chopped into small pieces.
Blade coffee grinders have disadvantages that will have an effect on the taste of the final coffee drink:
- They produce a less uniform grind. The size ranges from powder to chunks. We don’t have the option to chose a grind size.
- The high speed of the blade tends to heat the beans, which weakens aroma and flavour of the final drink.
Burr grinders
Burr grinders, on the other hand use either flat or conical burrs that funnel the beans (a few at a time) through the grinding area to crush the beans. They create a uniform grind and only a minimum amount of dust. Burr grinders are usually made of stainless steel or ceramic.
Since the grinder is one of the most important instruments for preparing coffee, I would invest in quality equipment. Especially for beginners and home baristas the best option is a quality manual burr grinder.
The approx. recomadations for coffee grinding for coffee brewing methods. Myself, I am grinding coffee depand of coffee processing method, in tab. The geographical origin is important, also. Other criterium for me is: what kind of dripper / pour-over I will use.
| Roast level> Coffee process | Light roast | Medium roast | Dark roast |
| Natural process | Medium | Medium – coarse | Coarse |
| Honey process | Medium – Fine | Medium | Coarse |
| Wet process | Fine | Medium | Coarse |