this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
71 points (96.1% liked)

Coffee

8271 readers
1 users here now

☕ - The hot beverage that powers the world!

Coffee gadgets - It's always great to learn about new gadgets. Please share your favorite hardware or full setups. It might inspire newcomers to experiment!

Local businesses - Please promote your local businesses. If you are not the owner of the business you are promoting, kindly ask the owner if it's okay. It would be great if the business has a physical store to include an exterior or interior shot.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

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?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (7 children)

There are a few things to note: burr vs blade. You do not want a blade, because as others have said, the key to the grind is consistency of granules. Coffee ground too fine tends to over-extract, be bitter, and even clog equipment. Coffee ground too coarsely will under-extract, taste kinda earthy & "bleh", and it's a waste of bean.

The two best electric burr models on the budget side of things, AFAIK, is the the Capresso Infinity & the Baratza Encore.

The Capresso Infinity is the cheapest quality burr grinder you can get; it is gentle & slow grinding. Very consistent. Unit size is small, which is nice.

The Baratza Encore is SUCH a capable grinder. Very well known. It's got a nice "heft" to it, so it stays put while grinding. I had a very oily bean that I sent through the Encore, so much that it choked & stopped up. I carefully cleaned it all out & it works just fine. What a champion!! Unlike the Capresso Infinity, it can crank out a more than acceptable espresso-level fine grind.

Between capability & reliability, the Baratza Encore wins my endorsement. If you don't care about espresso & you just want a good machine without spending all the money, then & only then would I recommend Capresso Infinity.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Also they sometimes sell refurbished Encores on their site for a discount. But honestly new, they're still very reasonable. My refurb looked brand new and has been serving me well for 2 years.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I was going to suggest refurb, too, but looking around their site there is no longer a page for refurbs. A little googling and it appears since Breville bought them in 2020 they've gone downhill some.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Oh that's a bummer! I bought mine in 2022 and didn't know that.

load more comments (4 replies)