Different Types of Coffee Grinders
Ever since Starbucks changed the way people drink coffee in the United States, coffee grinders have become an important appliance in the home of any serious coffee drinker. The best coffee is always made when it is brewed from coffee grounds that were ground up from beans only moments before being put into the coffee maker. This is how you can get the freshest coffee every time. Since the beans aren't ground up until just before brewing, they will lose none of their aromatic qualities or flavors. Coffee grinders continue to grow in popularity as more and more people are becoming true coffee experts and grinding their own whole beans for their morning coffee.
The two main types of coffee grinders are the blade coffee grinder, and the burr coffee grinder. Blade coffee grinders are generally much cheaper than the burr grinders and this is part of the reason that they are more widespread. Using a blade coffee grinder will enable you to consistently make very good coffee, very cheaply. The way these grinders operate is by using a basic blade that spins very quickly in order to break down the coffee beans into smaller and smaller pieces until they are only coffee grounds. You can compare this process to crushing ice in a blender. How fine you want the grind depends on personal coffee taste, but you can control the grind level by simply controlling how long you want the blade to spin.
Unfortunately, since the only way to control a blade grinder is by controlling how long you grind the beans, it is often difficult to get any form of consistency in the level of grind from your coffee beans. Even if you were to use a stop watch and always turn the blade grinder off at the exact same time, your grind may be slightly different every single time. The simple design of a blade grinder also creates a substantial level of heat within the unit which can affect the quality of the coffee. In fact, the heat can actually destroy some of the flavor you are trying to release from the beans. However, blade grinders are very popular simply because they usually cost much less than burr grinders.
Burr coffee grinders incorporate a design in which the beans are loaded into an overhead 'hopper' that enables the beans to be fed downward into the grinding portion of the appliance. After the beans have passed through the grinding section (the burrs), the grounds fall into a collection container directly below the burrs. Some burr grinders even deposit the coffee grounds directly into a coffee filter, ready to be placed into the basket of a coffee machine. People who decide to purchase a burr grinder find them much easier to use, and much more convenient than a blade coffee grinder. However, the main reason that people choose burr grinders over blade grinders is because it is possible to get a consistent grind every time with a burr grinder - unlike the blade grinder.
For anyone who truly loves to drink coffee, and wants to taste everything that the coffee bean has to offer, investing into a quality coffee grinder is an important step towards brewing the perfect coffee cup.