Best Manual Burr Grinder – A Guide for the Novice Coffee Drinker
We’ve probably written it dozens of times, though it bears repeating – brewing great coffee really comes down to a few basic things – the freshness of the coffee beans, the temperature of the brew water and the quality of the grind. Instead of boring you with discussions about roast profiles and water filtration, we’ll focus on providing you with the information you need in order to select the best manual burr grinder out there.
When it comes to coffee grinders there are essentially 2 types – electric grinders that use either a blade or burr mechanism or manual grinders that almost always employ the use of burrs. In case you aren’t completely up to speed with the advantages that burr grinders have to offer, just know that a burr grinder is what you want. Although blade grinders are cheap, they simply won’t provide you with the type of grind that is necessary to brew great tasting coffee.
Assuming you don’t want a blade grinder (hint, hint), you will need to choose between an electric or manual burr grinder. In our opinion, the choice really is a personal one – there is no right or wrong decision. Certainly there is something special about a manual coffee grinder; they are great when you want just a small amount of coffee or when you just don’t feel like listening to the high pitched whirl of an electric motor. Besides, hand crank coffee mills are just plain cool – they look sophisticated and offer the user a bit of historical perspective on how coffee was once brewed.
Selecting the best manual burr grinder is really all about 2 factors – the shape of the grinder and how it’s loaded. Shape is important because it will influence how easy or difficult it will be to grind the beans. In other words, you want to choose a grinder that will provide you with enough leverage to grind at the finest setting. Grinding beans by hand is cool, but working up a sweat while doing so definitely is not.
Rather than provide a list of the best manual burr grinders, we will refer you to one of our favorite online specialty retailers – Sweet Marias. Be sure to check out their grinder comparison chart for more information about the manual coffee grinders they sell.
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