Is it OK to buy a cheap coffee grinder?

by Keith
(Plano, Texas)

QUESTION:

I have noticed there is a huge difference in the prices of different coffee grinders. Anywhere from twenty to two hundred dollars. Is it OK to buy a cheap grinder? Will my coffee taste OK?

ANSWER:

You're right about the huge variation in prices of coffee grinders.

The big price differences occur because there are two different types of coffee grinder – blade grinders and burr grinders.

The blade version, which is the cheap coffee grinder, uses a rotating steel blade to smash the beans into small pieces.

The burr grinders work by crushing the coffee beans between two plates, with a gap that is usually adjustable, according to whether you want a coarse grind, a very find grind, or something in between.

The burr grinder is better.

That said, unless you are very fussy about the taste of your coffee, a cheap blade grinder will probably do you just fine.

Coffee geeks will tell you always to use a burr grinder. But half of them probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference if you served them coffee with beans ground with a twenty dollar blade grinder.

You can learn more on this topic on our coffee grinder page.