Looking for the best coffee grinders on Amazon? Well we’ve compiled our picks for the best coffee grinders based on use and type below:
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Primary Rating:
4.2
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4.4
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Primary Rating:
4.6
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Pros:
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- Capacity: 3.5/5
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Design: 4/5
- Features: 4/5
- Capacity: 4/5
- Ease of Use: 3.5/5
- Design: 3.5/5
- Features: 4/5
- Capacity: 3.5/5
- Ease of Use: 3.5/5
- Design: 4.5/5
- Features: 3.5/5
My mom has a cafeteria and I spent the past 25 years living with a big love for the coffee culture. Growing up every day hearing the grinding sound, enjoying the inspiring aroma of coffee, and sipping on that lovely bitterness gives me a big passion to dig into everything that relates to coffee.
One of the coolest things I’ve learned from mom is the journey behind the scene before a cup of coffee is brought to the table, especially how the coffee grounds come out of the grinders in different forms.
Choosing the right grinder goes far beyond the price tag, design and size. There’s much more about the technical specifications and working principles that you need to understand before buying the right one.
In this complete buying guide, I’ll break down the pros and cons of my favorite coffee grinders for different uses, what to consider before buying, and which of them I think suits you the most!
- The Best Coffee Grinder Reviews
- 1. Bodum BISTRO Burr Coffee Grinder
- 2. Fellow Ode Brew Grinder, Electric 64-mm Flat Burr Coffee Grinder
- 3. Cuisinart DBM-T10 Touchscreen Burr Grinder
- 4. Mueller Ultra-Grind Conical Burr Grinder
- 5. OXO BREW Conical Burr Coffee Grinder with Integrated Scale
- 6. Urbanic 070s Electric Coffee Grinder
- 7. Hario Ceramic Coffee Mill – "Skerton Plus"
- 8 Elements to Consider Before Buying a New Coffee Grinder
The Best Coffee Grinder Reviews
1. Bodum BISTRO Burr Coffee Grinder
An easy-to-use and versatile grinder that falls under the $100 range.
Bodum Bistro has everything it takes to be a good-value, high-performance grinder for my personal use. It gathers all the best functions I’m looking for. First of all, I love the way it comes with a step mechanism that lets me choose the right fineness I need for a certain day. I’m not a professional barista and so a step grinder is a big help!
Bodum is pretty straightforward to operate, especially with the development of an automatic timer. I love this function a lot as it saves me one step from manually measuring the coffee beans beforehand. All I need to do is put them all into the upper bean container, switch the setting from French Press to espresso, set the timer and it’s good to go!
This Bodum is developed with a conical stainless steel grinder and that’s why the grounds are consistent every time despite the fact that I’ve had it for almost a year now!
The biggest downside for me is cleaning. I know many coffee grinders have some issues with the cleaning business and Bodum is no exception. If you make French roast on a daily basis then the oily fine grounds tend to clog the machine over time. My mom had to disassemble it and let the rice run through it regularly to fully clean it out.
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2. Fellow Ode Brew Grinder, Electric 64-mm Flat Burr Coffee Grinder
This one is quiet with a modern touch and low cost.
Fellow Ode is a quiet, reasonable, and ultra-modern grinder to jot down your bucket list! I’ve never seen any grinder that has such a state-of-the-art design before and that’s why it caught my eyes right away.
Going beyond the sleek appearance is the ease of use. Even though the machine is built with a flat burr, it turns out to be helpful if you’re specifically looking for one that tackles pour-over, French press, and cold brew. The grind settings are simplified to eleven handy settings assembled around a huge sleek cast metal dial at the front of the machine.
It’s stated in the manual that the hopper is evolved from a traditional container to a single dose load bin to minimize exposure to oxygen and prevent the beans from going all stale. I personally think this is a bright idea, especially if you don’t tend to drink it up in one go.
Overall, this guy runs smoothly and fast even though it still has room for improvement. I wish it wouldn’t retain any coffee in the grinder after I finish. It doesn’t happen all the time but still nice to see the latest versions eliminate this issue.
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3. Cuisinart DBM-T10 Touchscreen Burr Grinder
Buy this if you need a modern, innovative burr grinder without breaking the bank.
Compared to Bodum above, this Cuisinart is an upgrade for me even though it’s about $30 cheaper. My favorite thing about this grinder is the touchscreen that adds technology to the accuracy I’m looking for in every type of grind.
And just like the way an innovative machine should do, this Cuisinart features an LED display where you can set the number of cups and count-down timer. For that reason, it’s really fun to tap on the icons and the grounds come out the way I want.
Cuisinart gives me 18 selections while Bodum only has 12. This difference doesn’t really hold me back in doubt but at the end of the day, it’s your decision!
I’m not surprised when this Cuisinart has the same downsides as Bodum, which all come from the static issue and noise. All in all, I still love this Cuisinart for what’s been given. The whole point is that it gives me the best grounds with an ultra-sleek touch for the design.
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4. Mueller Ultra-Grind Conical Burr Grinder
This is my favorite coffee grinder with a large capacity hopper and disassembled burr.
Uniform grinds, minimized noise, and ultra-sleek design are what I can say about this Mueller grinder, a representative from Austria. I can recommend it for any entry-level barista out there who needs a decent grinder that gives you consistent grounds and authentic flavors.
However, since the grind settings only come up to ten, it may not be the most ideal purchase if you’re high maintenance. But for family use and small bistros – get it! It works like a charm!
This guy is a super great deal! It looks so chic and clean and coordinates with any modern kitchen. The grounds are sent straight down into the container from the conical burr. It’s a huge selling point right there as the particles are not caught up around the bends or flats, leaving me a hassle-free clean-up!
I see many grinders have an embedded burr and it may give you a bit of a cleaning issue if the burr is clogged. It doesn’t happen to this Mueller. You can disassemble it in no time to check and clean.
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5. OXO BREW Conical Burr Coffee Grinder with Integrated Scale
OXO is the best buy for professional baristas who need a built-in scale to measure grounds by weight instead of time.
Choosing between this OXO and Breville smart grinder is like walking on a fine line. We like both of them and have them all at home even though there’s a gap between the way they function.
Speaking of the grind settings, Breville gives me 60 settings but OXO only offers 38. The biggest feature about OXO that Breville doesn’t have is the integrated scale.
To be honest, we don’t see many developers do this and that’s why we brought it home immediately after weighing the pros and cons.
The scale eliminates one extra step from weighing the beans on a separate scale. I love how the single dial lets us switch between Cup – Gram – Manual Mode! This is extremely helpful if you play around with different types of coffee, especially when you own a café and offer multiple types of coffee at the same time.
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6. Urbanic 070s Electric Coffee Grinder
Urbanic 070s is my favorite choice when it comes to vintage, retro-style grinders with great durability and good performance.
This Urbanic is really fun to look at and if you design your kitchen space of a coffee shop in the mid-60s influenced then this coffee grinder is a huge deal!
Going beyond the retro look is the ease of use and easy-cleaning effort. I love how the locking screw can be disassembled manually, plus the hopper and stainless steel container are detached in no time.
You have a step machine with twenty grind settings from drop to espresso. Now comes the static issue, I’m really happy with the antistatic cap installed around the grinder mouth.
Even though it’s not 100% efficient, the grounds don’t fly all over the place like what I’ve experienced with Cuisinart touchscreen and Bodum grinders. So for this one, I give it an 4/5.
This is a new item in my house and I’ve had it for a few months now. So far the durability is no complaint. This is not a lightweight machine but to make up for this, the noise is minimal. I know the price tag can hold you back but I do think it’s worth an investment.
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7. Hario Ceramic Coffee Mill – “Skerton Plus”
This is a handy and durable manual coffee grinder to bring home.
I also have my go-to manual grinder and Hario “Skerton Plus” is what I chose to recommend. Some of my friends are wondering when on earth would we ever use a manual grinder that wears us out! Think about when our electricity is out and other machines don’t work, at least you have something easy to use to quench your thirst for coffee!
I appreciate the fact that it lets me grind coarse or fine grinds by grinding clockwise or counterclockwise. This is a single serving grinder and the maximum batch it can give on one full cycle is around 21 grams of beans. I’ve had it for over a year and am still impressed at the durability.
The ground is consistent even though you may notice not all particles come out the same if you produce a coarse grind, but it’s better on a finer grind. All in all, this Hario ceramic plus is a good compromise given the price it’s offered at.
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8 Elements to Consider Before Buying a New Coffee Grinder
1. Burr Grinder or Blade Grinder?
There are two mains types of coffee grinders in the market:
- Blade grinder.
- Burr grinder.
Each of them has a different range of accuracy, price tag, performance, and fineness of the ground coffee. Let’s break down the working principles, pros, and cons of each!
Blade Coffee Grinder
Amongst those three, blade grinders are the cheapest but it also affects the fineness of ground coffee. With a blade grinder, you spin the blades quickly like a propeller to cut up the beans into smaller bits. The longer you spin the blade, the finer the powder is. Due to the low accuracy of the blades, your grounds tend to vary in size and the coffee can be under-extracted and less flavorful.
Based on the working principle of the blade system, a blade grinder is much likely to generate heat if it’s operated over a long cycle. The heat will affect the tasting profile of the grinds. Last but not least, a blade grinder is relatively noisy compared to a manual and burr grinder, which may not be the best idea if you use it in a coffee shop.
However, I don’t say that it’s worthless to buy a blade grinder. This item is easy to use and pretty straightforward, plus the low cost is a great fit for those who don’t want to invest in a high-performance grinder for professional use.
Burr Coffee Grinder
Thanks to the high accuracy and consistent particle sizes, burr coffee grinders are the most popular choice for professional baristas. A burr grinder is also known as a burr mill. It involved two revolving burrs, one stands still while the other one is a moving wheel and the beans are sandwiched and crushed in between the burrs.
The coarseness of the grounds is determined by the position of the burr. Therefore, a burr grinder is developed with multiple settings letting you decide the right fineness of the coffee.
Choosing the right burr coffee grinder can be boiled down to either flat burrs and conical burrs. A flat burr set comprises two compatible wheels stacked over one another. The gap in between the wheels is where the coffee bean ground particles pass through.
Meanwhile, a conical burr set has a ring and a cone shape that fits into one another. The gap between the ring and the cone shape allows the particles to pass through.
When you adjust the fineness of the grounds, you adjust the size of the gap. A flat burr relatively generates more noise when the wheel spins quickly to grind the beans while the conical one can work at a slower speed which doesn’t produce that much noise and heat. For that reason, a flat burr grinder is priced lower than a conical one.
2. Electric Grinder or Manual Grinder?
Even though the biggest difference between an electric and manual grinder is price, there are other elements to put into consideration. A high-performance electric grinder can be priced at $100 while a good manual counterpart is offered at much less.
A manual grinder doesn’t eat up much space and its portability lets you carry it wherever you want.
However, making up for this price gap is the hard work and elbow grease. A cup of coffee equals one minute grinding the beans by hand. If you are fine to exchange the high price with your time and effort, then a manual grinder is perfectly fine!
On the other hand, an electric coffee grinder is a top choice if you own a business. And for that reason, investing $100 or even $1000 is totally worth it. The best automatic grinder will come with a pulse, large capacity, auto-grind, and timed ground functions.
3. Capacity
A grinder with a smaller capacity is a perfect choice if you need it for yourself or in a small family. A larger capacity makes more sense if you have a café as you need to serve a big group of customers at a time.
4. Grind Settings
Speaking of grind settings, you will look at the adjustment mechanisms. When browsing through the grinders, you will see the terms “stepped” or “stepless/no-step”. A stepless grinder has an infinite number of grind settings that allow you to finely tune your grinder to a perfect extract without any limit.
Whereas a stepped grinder features a preset notch with pre-determined settings like fine or coarse grinds that you can select before operating the machine. I see that most electric burr grinders are stepped. Overall, a stepless grinder is priced higher than a stepped grinder.
5. Heat
Heat plays a major role in defining your coffee flavor. You don’t want a fast grinder to produce more heat which tends to burn the coffee particles and change its tasting profile. Apparently, a grinder with heat control may cost more than its other counterparts.
But at the end of the day, it’s a one-time investment that contributes to the satisfaction of your customers and the consistency of your brand.
6. Burr Material
The most common material you see in a burr is stainless steel. It’s durable, safe, and sharp for the grounds. From my personal experience, it also costs less when you need replacement and it’s easy to find. Another material to be found in the market is ceramic.
Honestly, a ceramic burr is even more durable than stainless steel but it’s time-consuming to replace the burrs and more expensive. If you’re an espresso lover, a ceramic burr would perform better as they grind the beans to finer particles.
7. Cleaning
Everyone needs an easy-cleaning coffee grinder, hands down! Cleaning a coffee grinder should be straightforward and not take up too much time to brush off all the leftover particles. Most of the coffee grinders come with a brush.
An easy-cleaning grinder doesn’t need me to bother with a screwdriver. And that’s why all parts should be disassembled by hands for cleaning in no time.
8. Price Tag
An electric coffee grinder apparently costs more than a manual one. Likewise, a burr grinder is priced higher than a blade one. You will pay more for a better performance grinder but it doesn’t mean a manual one doesn’t do the job.
For example, an OXO brew conical burr with integrated scale climbs up to the $200 – $300 range, while the Urbanic flat burr grinder is around $180. In the lower price range between $20 – $40, my favorite manual grinder is Hario Ceramic Mill which is priced at $36. A conical grinder is more expensive than flat burrs, and even a manual grinder with a conical burr is priced higher than an electrical one with a blade system.
Don’t forget that I also reviewed the ten best blenders and you can check them out right here! I’ll walk you through a buying guide, what to consider before purchasing, as well as my favorite brands for different purposes and budgets.