Is it Bad to Use a Cheap Coffee Grinder?



Hannah explores whether a cheap coffee grinder is negatively affecting the cup of coffee you’re drinking and whether expensive burr grinders are actually worth it.

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31 Comments

  1. I've been using the blade grinder you've been recommending for years and I can't stand the fact that it always builds up one giant lump of overly finely ground coffee in the bottom of one side no matter how much I shake or pulse it which clogs up my filters, please recommend a new one

  2. April 2022, I bought the Krups blade grinder at Walmart for $19. It's been a good purchase & my 1st coffee grinder. I'm not a picky coffee drinker. I just wanted to up my coffee game just a bit.

  3. Drip brew is more tolerant of variability – mostly anything will do.
    With espresso machines you HAVE to use burr grinders to be able dial in the correct size geind to equal correct brew volume/time.

  4. meh… it's all the same, the entire theory behind burr being better is from the internet and social media, it's worked it's tricks as it always does and has convinced people that unless they believe in the idea that burr tastes better they're somehow inferior human beings. Are there scientifically measurable differences? Sure, but you and I aren't machines.

  5. Using a blade grinder is like throwing darts blindfolded. Can you hit the bullseye? Yes, technically you *can*. Are you going to do it reliably? Not without a ton of practice and luck.

  6. I got the Capresso Infinity Conical burr grinder cuz Test Kitchen had such great reviews on it. But the metal part of the burr on my grinder has gotten many spots of erosion on it and I am really disappointed that the metal can degrade like that after a year. I called their customer svs and they said the coffee beans' oil can do that. Wow……..

  7. Those coffee elitists must hate, that a 10$ maschine is the same as their 300$ maschine.
    Just look around any other youtube video, they will still defend the 300$ as "expensive, but if you want the best reasonable". Talking about self-dillusion here.

  8. There are some bad blade grinders. These are the ones that heat up so bad they cook the beans while grinding. Or have a huge gap under the blade causing over grinding to get all the chunks broke up.

  9. So the thought is that the cheapest coffee grinder is best. Not really, cheaper grinders use block burrs that produce high amounts of fine. And also sound like vacuums. Spending 100+ on a burr grinder would be sufficient.

  10. When blade grinders are compared to entry level burr grinders for methods where grind size isn’t as detrimental blade grinders tend to do somewhat better. But with espresso, where blade grinders are compared with higher end grinders then it’s obvious burr grinders evidently win

  11. For me personally, freshly ground coffee is way better than pre ground. And burr grinders are better than blade, but specifically for French press. I have used a blade grinder for drip and espresso just fine. But I have had a very hard time using a blade grinder to get my grounds actually ground, but not so fine that I have a ton of crap at the bottom of my cup of French press coffee.

  12. Thanks for making this very useful video. This question is no different than: best wine, best audio speaker, best phone, best car, … It really boils down to how thick is your wallet. My gripe about burr grinder is that it is too expensive compared to the blade grinder. I can buy a blade grinder for $10, where as the burr grinder costs $100+. So, this is exactly what I was looking for.

  13. it's better to use a good coffee grinder over an expensive coffee maker. I know this for a fact, because my rancho silvia espresso machine needed service every ten or so years and I used my old espresso machine that is total crap when that happens, I've got it stored away nice and dry and clearn, but keep it just for when my good machine needs serving. even with my rancho rockey grinder, I made some really amazingly not bad coffee from a total peace of it machine. better then I did with my old grinder that I thought was good grinder but clearly no up to the task when it comes to a real espresso machine's needs to turn that coffee to gunpowder.

  14. it's better to use a good coffee grinder over an expensive coffee maker. I know this for a fact, because my rancho silvia espresso machine needed service every ten or so years and I used my old espresso machine that is total crap when that happens, I've got it stored away nice and dry and clearn, but keep it just for when my good machine needs serving. even with my rancho rockey grinder, I made some really amazingly not bad coffee from a total peace of it machine. better then I did with my old grinder that I thought was good grinder but clearly no up to the task when it comes to a real espresso machine's needs to turn that coffee to gunpowder.

  15. it's better to use a good coffee grinder over an expensive coffee maker. I know this for a fact, because my rancho silvia espresso machine needed service every ten or so years and I used my old espresso machine that is total crap when that happens, I've got it stored away nice and dry and clearn, but keep it just for when my good machine needs serving. even with my rancho rockey grinder, I made some really amazingly not bad coffee from a total peace of it machine. better then I did with my old grinder that I thought was good grinder but clearly no up to the task when it comes to a real espresso machine's needs to turn that coffee to gunpowder.

  16. Your test can't be too conclusive. First, I'm sure your people who use the blade to grind the coffee know how to grind coffee for consistency. There's method to achieve this that requires the person who grinds to be attentive. Pulse, stop, shake, examine ground… So your result of the ground using the blade is probably not much different than the grounds going through the burr. But at home, for common folks, it's probably too much work to grind the coffee with the blade grinder that would achieve accuracy and consistency. So the burr grinder should be the way to go.

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