The Best ​​Coffee ​Grinder

The Baratza Virtuoso is universally one of the top reviewed coffee grinders on the market, and for good reason. If you understand the importance of a good grinder in making a proper cup of coffee, you will fully appreciate everything the Baratza has to offer. For starters, it has conical burr which automatically place in a category well above any blade grinders.

Its metal casing gives it both stability, build quality, and a pleasant aesthetic. One of the reasons Baratza products frequently rank high is because they are a brand that is solely focused on grinders. They do one thing, and they make sure they do it well. The Baratza has a whopping 40 grind settings, allowing it to grind for any brew between pour over and french press and gives you lots of freedom to experiment.

The Baratza is easily the best pour over grinder for its price. Even its filter grind is fantastically uniform. You can also set the grinder for timed or manual grinding depending on how involved you want to be.

Its minimalist design makes it easy to use, and it’s even quiet! With its 450 rpm burr speed, you’ll be surprised how uninvasive the grinding noise is. In its extreme settings (namely espresso and french), the Baratza does lack a bit of consistency. There are also no indicators on the dial, which means you do have to do a bit of trial and error when you first get this machine. The time knob is also a little loose, but shouldn’t cause too much hassle if you’re aware of it. Overall, the Baratza Virtuoso is an all around fantastic grinder from a well trusted brand in the market. Its price is well justified for its performance, and most importantly, the supreme quality of the coffee it will produce.

If you want a taste of what a top tier grinder is without going full commercial model, the Rancilio HSD-ROC-SD is a prime example. It’s a bit pricier than what we generally suggest as your first high quality grinder, but for good reason - and still reasonably affordable. It goes without saying, the Rancilio is a conical burr grinder and is often cited at the premier model in its category. You can chose to have the doser or doserless model, but you do need to weigh your beans first for the manual doser.

It boasts a 50 mm conical grind, with 55 stepped grind settings. The dial only goes up to 40, so beyond that settings are more experimental coarse grind and designed to let you play around. We found it does take a little trial and error and some patience to get really good coarse grind for a french press. Because it’s so powerful, it is a bit louder than some models and relatively bulky in size. But overall, the Rancilio is an undoubtedly quality grinder that won’t leave you wanting in any category.  

We all know that hand grinders are inherently less powerful and have less grind settings than their electric counterparts, but there is still a place for them in all our hearts. Not only are they vastly cheaper, some models are surprisingly adept at producing beautiful, uniform coffee grounds.

The Porlex Mini is exemplary of what a hand grinder should be. Its conical ceramic burrs prevent unwanted heat exposure to your beans, and are also naturally static free (that means easier clean up for you)! It also has a spring system on the central burr that keeps the mechanism in place on large grind settings for better uniformity and smooth grinding. It’s stainless steel, making it easy to clean and resistant to the usual wear and tear. As any hand grinder, it is not ideal for grinding large amounts of coffee.

The process is also a lot more involved than an electric grinder that will grind away at the push of a button. The Porlex Mini is a portable, lightweight, durable grinder for the frugal and authentic coffee lover.

Just to get the downsides out of the way, the KRUPS GX5000 is not the most sophisticated grinder on our list.We found that the Krups tends to be make grind that is a little less uniform than other models. There tends to be a buildup of fine grinds in all settings, making for slightly more bitter coffee. It’s not the most ideal grinder for french presses, and it also measures in cups rather that weight, so you may have to do some conversions.

It’s true that for a flat burr grinder it’s performance is a little sub par, but as a budget grinder in general it is excellent. Considering the widespread popularity of blade grinders, which are notoriously the worst for grind uniformity, the Krups if miles ahead of what most people use as their household grinder. It boasts 9 grind levels, each with 5 intermediary steps, giving you a nice range of grind settings. It brews between 2 and 12 cups of coffee, and it’s also not too loud. So if you’re on a tight budget, this grinder is hard to beat in terms of functionality.

Bodum pumps out a lot of midrange coffee products, and generally speaking they’re often our go to brand for good quality at a good price. A couple things stand out about the Bodum Bistro, starting with its unique design. It’s a different looking grinder that comes in 7 colour options and a choice of plastic or metal protective coatings. It’s a stainless steel conical burr grinder with static free grinding and easy disassembly (great for cleaning).

It only has 12 adjustable grind settings, but these range from espresso to french press so you’re still getting good variety. It has a friction clutch that protects the grinding gear, one of many features built to ensure the Bodum Bistro lives a long life. Because the burrs are stainless steel, they are prone to overheating (which can affect the aroma of the coffee), so the Bodum Bistro automatically grinds for only 20 seconds at a time. For the most part this time limit is more than enough, but you find it a bit annoying if you’re grinding larger quantities of coffee. Overall, it gives you everything you’d want in a quality grinder, and the durability we’ve come to trust from the Bodum brand.

We can’t hide our love for hand grinders, and the JavaPress Manual is definitely one of our favourites. It has a charmingly simple stainless steel design and holds up to 40 grams of coffee. Despite its tiny size, it still adjusts to 20 different grind settings from espresso to french press. We found that in practice, it seems to be more like 15-18 distinct grind settings, which is still impressive as far as manual grinders go. It has ceramic combo burrs, which tend to be more durable and produce more uniform grinds than stainless steel burrs do. It is, of course, also very quiet compared to any electric grinders.

It’s size is limiting, so it’s not ideal for brewing large amounts of coffee. We also found that the detachable hand crank can be a bit unstable at times. Nonetheless, this the perfect portable hand grinder to add to your coffee arsonal.