A coffee grinder is an important appliance for coffee drinkers. It grinds the beans for brewing purposes. It produces fresh and aromatic flavors of coffee. It can make fine or coarse grounds, depending on the user. It has become more popular now, tracing its beginnings in the old fashioned pestle and mortar.

A coffee grinder works in two different ways – manual or electric. Manual grinders have cranks that can be removed for grinding. Electric grinders are plugged in a power outlet to do the job.

Coffee grinders have two main types – the blade grinder and burr grinder. These are the parts that directly grind the beans.

Bladed grinders use rotating metal blades that chop up coffee beans. A user can control how fine he wants his beans to be. It is mainly for home use. It is simple and more inexpensive. It is easy to maintain and clean.

Blade grinders however have a tendency to produce unevenly sized coffee grounds. It therefore results to poor brew quality. Also, leaving the beans in long grinding periods creates heat onto the blade, causing a somewhat burned coffee taste because of friction.

There is also the tendency to produce coffee dust, clogging sieves in espresso machines and French presses. It cannot achieve the consistency of an espresso machine. Too much exposure of the surface area onto hot water can result to bitter tasting coffee.

Top brands of bladed grinders are the Braun Aromatic KSM2-B Coffee Grinder, Krups Fast Touch Grinder and the Jura-Capresso 501 Electric Blades Grinder.

On the other hand, burr grinders are adjustable and can determine granule size. The flat wheel burr grinders use a wheel type to get the desired coarseness or fineness of the ground. Beans are loaded onto the overhead hopper that usually feeds downward onto the grinding area of the appliance.

It crushes the beans amidst a moving grinding wheel and a non-moving surface area. The position regulates the ground size for a consistent grind. Thus, coffee grounds fall into the collection container or directly onto the coffee filter.

Burr grinders are mostly used in coffee shops. It produces an even grind and spins very fast. It allows more control with the desired ground type. Range of settings can be set for an espresso, French press, percolators and drip coffee. It produces less heat so as to avoid changes in coffee taste. It is less expensive, easy to use and convenient.

On the downside, burr grinders can be noisy. The high speed rotation can make the job messy. The beans can get stuck often from a hopper. It needs to be stirred to flow onto the disks again.

Conical Burr Grinders use a conical shaped surface for grinding beans. It is considered the best type, grinding beans very consistently. It spins slower, making it quieter and less messy. It can be used for flavored or oily coffees. The beans clog less, create less friction and less static electricity. It is however more expensive that other types.

Top brands of burr grinders are the Delonghi DCCG39 Grinder, Solis Maestro Coffee Grinder and the KitchenAid KCG200 Model A-9 Coffee Mill.