For people that have an understanding of great coffee, they know that one of the most important aspects in the brewing process is a proper grind. It’s not enough to simply purchase ground beans from your local coffee chain, nor does it make sense to grind your beans at home with an inferior grinder. Truly great coffee must be ground carefully, using a conical burr type grinder. The following article will make a case for the use of a burr style grinder and will serve to educate you on the importance of grind size and consistency.
The three most important aspects of brewing drip coffee in your best small coffee machine are the temperature of the brew water, bean freshness and the quality of the grind. Although it’s somewhat more difficult to control the freshness of the beans, it’s very possible to influence the grind quality by purchasing a conical burr grinder. There is one key difference that sets the burr grinder apart from the less desirable blade or whirly bird grinder, which is the mechanism that performs the grind. A burr grinder uses a moving grinding wheel to grind the beans against a non-movable surface, creating a uniform grind. On the contrary, a blade grinder pulverizes the beans into many different sized particles, including a fair amount of dust, which can create bitterness in the final cup. A quality burr grinder will not produce dust.
Burr grinders are also great because they typically include a hopper where the beans are meant to be placed. The whole beans flow down the hopper and collect inside a bin located beneath as they are ground. In this way, the beans are only ground once and aren’t subject to repeated grinding as they are in a blade grinder. A quality, entry-level conical burr grinder will set you back about $80, though the investment you will be making toward better coffee is worth the price.
For more information on coffee grinders, small coffee makers and coffee accessories, please visit Best Small Coffee Maker.