For Great Coffee, This Is The Tool The Experts Say To Blow It Up (Not The Brewer)
If you’re a lifelong coffee drinker, you probably have your own method down, and your own small collection of brewing tools. drippingespresso or to pour over. While the brewer is a key part of making consistently good coffee, it’s just one of the many factors that affect what you keep in your kegs.
Finding the right ratio of coffee to water is important, and experts suggest a golden ratio for doing so. Beyond weight and measurements, the fineness or darkness of the grind is just as important, and often overlooked in coffee brewing.
Grinding freshly roasted beans at home is what many experts recommend, but having access to any grinder in your kitchen can spoil the result.
The best coffee grinders produce evenly ground beans, giving you greater control and a more balanced brew. And speaking of bestwe refer to burr grinders.
What is a burr grinder, and how does it work?
A burr grinder gives you maximum control over the beans you use to make a cup of coffee — it’s one of the most important coffee tools you can own.
Unlike a blade grinder, which grinds coffee beans by cutting them, burr coffee grinders crush them. Burr grinders use abrasive or notched discs or plates, known as burrs, that rotate horizontally or concentrically.
“A burr grinder gives you maximum control,” emphasizes Kaleena Teoh. Teoh is the founder and education director of Coffee Project New York, and praises burr grinders for “giving you the power to make coffee the way you want it.”
Burr grinders are able to grind beans evenly and to a fine coarseness.
As the coffee beans squeeze between them, they are crushed to a set size determined by the distance between the two burrs, which can be adjusted to suit both the type of coffee being made and personal preference.
When you use a burr grinder, the coffee beans are ground to a predetermined size — more consistent than a burr grinder.
Why is a burr grinder better than a blade grinder
“With a blade grinder, there is no way for us to confirm how the beans move through the grinder, which works like a blender,” said Teoh. “He cuts and chops the beans at different angles,” as he randomly flies around the chamber of the grinder.
No matter how long you run the mill, you still have a chance of getting a wide range of particle sizes in the finished mill, “from really fine sizes to really big stones in there,” he says.
Blade grinders do not grind at all. Instead, they hack and cut the beans at different angles, resulting in an uneven grind.
By comparison, the main purpose of burr grinders is consistency, as the design of the machine forces the beans to move between the burrs in a certain way. (One of two direct methods, shown below.) “You’re always going to have slightly different particle sizes,” says Teoh, no matter what type of grinder you use, “but in a burr grinder, that range is very small compared to a blade grinder.”
Flat burr grinders versus conical burr grinders
There is a slight difference in particle size distribution between conical and flat burr grinders, but both can achieve professional grade results.
Burr grinders come in two forms: flat burr grinders, where two ring-shaped burrs are stacked on top of each other in the same way. The beans are then inserted into the inner ring and forced between the burrs before emerging from the sides. Conical burr grinders consist of one ring-shaped burr, and one conical burr, which works deep, the beans pass between them and exit through a chute at the bottom.
Read more: The Fellow Ode Brew Grinder is a Wonderful Gift for the Coffee Snob
“Both flat burrs and conical burrs can give you good results, Teoh says, “as long as you can understand how to dial in your coffee.”
Burr grinders of any style can be pre-calibrated for specific coffee styles, such as pour-over or espresso, or they can offer a variety of grind sizes. However, everything is adjustable, allowing you to fine-tune the grind to achieve the desired flavor in the finished dish.
There are two types of coffee grinders to choose from: burr grinders or flat conical grinders.
There is little difference in particle size distribution between flat and conical burr grinders, which is largely a matter of preference. “A flat burr gives you a grind where most of the particles after grinding will be a constant size, and with a conical burr, it gives you two sets of grind sizes, with one fine group and one coarse group,” said Teoh.
The argument for the conical burr grinder is that this gives you a more complex shot of espresso due to having two different extraction rates; However, “The Specialty Coffee Association did a lot of research and tasting and decided that it’s very difficult for people to tell the difference.”
The key to choosing a burr grinder is to choose one that matches your use, as some burr grinders are pre-calibrated to produce a specific range of grounds for a specific style of coffee: very fine, powdery espresso grounds or large, sea salt-sized grounds for pouring or French press. Some burr grinders offer different settings for different types of coffee.
Burr Grinders: Good products and moderate cost
You don’t need to spend a lot of money on a burr coffee grinder, but make sure you choose one from a reputable brand.
Burr grinders come in electronic or hand-crank models and, like any kitchen appliance, you can spend a lot of money on one, but you don’t have to. Teoh says he uses different types of grinds with Coffee Project New York; among the professional products he likes, such as Mahlkönig and Victoria Arduino, there are several he recommends for home use:
Beans matter too
The main purpose of burr grinders is consistency, so it is worth having one in your kitchen if you are a coffee lover.
If you are thinking of getting serious about a burr grinder, you should too get serious about beans. Your supermarket whole beans probably aren’t worth the splurge. Notably, in burr grinders, especially hand-crank models, the darker the roast, the more brittle it is and the easier it is to grind. So, factor the roast of your choice into your purchasing decision.
As for improving consistency and control with a burr grinder, “buy coffee from your local roasters,” advises Teoh. “They tend to roast every day of the week, and then they give you fresh coffee. And the fresher the coffee, the better it smells and tastes better.”
