Best Coffee Grinder: Our Review of the Best Burr Coffee Grinder (Updated)

Did you know that when you grind your coffee beans, over 70% of the flavor is lost within 15 minutes? If you want to make amazing coffee at home, grinding your own beans right before brewing your coffee is an essential part of the process. For that reason, finding the best coffee grinder that you can afford should be at the top of your list.

The difference between using a good burr grinder and a poor blade grinder can make all the difference, so it's important to know what to look for. By treating yourself to any of these coffee grinders, you will finally have the power in your hands to brew better coffee at home. So, which coffee grinders should you be on the lookout for above all else?

Just so you know, if you click on a product and decide to buy it, we may earn a small commission.

---

Best Coffee Grinders

1. Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

OUR TOP PICK

What kinds of qualities are going to impact your decision on which is the best coffee grinder to buy? There are plenty of qualities to think about, but one of the main ones is exemplified by the Baratza Encore grinder: choice of grind settings.

Simply, you will often require different grind sizes when you are grinding coffee. Needing a more coarse grind for one type of bean and fine for another. With the Baratza grinder, you get a choice of 40 different grind options, meaning you can always produce coffee that is suited to your palate perfectly. So, whether you need a grind for drip or manual brew, or whether you’re looking at brewing espresso, you can do it all with the one grinder.

But that’s not all that makes the Baratza grinder so great. This grinder is known to produce a flavorful and balanced extraction, making it perfect for espresso and many other kinds of coffee. It comes with a highly efficient DC motor, which helps to keep the beans cool even if you grind them for an extended period. It is also one of the quieter machines on the market, great news when you’re trying to brew the perfect cup of coffee in the morning without waking anyone up.

All in all, this grinder is a fantastic entry-level choice for the newcomer to coffee brewing, thanks largely to its user-friendly design. The front-mounted pulse button means you can grind directly into the basket of your choice, making this a great all-rounder choice if you are just starting out in grinding your own coffee at home.

Use this grinder, and you will certainly soon appreciate the improvement in flavor and freshness of your home brewed coffee. Plus, it is one of the quicker grinders out there, so you can have your beans ground and ready to be brewed in no time, every time.

Pros Over 40 grind settings for expert quality brews. Specialty Coffee Association award winning. Highest rated entry level conical burr grinder

Check Price

---

2. Breville Smart Grinder Pro

When it comes to making specialty coffee drinks, many home coffee connoisseur have heard of Breville. They may even have a Breville espresso machine sitting on their kitchen counter as we speak. Many of these machines are already designed with a built in coffee grinder, but not all. For the diverse coffee drinker out there needing a grinder, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro may be the way to go.

First off, the design of this coffee bean grinder is simple and sleek. It has options for multiple finishes, which enables the consumer to match their coffee grinders to their existing kitchen appliances. This particular machine is a conical burr coffee grinder, which allows for the beans to be evenly ground while not over producing heat during the grinding process.

The design of the Breville allows for the coffee grounds to go into portafilter, grinds container, gold tone filter basket or paper filter. This conical burr grinder is relatively user friendly with many different grind settings, however reviews state that it is best to consult the user guide before using the burr grinder.

Pros 60 grind settings from espresso to French press. Highest rated stainless steel burr grinder. Sleek design and easy to use.

Check Price

---

3. Baratza Virtuoso+

Self proclaimed coffee snobs unite for the Baratza Virtuoso+, which has been awarded by the Specialty Coffee Association. This particular conical burr grinder has 40 grind settings, making it ideal for grinding a wide variety of coffee beans from cold brew to espresso. Whether you're someone who likes to grind fresh beans with each cup of coffee (which we recommend) or you like to have ground coffee on hand, Baratza is up for the job.

One of the greatest features of this grinder aside from its ability to adjust to the perfect grind size is the company's world class customer service. Baratza has a history of providing great customer service to its consumers, which is backed by customer reviews. Not only to they provide quality service, but the best coffee grinders are covered by a one year warranty by the company.

Overall, this burr grinder is best known for its consistency in grinding quality coffee beans. Even consumers who have complaints about design state that no matter what, the grinder puts out consistent and quality ground coffee each and every time.

Pros Specialty Coffee Association award winning as well. Digital timer for consistent grind sizes. Warranty included with expert engineering.

Check Price

---

4. KitchenAid Burr Coffee Grinder

We all know the name KitchenAid. It's the brand of that big mixer your grandma keeps on her counter and uses to bake endless delicious treats and maybe even some homemade pasta once in a while. While they're known for their kitchen mixers, they make a pretty great coffee grinder as well.

The KichenAid Burr Coffee Grinder isn't available in quite as many colors as their popular mixers (yet), but they do have three color options for consumers to choose from. This burr grinder is fit with 15 settings and is uniquely built to minimize frictional heat during the grinding process. Whether you're grinding for drip coffee, french press or cold brew, the KitchenAid Burr Coffee Grinder will have a setting to help you create the best coffee.

A unique feature of this coffee grinder is the hopper where the beans are held prior to grinding. Unlike most other coffee grinders that have a thin or thick plastic hopper, the KitchenAid's hopper is made of glass. Designing the grinder with a glass hopper reduces static that commonly occurs between plastic and coffee beans. Naturally reducing this static results in fewer beans being stuck to the side of the hopper and manually needing to be removed.

Pros Stainless steel burrs and design with an anti static glass bean hopper. Heavy and robust build to cut down on noise and overheating. Highly rated and pairs well with other KitchenAid appliances.

Check Price

---

5. Sboly Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

This next coffee grinder is, in many respects, a perfect choice for quick and easy use in the home. For that reason, it’s great for anyone who wants to brew amazing coffee themselves, whether you are a newcomer or an old hand at it. With its distinctly ergonomically-focused design and its sleek, stainless steel frame, it is a beautiful little number, and it’s comfortable to use. It's also a great time-saving option.

An important feature of the Sboly conical burr coffee grinder is that it comes in easily detachable parts. While these stay together perfectly well during the duration of the grinding process itself, they come apart easily when you are done grinding and want to clean the product.

That helps to maintain a level of sanitation that you can struggle to find with some other coffee grinders, and for those who are keen on keeping things as clean as possible, this is something to consider. That also helps to preserve the integrity of the coffee flavor, which is something that many people are going to be concerned about in brewing their own coffee at home or the office.

On the inside of this grinder, you have a thick and thin torsion head, which gives the user a fantastic level of control over the coarseness of the final bean powder. You will find this a very convenient way to grind your coffee, and generally, it’s proven to be a very easy and free-wheeling kind of grinder in most cases.

For a simple, stripped-back but very portable option, this grinder has to be considered as one of the best. You will no doubt find that it is a great option to have either in the home, or to take to the office, where you could well soon become the toast of your workplace.

Pros Budget friendly option. Sleek design capable of 19 different grind sizes. Great reviews with very little to complain about.

Check Price

---

6. OXO BREW Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

When you picture a coffee grinder, such as the kind you might find in a fancy office or lounge, the image you have in your mind is probably a pretty close approximation of the OXO brew conical burr coffee grinder. This grinder has a beautiful, almost sexy, stainless steel sleekness to it, and it’s the kind of machine that you are going to find a visual delight in your kitchen at any time.

Because of this, and because of its digital screen, it can feel like a touch above the rest in many respects, and when you use this grinder you do feel as though you are a barista preparing some real coffee for someone. It’s a little larger than the others we have looked at so far, and while you would not be carrying this one around with you, that’s weighed out by the fact that it is a sturdy, worktop-placement piece, and one you are going to be proud to have and use regularly.

With a simple design, and a simple operating feature, you can get grinding in no time, and you’ll find it gives you a highly consistent and high-quality grind every time. The feeding process of putting the bean into the machine is also very smooth, which not only makes the whole brewing process simpler, but helps in keeping the grinder easy to clean afterwards too.

You don’t have to deconstruct the entire thing as you do with some grinders to clean it, you can merely take the top burr and lift it out to clean it as necessary. This speeds up the brewing process considerably and takes a lot of the stress out of the process. Finally, this grinder operates speedily and efficiently but without being incredibly noisy, so you don’t have to worry about it being a nuisance in the home. 

Pros Stainless-steel design for greater longevity. Best coffee grinder under 100 dollars. Expertly Engineered for consistency and easy cleanup.

Check Price

---

7. Capresso Infinity Conical Burr Grinder

If you're on the hunt for a tried and true burr coffee grinder, look no further than the Capresso Infinity Conical Burr Grinder reviews. It has numerous 5-star reviews from consumers, putting it at one of the most rated grinders on our list. This grinder is available in two colors, black and stainless steel, both timeless options with the ability to match most modern appliances in your home.

One of the greatest features of the Capresso reported by consumers is that they did not experience much static when operating this grinder. That means less chance of your ground coffee sticking to the inside of the ground coffee container after it's been through the machine.

The Capresso also has multiple settings which allow grinding for everything from french press, espresso brewing or drip coffee to steeping your own pitcher of cold brew. As far as coffee grinders go, we find this one simple to use as it's easy to use the different grind settings in order to change your grind size. This particular conical burr grinder is also easy to clean, which we believe the best coffee grinders should be!

Although an overwhelming number of reviews of this grinder were positive, there were a few hiccups. Quite a few reviewers voiced complaints about the warranty of the grinder and the lack of customer service from the company. When spending money on a new burr grinder, the hope is you won't need to access the customer service, but if you do you of course want them to be helpful in assisting you.

Pros Large capacity hopper and ground basin for more ground coffee. Easy to use and clean. Another high rated, budget friendly option.

Check Price

---

8. Bodum BISTRO

Next up, we've got the Bodum BISTRO, a burr grinder with a simple design. If we're being honest, this isn't the best coffee grinder on the market, but it will get the job done. The Bodum has twelve grind settings ranging from a fine grind for espresso brewing to coarse for things like French press brewing. The design of this grinder is simple and user friendly, it operates at the simple touch of a button.

The hopper of the grinder can hold over 7oz. of whole coffee beans. Even more important in our humble and lazy opinion is that the glass catcher for the coffee grounds is dishwasher safe. That's right folks, eventually when coffee grounds start to get caked to the inside of the container where they're released to, you can put it right into the dishwasher for a good cleaning.

A fairly big chunk of reviews for the Bodum BISTRO would average out to this grinder being rated as mediocre. Many consumers complain that the longevity of the grinder isn't great, which may be a reflection of its relatively low price point when comparing to other burr grinders currently on the market. While this grinder is easy to use, the grind size and amount is often reported as inconsistent. There's not much worse than expecting your burr grinders to perform well and consistently only to let you down morning after morning.

Pros Dishwasher safe features for easier cleaning. Friction clutch technology to reduce breakages. Sleek design with easy to use functionality.

Check Price

---

9. Cuisinart Burr Grinder

If you are the kind of person who wants to be able to grind your beans for a week’s worth of coffee and simply leave it there, the Cuisinart burr grinder is probably going to be particularly attractive for you. With its removable grind chamber that holds enough coffee for around 32 cups of Joe, you are not going to have to grind away all the time just to have your morning coffee.

For that reason, it’s also a great choice for a busier household, or for any busy situation, like a workplace with lots of people drinking coffee all day long. And looking at the unique aesthetics of it, you might find that it provides an interesting counterbalance to many of the other modern-looking items you tend to have in your kitchen, with its almost 70s throwback effect.

But the real watchword for this grinder is reliability. You can expect a reliable and consistent grind every time, and with a huge number of options to choose between for coarseness, you can bring out the specific aromas and oils of whatever bean you happen to be preparing. Plus, this is an automatic grind, so you are not really going to have to do anything, but just let it grind away as necessary. It’s a great choice that many people will love, especially if you don’t want to have to grind beans every time you want to make a cup of coffee - even just a small portion ground in this grinder will give you around a dozen cups of coffee.

Pros Large grinding portion for over 32 cups of coffee. Sleek design with a see-through grinding window. Budget friendly with above average reviews.

Check Price

---

10. Mueller Ultra-Grind Conical Burr Grinder

In all of our experience, few coffee grinders come anywhere close to this one for its overall effectiveness, power, and superior design. It is designed in such a perfected and uniquely great way that you are just going to be shocked by it from the very first use. It provides you with the kind of uniform grind that makes every cup of coffee as perfect as the last, and helps to bring out all of those subtle little aroma points that make drinking coffee a real delight.

One element that tends to impress people is the way that the coffee beans go straight down a path from bean to burr to container. That means you don’t have any of those nooks and crannies that you often find in lesser grinders, and that makes the grinding process a lot more effective while also making it easier for you to clean the machine afterwards. That cleaning process is also aided by the fact that the conical burr separates from the machine, to be cleaned as necessary.

If you find yourself ever worrying about the level of safety of a coffee grinder, this is going to be a great family-friendly choice for you, or a great option for your office, as it is known to be one of the safest options around. It has a number of interlocks which helps to prevent accidental use, and yet it is easy to switch on by someone who knows what they are doing. This is the perfect balance between safety and user-friendliness. Plus, you get one of the most precise levels of control of any coffee grinder, with so many options to choose between, ensuring you get just about a perfect cup of coffee every time. For the true coffee aficionados, this is a wonderful coffee grinder to choose.

Pros Excellent reviews with an affordable price point. Sleek matte black design with stainless steel burrs. Easy to clean and simple to use.

Check Price

---

Best Budget Grinder

While the coffee grinders on this list are absolutely amazing, we understand that many of you have a budget to stick to. For that reason, we put together this best budget coffee grinder review, where we break down the most popular grinders and give our opinion as to which of these has the best value when factoring in performance and cost.

Why You Should Use A Grinder

As we mentioned earlier, it is not unfair to say that the coffee grinder is the most important part of the whole coffee brewing process. But so many people fail to use a grinder, and those people might be wondering what’s so special or useful about having a coffee grinder in your home. As it happens, there are so many fantastic reasons to use a coffee grinder when you are looking to create the perfect cup of coffee in your home.

First, freshly ground coffee just tastes the best. It’s that simple. It’s not even a matter of opinion, when you grind the coffee bean directly before brewing it, you are getting the utmost freshness every time, which means you have secured and maintained more of the subtleties in the flavor and allowed the bean to retain its depth of character and full rounded flavor.

Plus, you can generally grind the coffee to the exact coarseness you need, which means you can use any coffee preparation method you might want, no matter if you are looking to use a French press, a percolator, or a drip machine.

In particular, if you use a burr grinder, you are grinding the coffee between two hard surfaces, rather than with a blade grinder. Blade grinders can produce a lot of heat, which means that the coffee bean is going to end up bitter, but with a burr grinder, you are not going to have that problem. All in all, using a grinder ensures that you are going to have optimal flavor in your coffee every single time.

How to Clean Coffee Grinder

Once you figure out the perfect grind setting for your grinder, making coffee becomes a simple process after that. Occasionally you may switch up between coarseness levels as you switch from drip coffee to pour over coffee, but that is quite simple once you know what you are doing. However, knowing how to clean a coffee grinder and doing it regularly is where the difficulty comes in.

Cleaning your coffee grinder is an important task that you should be doing on a regular basis to remove unwanted oils and coffee particles deeply embedded within the grinder. Despite what many people say, do not use rice as it could damage the blades or burrs, as well as void your warranty. Instead, you'll want to use Grindz.

1. Before staring, remove all excess coffee beans from your grinder, as well as any coffee grounds in the catch basin.
2. Run one capful of Grindz through the grinder on a medium grind size level of coarseness, and then discard the powder.
3. Next, run two cycles of coffee beans through the grinder on the same setting. The more coffee beans you use, the less likely that any remaining particles will be left within the grinder. The powder is harmless but you'll still want to ensure that the grinder is cleaned thoroughly as it may impact the taste of the coffee.
4. Wipe down the coffee grinder of any remaining particles, this includes the hopper, spout, and doser. It should be noted that larger commercial sized grinders may require more Grindz and coffee beans.

Grindz

Grindz is a popular all natural cleaner for both home coffee grinders and commercial coffee grinders. These tablets are great for removing coffee residue and oils. Not only are these food safe, but they are also gluten free! How these coffee cleaning tablets work is they are ground up within your grinder, both absorbing and pushing residual coffee and oils out of the machine.

After running one or two capfuls of these tablets through your grinder, depending on the size of the equipment, it is recommended to run a purge cycle. These purge cycles consist of simply running coffee beans through the grinder to ensure that the Grindz particles are cleaned from within the coffee grinder. It is recommended to use Grindz regularly for a consistent and delicious cup of coffee!

Check Price

---

What is a Burr Grinder

There are two major types of coffee grinders that you are going to find; burr and blade. A burr grinder is one of the most favored types for many people, for the simple fact that, as we saw above, they tend to grind beans in a way that does not add extra heat to the beans. In keeping the beans cool, they are therefore going to retain their full flavor for the brewing process, and it can make a surprisingly profound difference to what the finished cup of coffee actually tastes like.

A coffee burr grinder is what you would tend to find in a vintage coffee grinder machine. It is made up of two revolving hard surfaces, the burrs, which grinds the coffee in between them a little at a time. You can get both flat burr grinders and conical burr grinders, which can differ in the coarseness produced. You can also usually alter the distances between the burrs, which is what helps to give you full control over the coarseness of the powder. As you can probably imagine, this allows for full control over the bean in a way that you might not get with other methods of grinding such as those listed above.

What is a Blade Grinder

While a burr grinder uses two revolving burrs to grind the coffee as finely or as coarsely as you want, a blade grinder is more like a processor, in that it has a single blade that moves quickly to chop up the coffee bean as it moves through the blade. This can provide you with a very quick and effective means of grinding up coffee, although some people don’t approve of the way that it provides some direct heat to the coffee bean in the process. However, for many people, this kind of subtle difference won’t matter all too much.

In all, a blade grinder offers an inexpensive and economical way to grind up coffee beans, and for that, they are very useful to have around. However, you might find there is a lack of consistency compared to most of the burr grinders, and that’s something that can be a deal breaker for some people. All in all, it’s about finding the grinder that really works for you, and making use of it for yourself to create your perfect cups of coffee.

Types of Coffee Grinders

Manual Coffee Grinder

A manual coffee grinder, or a hand coffee grinder as some refer to them, is a type of coffee grinder that takes the automation out of the process. These grinders don't rely on electricity to run, but rather, a little bit of elbow grease. Finding the best manual coffee grinder should be a top priority if you are someone that loves the art and craft of making coffee.

Electric Coffee Grinder

Unlike the manual grinder, an electric coffee grinder is a type of machine that does the hard work for you. Simply fill the electric coffee grinder with your coffee beans, set the coarseness dial, choose the amount you need ground and then hit start. Electric coffee grinders are great for people that enjoy a good cup of coffee without all the added time and work that goes into it.

Commercial Coffee Grinder

If you are in need of a coffee grinder that is able to keep up with your growing demand, then perhaps it is time to switch to the best commercial coffee grinder. Whether you own a coffee shop or are a coffee roaster in need of a more robust grinder, a commercial coffee grinder is the next step that allow for consistency and speed in your grinding endeavors.

Espresso Coffee Grinder

If you are searching for the best espresso coffee grinder, chances are that you own, or are going to own, an espresso machine. Well, an espresso grinder is much different than your average drip coffee grinder. In order to be labeled an "espresso grinder", these devices will need to grind fine enough for espresso, which most grinders simply cannot achieve. Sure, most can grind fine, but not as fine as you'll need for a rich, crema-filled shot of espresso.

Burr Coffee Grinder

A burr coffee grinder is what separates the boys from the men in terms of coffee quality. If you want better coffee, then you need to be using the best burr coffee grinder that you can afford. Like we have been mentioning, a burr coffee grinder is ideal when you want the most consistent grind sizes which will lead to a more equally extracted cup of coffee.

Blade Coffee Grinder

You already know that a burr grinder is better than a blade coffee grinder, but that doesn't mean that you can't save a few dollars and buy the best blade coffee grinder. If you fit into this category and would like to shop around for blade coffee grinders, we certainly won't hold you back.

Conclusion: What is a Coffee Connoisseur to do?

Having a coffee bean grinder in your kitchen will allow you to brew whatever coffee you would like, and will generally give you much greater control over the whole coffee brewing process. With that increased control comes a better cup of coffee. Soon enough, your friends and family are going to consider you a coffee wizard!

As you can see, there are a lot of things to think about as you try to find the best grinders. You should consider how much control you want to have, the level of coarseness needed for your desired brewing method, the price and the quality of the machine.

Then, there are the aesthetics to think about. Some coffee grinders being particularly sleek and wonderful additions to the kitchen in their own right while some may be more of an eye sore. How important that is remains up to you, of course, but it’s worth considering.

All in all, having the perfect coffee grinder in your home can empower you to create a deeply complex coffee experience, and you might find that it opens up an entire world you didn’t even know existed. We hope that this burr coffee grinder review will help you find the right match.