Different working principles of coffee grinder
Coffee is a complex product. Most of the steps of coffee beans from planting, harvesting, cleaning, transportation to baking are beyond your control. But there are two important steps that depend on you: how to grind coffee and how to brew coffee. Since we have to grind coffee first, let's discuss how to maximize the flavor of coffee beans and pave the way for brewing a perfect cup of coffee! There are five different types of coffee grinders: blade type, cone burr type, flat wheel burr type, roller type and traditional mortar and pestle. Most have manual and automatic versions. Blade grinder This type of grinder uses a set of rotatable blades to cut coffee beans into small pieces like a propeller. The blade grinder is cheap and widely used because of its simple operation. However, they have certain defects. First of all, the only way to control the grinding degree of coffee beans is the length of grinding time. The longer the blade rotates, the finer the coffee beans will be ground. The problem is that some coffee beans will be cut more finely than others, and the mixture of coffee powder and lumps will be grinded out. When you brew coffee, it is very important to maximize the flavor of the coffee, the size of the coffee is quite large, otherwise the small coffee beans will be over-extracted (making the coffee sour), while the large coffee beans will not be fully extracted (making the coffee as flat and boring as water). The second problem with blade grinders is that they generate heat. Because the propeller gets hot, the chemical reaction of coffee beans will be triggered, and the coffee beans will change their flavor before being brewed. Conical burr grinder The burr grinder does not use a blade. Instead, it has a static and a movable burr. The coffee beans are crushed in the gap. In the conical burr grinder, both burrs are conical, and the coffee beans are pulled into the coffee mill by gravity. This method has great advantages. Unlike blade grinders, each coffee bean is grinded only once through coffee and is ground to uniform size. In addition, the burr does not produce as much heat as the blade, so it will not change the flavor of coffee beans. The conical burr grinder is available in electric and manual versions. Manual ones are ideal for office and travel because they are portable and relatively light. Electric ones are more convenient, but they are relatively expensive and noisy. If you like to grind your coffee beans classically by hand on a quiet Saturday morning, the manual grinder is the best choice. For most people with bleary eyes after getting up, it is also affordable to use the electric burr grinder conveniently. Flat wheel burr grinder Unlike the conical burr, the flat-wheel burr grinder uses two flat-wheel burrs to grind beans. The advantage is that the grinding is extremely uniform, but the shape of the flat wheel makes it easier for the coffee beans to get stuck, and the machine needs to be cleaned more thoroughly. Similarly, there are manual and automatic versions, and the advantages and disadvantages are also described above. Mortar and pestle If you want to pursue the ultimate manual grinding experience, use the most primitive way. Needless to say, grinding your coffee with a mortar and pestle is a challenge that requires great skill and patience. However, in addition to the aesthetic experience gained by preparing coffee with this most classic method, the greatest advantage of this method is that it can achieve an extremely fine grinding degree. If you like the way of preparing Türkiye coffee, that is, pour hot water directly on the ground coffee as fine as powder, mortar and pestle may be your grinding tools. (However, please make sure that your mortar is only used for grinding coffee. Otherwise, grinding other spices and beans with the same mortar and pestle will immediately taste different.) Roller grinder Using a roller grinder, coffee beans are ground between spiral rollers. The coffee grinded in this way is very uniform. But you should not use them at home because they are expensive and large. Most of the roller grinders are used by commercial and industrial coffee manufacturers. summary
Even though there are many options for grinding coffee beans, most people prefer the two most popular options: the blade grinder with high cost performance but disadvantages, or the more expensive but more convenient and reliable (electric) conical burr grinder.
If it is price sensitive, the manual conical burr grinder is also better than the cheap electric blade grinder. It only takes a few minutes to grind the coffee beans for several cups of coffee manually, and the coffee beans can be ground more evenly manually. Take a look at our equipment and try it! If you are buying ground coffee beans, any way will greatly enhance the flavor of coffee. Really, you will be surprised!
