5 High-Quality Coffee Grinders For Home Brewing, According To Baristas

To grind or not to grind? That is the question for all of us making coffee at home. Sure, pre-ground coffee is much easier when you’re tired in the morning. But sometimes you want to rise and grind! Hearing the whir of coffee beans, delighting in the freshly churned aroma, and feeling like you’ve already accomplished something right away makes for a good morning. If you’re looking for a bean machine that’ll do your gritty work, then this list of best coffee grinders is for you.

Being a coffee drinker has its perks. Drinking two or three cups a day could even add years to your life by keeping your heart healthy. Researchers found that coffee lowers the risk of heart disease and dangerous heart rhythms — helping people live longer. The study tracked more than 400,000 people from the United Kingdom for at least a decade, revealing that this benefit applies to healthy individuals and those with cardiovascular disease. 

There’s even more good news for people who love to start their day with a hot cup of joe. Research from the American Heart Association finds drinking coffee every day can dramatically cut a person’s risk for heart failure. In fact, three cups of coffee a day can slash the risks for heart attack or stroke by a third. Why? Well, researchers say coffee is rich in antioxidants and beneficial plant chemicals that dampen inflammation. Their findings also revealed caffeinated coffee reduces the risk of heart failure by up to 12 percent per cup!

So, feel free to make an extra cup for us — or three. And the next time you’re ready to brew, maybe it’ll be made from fresh fragrant grounds. Listed below are types of burr grinders. Did you know there are two types of grinders? There are both burr and blade grinders. The burrs create a fine, more consistent grind, so for a real barista experience, go for a burr. They offer better results, and because of that, all the best coffee bean grinders on our list are this type. They’re so good though, 15 experts agree you’ll want to wake up and use one of these. If you have a favorite grinder that has its special place in your morning routine, let us know in the comments below.

The List: 7 Must-Have Coffee Bean Grinders, According to Experts

 

1. Baratza Virtuoso+ Coffee Grinder

Serious Eats says this grinder is hard to beat: “Baratza’s Virtuoso+ coffee grinder is routinely picked by pros as the home grinder to beat, and for good reason. Its well-made conical burrs produce a wide range of grind sizes, the results are consistent, the machine is solidly built from both metal and plastic, and it’s all backed up by good customer service.”

According to HomeGrounds, “Baratza Virtuoso+ features 40mm stainless-steel burrs, powered by a 550 RPM motor. It also has a digital display and timer to make grinding even easier than before. It has 40 grinding settings that range from 200 to 1200 microns, making it suitable for every brewing style apart from Turkish coffee and cold brew. The Virtuoso is great if you want to brew espresso at home. The key benefits of Baratza Virtuoso are the exceptional motor and the burr design. They say that if you ask a barista what grinder they have at home, chances are it will be a Virtuoso – that’s a strong vote!”

Epicurious gives you a pro tip: “The Virtuoso+ uses time dosing down to the tenth of a second, which means you’ll need to spend a little bit of time dialing in your preferred settings. We did some of that dialing in: On setting 18, a middle-of-the-road grind that Baratza suggests for an automatic brewer, we got nine grams of coffee in four seconds. This can vary depending on what type of beans you use, but you can use this as a baseline.”

2. Baratza Encore Coffee Grinder

Second on our list is another model from Baratza. The New York Times put this grinder to the test: “The Baratza Encore grinds coffee more evenly, and on a wider range of settings, than any other machine we’ve tested at its price level — and many that cost more. It’s easy to clean and maintain, and an investment you can rely on morning after morning. This grinder should be great for anyone who makes drip coffee or uses other methods that require beans ground at medium-fine to coarse settings.” 

You don’t have to fork over your savings for a quality grinder. “Nearly a dozen of the coffee aficionados we spoke with recommended this more affordable option, highlighting its quality performance and solid build — especially for the price,” claims The Strategist.

Coffee Chronicler talks up the features and customer service: “From my experience, the Baratza Encore is at the sweet spot when it comes to quality, value and convenience. It’s a workhorse that has proven itself over time. Another benefit is that Baratza probably has the best customer service in the coffee industry.”

3. OXO BREW Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

Good Housekeeping thinks this machine is pretty impressive: “Our pros were impressed with the OXO burr grinder in our tests. We found it produced even grounds that can be used for espresso, cold brew and everything in between. The hopper (where the beans are stored) has the largest capacity of all the coffee grinders we tested, holding up to 3/4 of a pound of coffee beans. The hopper features an airtight lid and UV-blocking tint, both of which help preserve the freshness of the coffee beans.” 

“The OXO Brew Conical Burr grinder offers a range of coarseness from 1 to 15 giving you the ability to fine tune your grounds. It also has a dial ranging from 0 to 30 seconds to determine the amount of time you would like to grind the beans. Going beyond just fine, medium and coarse allows you to really create your favorite cup of coffee and also provides for the variety of choices to make different cups of coffees when you please,” writes Food Network.

Forbes likes the removable hopper: “OXO’s workhorse grinder hits the sweet spot between affordability, versatility (there are 15 grind settings, plus additional micro settings) and consistency. The removable hopper allows you to change out beans quickly. This is especially handy for households where one coffee drinker prefers decaf.” 

4. Fellow Ode Coffee Grinder

Homes and Gardens recommends this grinder for your home: “In our taste-testing, it came out on top in a big way. This weighty coffee grinder is impressively compact. Grinding was whisper-quiet and pretty speedy, and with only half-gram retention we experienced minimal loss of our specialist beans. There is also a clearance trigger that will shift any excess grounds stuck inside the unit of the grinder, which is a really nice touch.”

“The Fellow Ode Electric Brew Grinder has 64-millimeter café-level flat burrs that produce a uniform grind, a large dial with 11 settings (and 31 levels total) for total control, and one simple button for easy operation. Rather than pour beans into a bulky hopper, Fellow nixed the container in favor of a single-dose loading chamber, so every grind is fresh. You’ll find no-mess features like a canister that magnetically aligns to the machine’s opening and an ingenious built-in spring to knock grinds back into the holder,” describes Food and Wine. 

And Refinery29 says it’s easy to fall for this grinder: “We fell in love with Fellow. According to reviewers, its grind consistency can’t be beaten — and it looks very sleek out on a countertop.”

5. Eureka Mignon Notte

Wired says this grinder is built to last: “Hand-built in Florence, Italy, the Eureka Mignon Notte is the best grinder we’ve ever tested. It’s built from top to bottom with longevity in mind. You can disassemble it to service its robust inner machinery, clean the burrs, and troubleshoot any issues. Moreover, the chassis is built like a tank, and unlike most grinders, it’s made almost entirely of steel. The Mignon Notte is one of the first burr grinders that I feel confident might actually outlast me. Plus, it grinds coffee to perfection in a matter of seconds.” 

“This grinder offers the high end performance of Eureka’s Mignon line at a much more affordable price than grinders with similar speed and consistency. The stepless adjuster gives you an effectively infinite number of grind settings. Both the performance and consistency and the precision of this grinder is typically only found on options two to three times the price,” claims Seattle Coffee Gear.

According to The Coffee Mill Roasters, it’s suitable for home brewing or a coffeehouse: “Mignon Notte by Eureka is a professional and powerful tool that you can use at home and in a coffee shop. Coffee lovers and professional baristas want maximum grind accuracy for brewing perfect coffee drinks. This grinder can be the ultimate grind master to fulfill your needs. Since Mignon Notte can prepare any type of grind, you can brew possibly all coffee drinks in the world. You can grind up to 340 grams of coffee beans at a time. Eureka has included a 210W motor with 1350 RPM to grind any kind of bean within seconds.”

You might also be interested in:

• Best Coffee
• Best Instant Coffee
• Best Coffee Makers
• Best Espresso Machines
• Best Nespresso Machines
• Best Drip Coffee Makers

Sources:

• Serious Eats
• HomeGrounds
• Epicurious
• The New York Times
• The Strategist
• Coffee Chronicler
• Good Housekeeping
• Food Network
• Forbes
• Homes and Gardens
• Food and Wine
• Refinery29
• Wired
• Seattle Coffee Gear
• The Coffee Mill Roasters

Note: This article was not paid for nor sponsored. StudyFinds is not connected to nor partnered with any of the brands mentioned and receives no compensation for its recommendations. This article may contain affiliate links in which we receive a commission if you make a purchase.