recommended burr grinder for French press ??

[expatCanuck]

Greetings -

I'd love to spend less than $200, but I don't want to spend even a dime on a toy.

Used is fine, but my concern is those nasty flavored beans. That would, of course, render a machine unusable for me.

Looking for a cost-effective tool that will allow me to reliably grind coarse enough for French press, adequately fine for drip, and not make me curse about static.

We don't make espresso.

Recommendations welcome.

Thanks kindly.

- Richard

[letterk]

Meastro Plus used from Sweet Marias would work.

http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.sale-items.shtml

Although, I've heard some complaints about the latest Maestro grinders.

[R-James]

Buy my zassenhaus grinder...

[expatCanuck]

Buy my zassenhaus grinder...Splendid notion. But no.

When I need a mug o' Joe in the a.m., I need it now. And I'm likely tired & cranky. Which means I don't wanna crank. :redface:

[scoopster]

I bought a refurb Gaggia MDF for $150. It had never seen a bean in its life, essentially brand new. I picked that as I do espresso more than I do french press or drip. It can do reasonable espresso grinds and opens up for drip or french press. The unit is a bit quirky in that it has a doser to dispense the ground bean. If you think you might do espresso as well as other formats the MDF is worth thinking about.

[Limey]

Meastro Plus used from Sweet Marias would work.

http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.sale-items.shtml

Although, I've heard some complaints about the latest Maestro grinders.

I've had a Maestro Plus for about 5 yrs. and think it is a very easy to use, durable, quality grinder!

[letterk]

I've had a Maestro Plus for about 5 yrs. and think it is a very easy to use, durable, quality grinder!

Mine has been going strong as well. But I know they were redesigned recently.

[rsrick]

I have a Krups burr grinder - works well, multiple settings for diff grinds. My only complaint is that it's a bit of a pain in the ass to clean.

[JBHoren]

Buy my zassenhaus grinder...


Splendid notion. But no.

When I need a mug o' Joe in the a.m., I need it now. And I'm likely tired & cranky. Which means I don't wanna crank. :redface:

What do you do when the e-lec-tri-ci-ty goes off? Time for hand-crank grinders and camp stoves.

WRT to the horror of flavored beans: run a cup of white rice through your grinder (hand- or electric-operated) -- it'll clean out any remnants of "chick coffee", and give you an opportunity to fiddle with the grind w/o wasting precious coffee beans.

YMMV :smile:

[expatCanuck]

What do you do when the e-lec-tri-ci-ty goes off? Time for hand-crank grinders and camp stoves. ...I put some water in the kettle, put it on the stove, light a match, turn on the gas, adjust the flame and boil the water for my tea. :001_tongu

...mutter, mutter ... one in every crowd ... mutter, mutter ...

[Spacegeezer]

I don't have personal experience with it, but I've seen good reviews for the Kitchenaid Coffee Mill. I wanted one of their old '30s style ones, but they don't seem to make 'em anymore.



What do you do when the e-lec-tri-ci-ty goes off? Time for hand-crank grinders and camp stoves.

WRT to the horror of flavored beans: run a cup of white rice through your grinder (hand- or electric-operated) -- it'll clean out any remnants of "chick coffee", and give you an opportunity to fiddle with the grind w/o wasting precious coffee beans.

YMMV :smile:

This won't gum up the burrs? I once saw someone grind almonds in their coffee mill with extremely unpleasant results. It seems like putting rice through might be something like swallowing a spider to catch a fly...

[kreigle]

This won't gum up the burrs? I once saw someone grind almonds in their coffee mill with extremely unpleasant results. It seems like putting rice through might be something like swallowing a spider to catch a fly...

Dry uncooked rice grinds up into granulated-sugar-like powder, which absorbs the coffee oil off of the burrs. Leaves the grinding burrs looking almost like new again, with a light corstarch-like dusting all over the inside.

[Suzuki]

Works fantastic - the tiny amount of rice powder left on the mechanism has no impact on the first pot of coffee you make after cleaning.

[Monkeyboy]

I've had a Maestro Plus for about 5 yrs. and think it is a very easy to use, durable, quality grinder!

I've also been very pleased with my Maestro, had it for 5 or more years. Grinds evenly and leaves a small amount of sludge in the cup for french brewing.

I recently bought new burrs for it and the design has changed slightly. I used to be able just to pop the top burr off for cleaning by grabbing it but now it's really held in there securely. I have to use a pair of pliers to get it off, a minor inconvenience.

[Monkeyboy]

This won't gum up the burrs? I once saw someone grind almonds in their coffee mill with extremely unpleasant results. It seems like putting rice through might be something like swallowing a spider to catch a fly...

Make sure to use instant rice because it's softer. Urnex also makes a product called Grindz designed for cleaning out grinders but it's about 100x more expensive than rice.

And I would recommend not running flavored beans through a grinder at all. I had a grinder that a girlfriend ran some through and no amount of cleaning ever took away this funky maple syrup odor that it had.

[netsurfr]

Good tip about the flavored beans. Had not thought about that...

[Frank7580]

I know I'm quite late in responding but...

If you're on a budget the "Starbucks Barista" grinder can usually be had through ebay for >$50 US. The word is that it's not up to the task of grinding beans for espresso but I've used mine for over a year for French press brewing with great success.

[Jasonian]

On a budget, I'd go with a Skelton hand grinder, personally.

If you *must* get the best deal possible on a decent enough grinder, I would probably go with a Capresso Infinity. I wouldn't use that for espresso, but for your purposes, I think it would work well.

My mother uses a Bodum Antigua and an Aeropress every morning.

I have a Super Jolly and a plethora of brew methods, but it's my job, so I guess I would.

[Matthew Aldas]

bodum makes an exceptional burr grinder. what ever you do don't buy anything that starbucks carries. Cheap manufacturing

[netsurfr]

I bought a Rancillo over ten years ago and have been very pleased with it. You can change the grind with amazing precision from extra coarse to extra fine. Other than cleaning it, I have done nothing to it. The bur grinders are the originals.

[Thebigspendur]

I bought a Rancillo over ten years ago and have been very pleased with it. You can change the grind with amazing precision from extra coarse to extra fine. Other than cleaning it, I have done nothing to it. The bur grinders are the originals.

The Roncillo's are great grinders but so is the price. The ones I've seen are north of 300 bucks. I've had a maestro for about 6 years and it does everything I need in a grinder.

[netsurfr]

The Roncillo's are great grinders but so is the price. The ones I've seen are north of 300 bucks. I've had a maestro for about 6 years and it does everything I need in a grinder.

I am sure you are right in today's market. It has been so long that I just do not remember how it compared in the market 10 years ago.

[OldSaw]

I have a Cuisinart Supreme Grind™ Automatic Burr Mill (http://www.cuisinart.com/catalog/product.php?product_id=306&item_id=415&cat_id=3). It is very inexpensive (I paid $35) and works fine for me.

So what am I missing? What does a $200 mill do that this one won't?

I brew with vacuum pot, Capresso drip maker or French press.

[Jasonian]

I have a Cuisinart Supreme Grind™ Automatic Burr Mill (http://www.cuisinart.com/catalog/product.php?product_id=306&item_id=415&cat_id=3). It is very inexpensive (I paid $35) and works fine for me.

So what am I missing? What does a $200 mill do that this one won't?

I brew with vacuum pot, Capresso drip maker or French press.

Your Cuisinart "burr" grinder doesn't cut the bean, but rather, crushes it.

Precision in the uniformity of grind particle size is what accounts for the price difference among burr grinders.

If you take a look at your grinder's burrs, you will notice that there is nothing sharp about them. Sure, it reduces whole beans into lots of smaller sized particles, but have a look at the grounds under a magnifying glass, and you'll see quite an inconsistency.

Inconsistent sizing of grind particles means inconsistent rates of extraction. The tiny "dust" particles will end up over-extracted, and the larger "boulder" particles will end up under-extracted.

Getting a uniform extraction rate requires uniform grind particle sizing. (or, at least as uniform as possible)

Other factors then play roles, such as heat dissipation, grind speed, dosing accuracy, and models with timers, and on and on.

In the domestic market of grinders, really, there isn't a whole lot of variance in quality at any given price-point, but the variance in quality between price-points is mostly huge.

[Jasonian]

bodum makes an exceptional burr grinder. what ever you do don't buy anything that starbucks carries. Cheap manufacturing

This is not universally true.

While the Bodum Antigua is an okay grinder for home use, you could do better for the same price.

I would also like to say that Starbucks has carried some decent machines and grinders in the past, and continues to do so. Granted, not every grinder hey sell is of high quality, but there have been some that will do a decent enough job.

My beef with the Starbucks items is the pricing. They mark up everything to well above market value. Of course, they'll put their name on it first.

The old Proteo Romanza starbucks espresso machine was really a rebadged Gaggia Coffee (which is in the best "bang for your buck" category for domestic espresso machines).

I recently saw a Baratza Virtuoso at Starbucks at an inflated price.

Where an item is bought is not nearly as important as what that item is.

[Thebigspendur]

I think in the machines approaching $200 you have a good combination of quality and performance. To pay more than that gets you a heavier machine with stainless steel and a heavier motor and heavier grinders. I think its overkill for home use unless your someone who has to have the best. From what I've seen to go much cheaper especially below $100 gets you a machine that is lacking in the performance area.

[OldSaw]

Your Cuisinart "burr" grinder doesn't cut the bean, but rather, crushes it.

Precision in the uniformity of grind particle size is what accounts for the price difference among burr grinders.

If you take a look at your grinder's burrs, you will notice that there is nothing sharp about them. Sure, it reduces whole beans into lots of smaller sized particles, but have a look at the grounds under a magnifying glass, and you'll see quite an inconsistency.

Inconsistent sizing of grind particles means inconsistent rates of extraction. The tiny "dust" particles will end up over-extracted, and the larger "boulder" particles will end up under-extracted.

Getting a uniform extraction rate requires uniform grind particle sizing. (or, at least as uniform as possible)

Other factors then play roles, such as heat dissipation, grind speed, dosing accuracy, and models with timers, and on and on.

In the domestic market of grinders, really, there isn't a whole lot of variance in quality at any given price-point, but the variance in quality between price-points is mostly huge.

Thanks, that was very informative. Are there any pictures posted anywhere, like on coffee web pages, that illustrate the differences in the grind.

[Jasonian]

This is a picture of grounds from a blade grinder.

Notice the variation in particle sizing. Some are huge. Some are tiny.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3280/2560598957_92babd6eec.jpg

This is a picture of grounds from a high end domestic burr grinder.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/2723772890_eeab98e218.jpg

Clearly, the particles are not 100% uniform, but they are a heck of a lot closer.

Absolute uniformity is almost a myth, but getting as close as possible is the goal (unless we're talking about espresso. That changes things a bit).

[tclevela]

Have the shop where your buy your week's worth of beans from grind them for you. Then store your week's worth of beans in an air tight container.

I've never had any problems with this rule of thumb.

[Jasonian]

Have the shop where your buy your week's worth of beans from grind them for you. Then store your week's worth of beans in an air tight container.

I've never had any problems with this rule of thumb.
Hmm...

[snip]... but fresh-ground is certainly better than pre-ground, even if it's ground on the sidewalk with the heel of your boot.[snip]