Inspired by the recent thread of a coffee grinder that is compatible with a fixed income, I have a question. The initial responses pointed to blade grinders as an inexpensive entry to coffee grinders, and eventually included manual grinders. There is a clear improvement (to my nose/palate) when I freshly grind my beans with a burr grinder, and by virtually every account I have seen, burr grinders are deemed superior to blade grinders, owing to the consistency of the coffee post-grind and the uniform extraction from those grounds. It begs the question, though, whether freshly ground beans from a blade grinder deliver a better flavor experience than pre-ground. If so, that would be a great option for folks looking to dip their toes in the fresh ground experience, but not want to drop $100 for a decent entry-level burr grinder.
Blade Grinders: Is Freshly Ground Still Better than Pre-Ground?
- Thread starter beginish
- Start date
I think it depends on how fresh the coffee is and what method you're using to brew. For a drip machine with fresh coffee you're better with a blade grinder than preground. I think even with older beans that are whole you'll still get a better cup than with preground. Now if you're trying to make an espresso where a fine grind is very important you're better off with preground than a blade grinder. Blade grinders work very well with a French press which, as a brewing method, is pretty forgiving as well. There are a lot of really cheap manual burr grinders out now that are passable for most applications; I think you can pick them up new for 15 bucks. Now a hario/Kyocera will be a better grinder in regards to adjustability but I think one of the cheap manual burr grinders is better than a blade grinder; they just have a really small capacity.
The main problem with blade grinders is the inconsistent grind. Better to use a method with a really good filter when doing that, like paper or cloth. Of course you can pour through a filter after brewing. You can use any old thing to brew and then pour through a filter. Depending on the filter you can first pour through a coarse mesh strainer then through a paper or cloth filter, but sometimes it's better not to because this leaves just the fines that easily clog a paper filter. The benefit of a coarse strainer is better control of the brew time--it almost completely stops the brewing immediately except for a bit of fines, while without it you're still brewing while the liquid drains.
Last edited:
I don't like blade grinders because the inconsistency is so huge that any brewing method (drip, French press, Moka, etc) under-extracts the big chunks (weak and watery) while over-extracting the fines (bitter). You end up with a cup that has a lot of the worst qualities of the coffee extraction process, and very little of the 'sweet spot' goodness.
My taste experience is that buying pre-ground in small amounts as possible (so turn over is high) produces a notably better (smoother, richer) cup than chopping up good beans with a whirlybird.
My taste experience is that buying pre-ground in small amounts as possible (so turn over is high) produces a notably better (smoother, richer) cup than chopping up good beans with a whirlybird.
It all depends on how you will be brewing your coffee.
A pour over or drip with a filter does not mind an inconstant grind (chunks and dust). A French press or Moka pot or vacuum all of which need a fairly consistent coarser grind will suffer with a blade. ....Espresso..... forget it and grab your pulls from a coffee shop.
A blade will heat up the beans if you hold it down for a while. Pulsing it is better to keep the heat down.
With burr grinders slower is better. High speed burr grinders will heat the beans up more than a low RPM burr grinder will.
A lot of this is esoteric as any fresh roasted, ground right before brewing coffee, (regardless of how it is ground or even how coarse or fine it is) is going to be heads and shoulders above "ground for your convenience" stale coffee.
There are some pretty consistent hand grinders out there for about half of what an entry level electric grinder sells for. These high grade hand grinders are about equal to a $300-$400 electric in consistency. Just remember to grind slowly as the same too fast = heat goes no matter how you grind your beans. SO... no drills on your hand grinder.
A pour over or drip with a filter does not mind an inconstant grind (chunks and dust). A French press or Moka pot or vacuum all of which need a fairly consistent coarser grind will suffer with a blade. ....Espresso..... forget it and grab your pulls from a coffee shop.
A blade will heat up the beans if you hold it down for a while. Pulsing it is better to keep the heat down.
With burr grinders slower is better. High speed burr grinders will heat the beans up more than a low RPM burr grinder will.
A lot of this is esoteric as any fresh roasted, ground right before brewing coffee, (regardless of how it is ground or even how coarse or fine it is) is going to be heads and shoulders above "ground for your convenience" stale coffee.
There are some pretty consistent hand grinders out there for about half of what an entry level electric grinder sells for. These high grade hand grinders are about equal to a $300-$400 electric in consistency. Just remember to grind slowly as the same too fast = heat goes no matter how you grind your beans. SO... no drills on your hand grinder.
There is nothing like a fresh cup of joe lovingly ground by pestle and mortar by Sofia Vergara.
- Thread starter
- #7
I'm thinking about the average coffee drinker who brews a pot in the Mr. Coffee or Krups. Would he have a better (and yes, I know better is subjective, that's why I'm asking for opinions) taste experience with freshly blade-ground coffee than pre-ground? After getting the Baratza after a long time using pre-ground, my wife commented about how much better she liked the fresh ground way back when than the pre-ground we had been drinking. We had been using a blade grinder back then (waaaaay before I started reading Mick's coffee posts).
A lot of folks used to drinking that ancient swill in a can will need a taste bud adjustment before they appreciate what fresh coffee should taste like. But I'll never go back to canned archaeological fodder.
I am not a coffee enthusiast like many here, I just like a good cup of freshly ground DARK coffee. Or a lot of cups. 
We brew in a residential Bunn (I think our third in 25 or so years) or have a big 28 cup stove top/camp pot we use when lotsa people are around.
When we started to grind our own beans, we bought (I am assuming) what was probably the crappiest blade grinder on the planet. To be honest, I didn't notice ANY difference over buying premium pre-ground, and I thought the whole grinding thing was a huge PITA for little or no benefit. When that grinder died a horrible smoky death, my wife bought a $100 ish (today money) Cuisinart burr grinder. I remember being half pissed, because at that time we didn't hardly have two nickels to rub together, and the Bunn brewed Butternut just fine. That grinder made a big difference to me. I can't say for sure how many years we have been using it, but seems like close to a decade, and our coffee tastes pretty okay.
One (maybe major) thing has changed since I have started paying any attention: We have a very local coffee roaster whose product is available everywhere in our locality, so we are generally grinding very freshly roasted beans. (I think.)
Sorry to have drug this answer out so long, but I think the taste of the coffee has proven itself, and out little burr grinder has has churned out great pot after pot for years, and I vote yes for the cash outlay.
We brew in a residential Bunn (I think our third in 25 or so years) or have a big 28 cup stove top/camp pot we use when lotsa people are around.
When we started to grind our own beans, we bought (I am assuming) what was probably the crappiest blade grinder on the planet. To be honest, I didn't notice ANY difference over buying premium pre-ground, and I thought the whole grinding thing was a huge PITA for little or no benefit. When that grinder died a horrible smoky death, my wife bought a $100 ish (today money) Cuisinart burr grinder. I remember being half pissed, because at that time we didn't hardly have two nickels to rub together, and the Bunn brewed Butternut just fine. That grinder made a big difference to me. I can't say for sure how many years we have been using it, but seems like close to a decade, and our coffee tastes pretty okay.
One (maybe major) thing has changed since I have started paying any attention: We have a very local coffee roaster whose product is available everywhere in our locality, so we are generally grinding very freshly roasted beans. (I think.)
Sorry to have drug this answer out so long, but I think the taste of the coffee has proven itself, and out little burr grinder has has churned out great pot after pot for years, and I vote yes for the cash outlay.
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
One nice thing about New Orleans for coffee drinkers is probably most of the coffee beans that come into this country, i.e. every single bean we drink, comes through our port. So there is plenty of warehouse turnover, and if it is flying off the shelf in the store, then it is gonna be pretty fresh beans. We have a lot of roasting going in here, both large and small scale. When the wind is right you can smell the roasters all over the city. They are mostly on the "sliver by the river". In the old days a ship would discharge its coffee right across the street or right behind the warehouse/roaster. All the roasting was right along the river. Anyway, our big brand beans are pretty good here. I love 8 O'clock Columbian. Great bean, and cheap as dirt. My only grinder right now is a Turkish hand mill, the tall brass kind that usually only makes powder, but I modified the burr a bit on a bench grinder and can get a grind a little coarser than ideal for espresso, and a teeny bit fine but not too bad, for pourover with a paper filter. However, my regular cup is a cappuccino made on my Delonghi superauto, and the built in grinder seems to do the job just fine. I am really happy with it. Under $600 as I recall, 3 years old, still works great and I like my cappa way better than what they "serve" at the local coffeeshop. "Serve" is probably not the right term when you have to wait in line at a counter for some kid with a ring in his eyebrow to shove it at you and then give you this hurt look when you don't tip him. Anyhow, my homemade cappuccino beats the pants off of theirs. Whatever my grinder is doing, I wish it would just keep on doing it.
But maybe I am wandering off topic. I have used various hand grinders and I like the results, generally, better than whirlyblade grinders. Good hand grinders can be had for well under $50, so no reason, money wise, to resort to a macerator. A cheap ceramic burr grinder is cheap enough and works good enough for most people. And I can DEFINITELY smell and taste the difference, no matter how it is brewed, between canned coffee and coffee ground 2 minutes ago.
But back to the whirlyblade... even that, is better than canned coffee, I believe, for drip, including pourover. I don't think it is a good idea to try use it for espresso or moka or similar brew methods. YMMV on FP, and I haven't tried it with both grinds, but it just doesnt seem like a good idea for FP to use blade ground coffee, and there I think canned might have an edge. Because the grind is so critical for espresso, I would rather use a canned espresso grind coffee. Perk? I don't do that and truthfully I don't know how anybody can drink perk no matter how the beans are ground. Only good thing about perk is you can smell it all over the house while it is getting the daylights boiled out of it lol
But maybe I am wandering off topic. I have used various hand grinders and I like the results, generally, better than whirlyblade grinders. Good hand grinders can be had for well under $50, so no reason, money wise, to resort to a macerator. A cheap ceramic burr grinder is cheap enough and works good enough for most people. And I can DEFINITELY smell and taste the difference, no matter how it is brewed, between canned coffee and coffee ground 2 minutes ago.
But back to the whirlyblade... even that, is better than canned coffee, I believe, for drip, including pourover. I don't think it is a good idea to try use it for espresso or moka or similar brew methods. YMMV on FP, and I haven't tried it with both grinds, but it just doesnt seem like a good idea for FP to use blade ground coffee, and there I think canned might have an edge. Because the grind is so critical for espresso, I would rather use a canned espresso grind coffee. Perk? I don't do that and truthfully I don't know how anybody can drink perk no matter how the beans are ground. Only good thing about perk is you can smell it all over the house while it is getting the daylights boiled out of it lol
Good question, but I would reword it slightly. Which is better- coffee brewed from beans freshly ground with a blade grinder or coffee brewed from pre-ground beans that were ground with a good burr grinder?
Is it the shape and consistency of the grind or the freshness that yields the better cup? The answer is, or course, both, but which of the two is the more important? There's a reason a good coffee shop will use a great grinder and grind immediately before brewing.
It would also depend on how fresh the coffee is, in both cases.
If the coffee was roasted this morning, pre-ground in a good grinder and then brewed later that same day, I'd give it the edge. If the beans have been sitting on the shelf for a couple of months, then the blade grinder would probably get the nod. The beans would be less stale.
Pre-ground and sitting on the shelf for months is what I'd avoid.
If the coffee was roasted this morning, pre-ground in a good grinder and then brewed later that same day, I'd give it the edge. If the beans have been sitting on the shelf for a couple of months, then the blade grinder would probably get the nod. The beans would be less stale.
Pre-ground and sitting on the shelf for months is what I'd avoid.
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
I have noticed that the first shot made from a freshly opened can is surprisingly good, much better than the next and the next. I guess what we need are 2oz cans of coffee.
For me fresh roasted and fresh ground is the most important. Grind is very important with espresso but I'd say not as important with pour over. I think I was fairly consistent with my blade grinder with time and sound cues. Just speaking for myself.
For non-espresso I'd say yes. For espresso I'd say neither is better and one on a budget should consider a hand grinder. Preground goes stale very quickly and it's very easy to notice with espresso. Any time someone asks for help diagnosing a fast espresso pull one of the first questions is "how fresh are your beans and were they ground right before pulling?".
In my opinion, yes. In the opinion of one who is used to preground? No telling. The person may still prefer what the person is used to. A lot of people enjoy Folgers, Maxewell House, etc. It's up to each to try the options to see what the individual prefers.
If there's one nearby a good coffee shop is one way to experience fresh ground with a good grinder.
Last edited:
Before I got my espresso machine and burr grinder a few years ago I used an old mokka pot for decades with a cheap whirling blade grinder.
From my experience freshly ground was a huge improvement over preground even if there was a learning curve to get the grain size right (which means "in the ballpark" with blade grinder).
The preground coffee was okay from a fresh pack but after 3 days it really lost lots of flavour....
br,
ToM
From my experience freshly ground was a huge improvement over preground even if there was a learning curve to get the grain size right (which means "in the ballpark" with blade grinder).
The preground coffee was okay from a fresh pack but after 3 days it really lost lots of flavour....
br,
ToM
I have been using a whirlyblade grinder on my coffee for years now. Recently upgraded to a Hario hand crank burr grinder. The difference in the quality of the brew is remarkable IMO. Much less bitter and more flavorful.
Similar threads
