Beginner custom coffee maker here (Kalita Wave). Can you really tell a difference between burr and blade grinders in a blind testing? Considering everything else is equal (method, beans, etc...). Also, how much do you think percentage wise the grinder contributes to the end product?
Yes 100%
The grinder is the most important part outside of the coffee itself
Three pillars of coffee: the coffee beans, the grinder, and the water. Any one of the three is bad, the stool falls over. Blade grinders leave a variability of fines and boulders, yielding under- and over-extracted flavors. They don't cancel eachother out, so it just makes the cup taste muddy. A good burr grinder will leave minimal fines, and a uniform max size of grounds. Final cup should have clear flavor, and grinder is a big part of that.
Videos
You can use a blade grinder for nuts and spices as well, provided that the 'chamber' and blades are 100% stainless steel. It's pretty easy to clean the oils that would otherwise affect your next batch of beans.
That's not the case with a burr grinder, especially the ceramic variety - a hand-full of hazelnuts in one of those will mean anything coming out of it picking up that taste for quite a while.
I use my blade grinder mostly for that these days, since I own several burr grinders. Great at grinding up peanuts, dry corn kernels, dry spices and that sort of thing.
To clean it, I wash it with a moist cloth as usual and then use a moistened antiseptic towelette (like they use to wipe your skin with prior to giving you an injection) - there's no trace of what I just ground in it once I'm done.
The most important distinction between blade and burr grinders is the result:
Blade
Coffee beans circulate across the spinning blades. No matter how long or short the grind, there is extreme heterogeneity in particle size--that is, you will find larger bean fragments with near-dust-size ones, with everything in between. If you use a pour-over or drip brewing method, you might even see whole beans floating to the top. Not surprisingly, you'll get very uneven extraction from these different particles, no matter what the brewing method.
If you grind long enough to decimate all the beans, you'll find a lot of fine coffee dust and sediment in your cup. Too short a grind, and you get a lot of beans and bean pieces that can't present enough extractable surface area to the hot water, leading to a thin, weak cup. Waste of coffee, to be sure.
Also, it's almost impossible to grind any two batches consistently, since grind time is dependent on bean quantity, type of roast, variety of bean--well, everything. So today you'll get a disappointing cup, and tomorrow you'll get another disappointing cup for some other reason. Therefore I recommend a Conical Burr grinder.
Conical Burr
Beans move through once. When you set your burr grinder to a certain fineness, there will be very little heterogeneity in particle size. (N.B. Spend more on the grinder, get a more even grind.) This allows you to experiment with the grind as well as the quantity until it's perfect for you, then replicate that recipe perfectly every time.
Some tips on finding the right burr grinder for your needs:
- Prices vary from
1500 for non-commercial grinders. I'm happy with my $350 Rancilio, which I've had for 10 years without a hint of trouble. - How you like your coffee matters. A more expensive grinder will do better fine grinds, as for Arabic-style (i.e. Turkish, Greek, Lebanese) coffee. If you don't drink that, don't spend more for it. Most burr grinders perform best in the automatic drip range.
- The under-$100 burr grinders still manage to throw a lot of fine coffee dust into the grind. Do your research before buying.
- Consistency in grind is critical to good espresso. If this is important to you, be prepared to spend as much on the grinder as you spent on your espresso machine. It's for a good cause. Why hobble your good machine with sub-par ingredients?
I’m new to pour overs and was wondering what the actual difference is between the two grinders? Not really in the market to buy a burr grinder right now and would like to know if the blade will actually make a huge difference
The difference really is HUGE the blade grinder will cut up the beans and you’ll loose flavor and you’ll get an inconsistent grind. Burr is a lot better for a consistent grind and better tasting coffee. I’d recommend if you’re on a budget getting a hand burr grinder.
The big difference is in repeatability. You'll never reproduce the same grind twice with a blade grinder, but a good burr grinder will reproduce the same grind quality over and over until you change the setting.
What this means for your coffee is that you won't be able to reproduce the same cup reliably. You could make one cup that was perfect, and make another one the exact same way and have it be terrible.
I am considering a nice burr grinder but can't find much empirical evidence showing they provide a consistently superior cup. If fact, most studies showed a slight preference for blade ground:
Bruer
Dr Bunsen
Cooks illustrated
Is a burr grinder really worth the significant cost? Are the any non-anecdotal sources showing the benefits of burr grinders for home use?
Hi Guys,
I was thinking of buying a hand burr grinder but I was just wondering what the particular advantage over the standard blade type grinder was? Does it grind finer or more evenly? Can you actually taste the difference?
FYI I usually make coffee with a french press, moka pot or domestic espresso machine. I'm thinking of getting a aeropress and possibly a chemex (or other drip/filter coffee maker) after Xmas. I'm also still pretty amateurish; I don't weigh my coffee, time the brew or take an exact temperature of the water.
Any thoughts?
The electric blade would be faster than the manual burr, but won't do a good job. Yes, you can taste the difference.
A burr grinder is a must if you are interested in making quality coffee. This is particularly true with the french press since you want to minimize the amount of silt at the bottom of your cup while maximizing flavor. This means that you should be doing a coarser grind.
A blade grinder will give you nothing but inconsistently sized grounds. This is unacceptable for any brew method.
If you are firmly committed to the french press, then you will need a burr grinder that is good at coarser settings. Do some research to figure this out, but I'd say stay away from the Hario Skerton or Kyocera manual burr grinders. I have a skerton and it works great, but I rarely use it for anything coarser than a medium grind (I typically do pour over)
TL;DR You need a burr grinder, do some research on what kind of grinder does a good coarse grind.
Surprisingly not everyone thinks that even a cheap burr grinder is better for french press than a blade grinder (see earlier post)
So, as I don't know what to do with my free time, I've conducted a little experiment where I compared a 30 years old burr grinder and not the cheapest blade grinder:
imgur album
The result is as expected - burr grinder shows more consistency in grind size and produces less fines (coffee tastes better too)
PS sorry for grammatical and other errors - I'm not used to writing in English
So, I just did a side by side taste test between a decent burr grinder (Baratza Encore) vs an average blade grinder (Krups 3oz).
What I did:
-Used 205 F tap water as measured by electric kettle, and Sumatra (medium-roast) beans roasted locally 12 days ago and kept in airtight container. "#10" grind on the encore, and an approximation of the same grind using the Krups. 15g coffee to 230g water ratio. Brewed in Chemex 8 cup pour-over with bleached Chemex brand filters, pre-wetted and warmed immediately prior to brewing.
-Total pour-over brew time for Encore grinds was 1m48s vs 2m16s on the Krups. It seemed that the water drained slower from the blade ground beans. Both brews had a 30s bloom with 45g water at the beginning of pour over.
Results:
-Honestly, any difference between the cups is very subtle. I can't say that I have any preference one way or another. The blade ground seems to have a more smokey/earthy taste than the burr, but it is very slight. If someone came in and mixed the cups up, I don't know that I could differentiate one from the other.
I'm curious, has anyone else tried this? If so, what were your results? I've always heard that burr grinders are an essential piece of a good cup of coffee, and I'm pretty surprised at how little of a difference it seems to make in my simple pour-over setup.
Tl;DR: I tried both burr and blade ground coffee side by side, and they are remarkably similar. Am I alone thinking this? Has anyone else tried a side by side and what do you think?
Maybe my taste buds are sh*t, but I honestly don’t taste the difference when I have my preferred grind size for pour over?
The only difference I taste is that my local cafe always has better coffee than at home haha
Just One question, that's all, how can you achieve the same grind two times in a row with a blade grinder?
The importance of the grinder in coffee-making, and all the lore and internet knee-jerkism that is associated with it, all begins with *espresso*. The process of making espresso is extremely sensitive to very small differences in grind size and grind quality. For espresso, a good grinder is pretty much a must -- anyone who actually does espresso knows this fact very well. The advice about it being almost mandatory to use a good burr grinder originates from the world of espresso. It's good, solid advice, too.
At the other end of the spectrum you have a method like French press. I would bet almost all coffee aficionados are nowhere near reliable detecting the difference between blade and burr when it comes to French press brews. I can't see there being any basis at all for expecting good reliability in discerning the difference between the two grinding methods simply on the basis of how a French press cup *tastes*. None at all.
For everything in between, your mileage may vary but the burr is going to give you more consistent results, which is very helpful simply by being reliable.
I want to know your opinions and experiences about blade coffee grinders, are they really that bad? Should I just buy preground coffee instead of using this kind of grinder?
I make a cup or two of coffee using a chemex pour over every day. Generally, I have 4 or 5 different bags of beans I’ll cycle between.
I grind my beans using a standard oxo blade grinder that I got for $15 or something. It’s better than the pre-ground coffee I was buying.
I’ve had a few people lately tell me I need to upgrade to a burr grinder. I understand the logic behind them (more even particles, beans are ground rather than cut by blades, yada yada) but are they that much better in the end?
If it’s REALLY something I should look into, can anyone recommend one that would accommodate a small amount of beans at a time? I don’t want a big hopper to deal with as I’m generally drinking something different every morning
Edit: I’m starting with a cheaper grinder from the Greater Goods brand (good reviews and it’s being bought for me so I can’t complain) eventually I will get the baratza encore more than likely.
I can’t believe how many of you want me to hand grind coffee beans. I get it, but I’m not about that life at 5AM
I have a Krups blade grinder, and I'm wondering if a cheap burr grinder would be a BIG improvement over it since I don't have a lot of money and would really hate to spend it in something that's not worth it.
I mainly use a French Press but I'm getting an Aeropress soon.
So, what do you guys think? Would a <$50 hand cranked burr grinder be a lot better than my electric blade grinder? If so, I'd appreciate suggestions about particular models.
Thanks!
Either get a cheap(cost wise) hand burr grinder, or spend about $90 and get a decent burr grinder. It will make an enormous difference, especially with a french press.
Most of the people in this subreddit, I would assume, would say that yes, a burr grinder would be much better than a blade grinder. However, I picked up a $15 blade grinder from a department store a few months ago and I can't taste a difference.
If money is an issue, my advice is just to save your money and stick with the blade grinder unless you think your coffee doesn't taste good.
So I've been using a blade grinder for a while and I'm pretty damn sick of how inconsistent the grind I'm getting is. I just wanted to consult r/coffee about what the difference is between a good and a bad burr grinder. Like is a cheap burr grinder still CONSIDERABLY better than a blade grinder? And what makes a difference between a good and bad burr grinder other than price?