Burr Coffee Grinder Information … What Is a Burr Grinder?

What exactly is a burr coffee grinder? It can really be confusing trying to sort out the difference between coffee bean grinders.

A burr grinder is a middle of the road approach to better tasting coffee from your home coffee maker.

These type of coffee bean grinders use two discs, typically made from metal, and these discs grind together ... forcing the coffee beans to grind against their sharp cutting edges where they are forced through pre-formatted holes.

Cuisinart Supreme Grind Burr Coffee Grinder

A good burr grinder will offer several different grind settings, from fine to coarse. The pre-formatted holes represent these various grind settings.

The ground coffee is then deposited in a coffee receptacle and is then ready to brew in any type of coffee maker you choose to use.

The blade style coffee bean grinders are less expensive, but they do not produce the same flavorful cup of coffee that a burr grinder will offer you. You will pay more for a burr grinder over a spinning blade style grinder, but you will find that it will only serve to enhance your coffee enjoyment.

A blade grinder uses spinning blades (hence it's name) to chop up the coffee beans into a ground. Most blade electric coffee bean grinders leave your coffee beans in various size pieces of coffee bean chunks.

And this can be a problem if you are expecting a smooth cup of coffee. Spinning blades also heat up the beans, pre-toasting them and robbing your beans of flavor before they can even be brewed with the hot water.

What to look for when selecting a burr coffee grinder

You will find that there are various price differences in the most popular home coffee burr grinders, and rightly so.

Our own testing revealed that you can pay very little, not much more than an inexpensive electric coffee grinder (blade type) for a burr grinder ... but you definitely get what you pay for here.

We found that the least expensive of the burr coffee grinders were nearly impossible to keep clean (oils build up in the burrs causing a rancid taste) and were over all not user friendly.

The best burr coffee grinder has these features

• Easy to clean
• Has multiple grind settings from fine to coarse
• Has an automatic stop setting

Most reviewers agree that the Cuisinart burr grinder is a better coffee bean grinder than some of the other coffee grinders that were reviewed.

What will a burr grinder do for you?

An automatic burr mill offers richer flavor from your coffee beans over blade style coffee grinders.

Right from the first time you use it, you will notice a more even grind to your coffee beans. An even grind, without big and little chunks of coffee beans, will give you a smoother tasting coffee without any bitterness.

I have been asked many times how to make a better tasting cup of coffee at home. The first thing I will tell you is to purchase the best coffee bean grinder you can afford. The grinder is more important even than the coffee maker itself.

After all, you can use the most expensive, freshly roasted coffee beans, and top coffee maker … but if your coffee beans are poorly ground you will be disappointed with every brew.

Using a coffee burr grinder helps to preserve the natural oils found in roasted coffee beans. Most people notice the aroma right away, as the beans are ground. The taste of your coffee will tell you the rest of the story.

Read burr coffee grinder reviews

A good coffee bean grinder is an investment in your coffee enjoyment. For the best tasting coffee, buy the best coffee grinder that fits into your budget. Before you bring home a coffee grinder that may disappoint, you can read more grinder reviews with this link or check out the burr grinders @ Amazon.

Written by Chris & Betty Zeigler

And finally...

Wherever you are, remember "Only Great Beans Make Great Coffee"!

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