Coffee Bean Grinders: Five tips on using your first blade coffee grinder

For most coffee drinkers discovering different types of coffee beans, the coffee bean grinders with blades are their first experience with grinding coffee. And it does provide a satisfying improvement over opening and using ground coffee brands!

This article provides some tips on using your first blade coffee grinder: including 'doing the shake', watch your timing, not too long/short, and 'feel its pulse'! Lastly, I'll end with some things you should be aware of... SAFETY first.

The Coffee Grinder Comes with Blades

Typical coffee bean grinders are usually most people's first choice as a grinder, as it was mine. Unfortunately, the blade doesn't grind as such; it tears and slashes the beans into smaller pieces until the grind level is achieved.

You'll notice when you first open the canister that the grind is uneven as the grind produces a finer powder like granule towards the outside, while larger pieces are left inside.

Grind and Shake

You can compensate for this by slightly shaking the coffee bean grinders as you press the switch. Don't shake too much, or perhaps the cover will fly loose, creating a coffee cloud! I know it happened to me. By shaking the grinder gently, you will move the grounds around more and ensure a smoother grind overall.

Don't grind too long

Another tip for using the coffee bean grinders with blades is to make sure that you don't grind too long. The blades tend to create a little heat from the friction of blades on beans. This could be undesirable as the heat may impair some of the gentler flavors of the beans, and produce a less than optimal taste.

Feel the Pulse

To overcome this, I usually use pulses: I press the button for between 2-5 seconds at the most, then when the motion stops, I pulse again. Between pulses, I will shake the grinder a little to move the bean grounds around.

The longer the finer

If you are making coffee for a French press, then a coarser grind may be about 7-10 seconds. For drip coffee makers, you will need a finer grind, so experiment with extending the total grind time to double the initial estimate. You may be able to get a really fine grind with a longer time, but you will need to experiment with your grinder.

This works very well with smaller handheld electric grinders, but if the grinder you use is larger or static, or you have hand mobility issues, then this option may not be suitable for you. The larger machines may also have preset grind levels making this pulse, grind and shake ritual impossible.

Other problems with handheld units:

Uneven grind: if you are unfamiliar with grinding levels, you will have to experiment with the different coffee grinds for your equipment. So there's a little learning curve.

Some blade coffee grinders are pretty basic: in other words, the lids or covers may fly off spilling coffee all over the kitchen! If you have one of those, always hold onto the lid properly while grinding, don't shake too violently up and down or it will fly off! Trust me!

Safety First: NEVER use a coffee grinder that can grind beans WITHOUT a cover on... Those blades will happily grind little fingers or anything else that gets put in.

Overall Recommendation

The coffee blade grinders are a good entry point for making whole bean coffee. Have a look at blade coffee grinders at Amazon. Check through the user comments as they can highlight what the grinders can be really like.

And finally...

Wherever you are, remember "Only Coffee Beans Make Great Coffee"! And enjoy that cup of coffee!

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