It’s all inside the beans. Nothing will improve your morning coffee like grinding the beans right before brewing. It doesn’t matter if you’re using a fancy liquid-cooled quantum AI espresso machine or a $30 Mr. Coffee—Making the switch to whole beans will transform your coffee drinking experience. At the end of this article we have tips on how to find good whole beans (you might want to read our guide to The Best Coffee Subscriptions). Once you have the beans, it’s time to grind them fresh every day. These are the best coffee grinders we’ve tested.
Be sure to check out our other coffee-related buying guides, including the best latte and cappuccino machines, the best portable coffee makers, the best espresso machines, and the best portable espresso machines.
Updated April 2024: Added the Eureka Mignon filter, Fellow Tally Pro scale, an Honorable Mentions section, and an Avoid section.
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What is a conical, flat or blade grinder?
Photograph: Iryna Veklich/Getty Images
Our list is mainly made up of conical burr grinders. In a conical grinder, coffee beans are crushed and ground between two rings of burrs. They offer a finer and much more consistent grind than you would get with a traditional blade grinder, even the nicer ones.
Flat burr grinders They are similar, but tend to be more expensive. In these, the burrs are placed on top of each other and the beans pass through them while grinding. The action of the grinder pushes the ground beans out one end, rather than relying on gravity like a conical burr grinder, and the beans spend more time in contact with the burrs. This results in a more consistent grind, but for home brewers, conical burr grinders are just as good, even if they require more maintenance and don’t result in a consistent grind at the micron scale.
Blade grinders It has a chopping blade that rotates like a food processor. But the blades do not produce uniform results. Some of your coffee will be a fine powder at the bottom and at the top you will have chunks too large even for a French press. The result is an inconsistent and unpredictable drink. These grinders are cheap and yes, using fresh beans in a blade grinder is much better than buying ground coffee. (You can learn to shake the beans to even out the grind a bit. Watch World Barista Champion James Hoffmann’s video for more information. blade grinder tricks.)
If you can afford it, we highly recommend using one of the burr grinders we have listed. There’s a reason they cost a little more than a budget grinder. The machinery of a high-quality burr grinder is a little more complicated and is designed to withstand greater wear. On cheap burr grinders, the burrs typically dull with regular use and flimsier motors can burn out in a matter of months.
PSA: Do not put pre-ground coffee in a burr grinder.. Logically it makes sense. It’s too rough, so you go through it again, right? No! With a burr grinder, the pre-ground coffee gets stuck inside the burrs and you will have to disassemble it a bit to put it back in place.