Coffee grinders test: indispensable are!

It was in my mom’s kitchen before there was a microwave, blender, combine, juicer and bread maker.

Thanks to her, I tasted the joys of homemade baby food, and my parents drank real ground coffee, not an instant surrogate.

And now it’s broken, my old beauty, and I have to buy a new one: because all the variety of kitchen appliances can’t replace this simple device.

It could not be simpler..

Rotary coffee grinders work in pulse mode: the blades rotate as long as the button is held down, and the degree of grind is adjusted by the duration of the operation.

The lid of the appliance is usually transparent and allows you to see what’s going on. The power of modern devices is about 100 to 150 W, and a coffee bean capacity of 30 to 120 gr.

Additional technological convenience coffee grinders can be covers dispensers on the cover there are graduations or marks for dosage of coffee , devices for adjusting the length of the electric cord and locking covers, responsible for the safety of the device if the cover is not closed completely, the coffee grinder will not turn on .

Smaller, yet smaller..

Rotary grinders are better suited to grind espresso, not rotary, but millstone grinders, which grind the beans instead of chopping them.

Rotary models are able to grind coffee in French-press coarse or medium grind and oriental coffee in a turret fine grind .

Do not expect from a rotary grinder a professional grind and result. Rotary grinder is more like a workhorse, an everyday helper.

Mission Impossible?

In our country a coffee grinder is used for grinding everything in the world: coffee, cereals, nuts, herbs and spices. What you can and can not grind in a particular device, depends primarily on the power of its motor and the quality of the blades, and each manufacturer specifies in the manual all the “can” and “can not.

However, there are general rules: do not grind very hard and very fatty foods ginger, nutmeg, parmesan, walnuts, etc. . d. . You categorically shouldn’t grind sugar, although half of confectionery recipes prescribe “grind sugar in a coffee grinder to get powdered sugar.

The thing is that sugar has a rather low melting point, and it starts to melt and stick to the knives after a few seconds. If you do it anyway, use very short cycles of two or three seconds, and remember that using the appliance incorrectly will void your warranty.

And most experts agree that the device for grinding coffee should not get “dirty” with the smells of other products: if you want to grind spices and nuts in your coffee grinder, buy a separate grinder for that.

There were some complaints – I checked

Before the test, I studied the opinions of Internet forum visitors about a variety of grinder models, including those that didn’t participate in our test, and I was surprised by the abundance of difficulties people encounter when using such an elementary thing.

During the test, I checked whether the complaints about this technique are grounded or unfounded.

1. The coffee gets all electric and sticky, and the powder is hard to get out.

That’s partly true, but it doesn’t depend on the particular model. Difficulties arise from the small size of the cup of the device and sharp blades, under which the ground coffee gets clogged. Generally, very dry substances become electrified, while coffee beans contain sufficient oil and stick rather because of this.

2. Not all of the grains are ground, some get jammed under the knife and get stuck there.

They associate this with the height of the knives in the cup: if low, the beans can get stuck, and if high from 6-7 mm , they can’t. Our test was done with several models of different parameters, and we had no problems with any of them!

3. Coffee overheats and smells unpleasantly burnt, which impairs taste.

It can happen if you hold the button too long. The instructions for almost all devices specify how long you can grind without interruption usually no more than 30 seconds , and then you must let the motor cool down.

These recommendations are given primarily for the safety of use and to increase the life of the device, but also the gourmets who do not like overcooked coffee, should also take them into account. It is better to spend two minutes for grinding and drink your coffee.

Besides, it is possible that the bean itself is overburnt: roasting can vary from the lightest, Scandinavian, to the extra darkest, Italian or espresso.

4. Unable to grind “into flour”, grinding is not uniform.

Patience and work will wear you out! No one of our models was able to grind coffee beans to “flour” within the 40 seconds required by GOST. But if you hold a pot of soup in your multicooker it will be much cheaper-

Pressing longer, you can achieve a very fine grind, our test showed that. Well, the question of uniformity remains open we need laboratory measurements , but our contestants have shown really good results.

As we tested

1. We tested each appliance twice: with a full load and with 20 grams of coffee two-cup test . We grinded coffee in cycles of 10 seconds and after each cycle we evaluated the degree of grindiness and uniformity of grind visually and tactilely .

2. Evaluated the ergonomics of using the appliance: the convenience of the lid and button, the presence of a place to store the cord, the shape of the grip.

3. We were evaluating the mechanical safety.

4. For the test we used coffee beans Compagnia Dell&acute Arabica COSTA RICA CAFF&Egrave TARRAZU.

Conclusions

1. The main inconsistency with the stated parameters is an exaggeration of the maximum load. The specified volume fits, but it’s hard to grind: you either have to load gradually, or make two or three passes.

Besides, if the cup is filled to bursting, there are two problems: first, if you opened the lid and saw the need for additional grinding, it would be difficult to close it again ground coffee clogs the grooves of lid latches second, when you open the lid you inevitably shake the device a little, and some coffee falls out.

2. Ergonomics plays a big role, because when you work you hold the device with your hands and hold the button: everything should be comfortable. The button shouldn’t be small or tight, and the lid shouldn’t be hard to push in and out.

The cord storage compartment significantly increases the convenience of using the grinder: if the cord is not chattering and is adjustable in length, there is a better chance that no one will catch on it and drop the device.

3. The safety feature of all tested devices is reflected in the lid: if the lid is not completely closed or removed, the grinder won’t start.

We thank “Magic Test” company, the official distributor of Compagnia Dell coffee&acute Arabica for providing the coffee for the test.

Thank you to the coffee grinder manufacturers for providing the appliances.