The evolution of the coffee grinder: mortar-mill-automatic – which I’d be happier about?

Bedouin coffee grinder

For quite a long time, coffee beans were not ground at all, but soaked or just boiled whole. The Bedouin, an Arab nomadic people who were one of the first to taste coffee and learn how to make it, are the pioneers in the coffee mill.

They were not aesthetes and gourmets, they were quite satisfied with rather rough grind that is obtained after grinding the coffee beans in a vessel with a pestle just like in an ordinary mortar .

But to grind coffee in a mortar was not an easy thing: roasted beans are both hard and oily enough to cope with them: the work was entrusted to men, and not at once, but after training.

The old mill goes round and round..

From Internet forums of coffee lovers:

“A fighter’s arm is tired of grinding. I connected a drill to the coffee grinder at medium speed. Reduced grinding time from five minutes to two minutes. I advise everyone.”.

With the appearance of the Eastern coffee-making tradition as you know, Turkish coffee needs the finest grind, almost “in the dust” hand-grinders with grinding discs-jars were invented and began to gain popularity.

It is considered that they trace their history back to the 15th century! Manual coffee grinders can be divided into five main types, two of which are still alive today. The other three are presumably found only in museums and collections. Let’s start with the “now living”.

What’s in the black box?

The most famous type in our country – it’s a manual mill, which is a square box with a twisting handle and sliding drawer for ground coffee.

This design was more common in Europe. Sometimes the grindstone is not moved by a handle, but by a wheel. Funnel for loading coffee can be open or closed, which is preferable, since beans in it are less oxidized and lose flavor.

Inside the box there are two grindings, which can be moved closer together for a finer grind or farther apart for a coarser grind, thanks to a special screw.

Beakers come in metal e.g., cast iron or ceramic. The former are more durable, while the latter are more gentle on the taste of the beans because they get less heat during grinding and are completely inert, that is, they don’t react chemically with the beans.

Ability to adjust the fineness of grind, aesthetics.

Because of the cube shape, this kind of grinder is hard to hold with one hand while you twist the handle with the other.

The finer the grinding, the more the body rides on the table. In the past, such grinders were even mounted on tables or held on one’s lap. Nowadays one buys them not so much for the sake of grind as for decoration.

Did you know that “coffee grinders” have rolled off the warpath?

The coffee mill has also been on the warpath. The nickname “coffee grinders” was used during the American Civil War in the middle of the 19th century… the first machine guns of the Adger system because of their big wheels resembling the handles of a coffee mill.

The “union gun” wasn’t very effective maybe fortunately! , but its design marked the beginning of the history of the development of this military technique.

Interestingly, the last name of the supplier of coffee grinders was Mills, which means “mills” in English, and “coffeemills” means coffee mills, or coffee grinders. He proudly called his product “an army of six square feet.

The East is a delicate business

Turkish coffee mills and manual coffee grinders of Eastern origin in general are somewhat different. Their internal mechanism is similar to the drawers, but the body has a narrow cylindrical shape.

Its inventor certainly hadn’t heard the now-fashionable word “ergonomics”, but that’s exactly the quality that such grinders can boast of. They often have a folding or even removable handle, which can be stored inside the body e.g., when transporting .

As a rule, such grinders have no equal in the fine grinding, although the degree of grinding can be chosen.

The ability to twist the handle with one hand while holding the mill body firmly with the other. It’s considered that with good workmanship and good millstones these mills have no equal in grinding.

Such grinders are usually made for small coffee portions 25-35 grams .

Coffee grinder on wheels

At least these rarities look like ancient chariots. These wheels are really just the handles of the mill. “Wheeled” grinders are generally larger and roomier than their single-handle counterparts.

Such “units” could be both table and floor – tall, standing on a stand and designed for large volumes of coffee.

The half-sister of the meat grinder

Remember the old mechanical grinders with spinning handles and table mounts? Imagine that this one has not a screw knife, but coffee grinder discs – that’s the whole working principle.

Externally, the devices are very similar, except that coffee grinders looked more refined: still, they were engaged in a more noble business.

Hanging on the wall, smelling good and rattling

You can ask a coffee lover a riddle like this and if he/she answers, it means he/she is really into it. These are essentially wall-mounted grinders the grinder mechanism is driven by a twisting handle .

One funnel at the top and one at the bottom: put the beans in one funnel and put a pot or a bag under the other for the ground coffee. Nowadays, wall-mounted coffee grinders are also used – in coffee shops and stores. They have a knob instead of a knob, and then it’s done!

Instead of a heart, a fiery rotor

The most common everyday version of the modern coffee grinder is the rotary. Coffee addicts call it a propeller grinder as a joke.

To grind coffee with steel blades is considered blasphemy by professional baristas, but most inexpensive electric appliances use this grinding method.

The knives rotate at high speed and grind hard cheese, spices, herbs and coffee just like in a blender or chopper.

Instructions usually prohibit using such grinders for powdered sugar, but coffee lovers are convinced that this is the only thing you can use a grinder for.

From internet coffee fan forums: “I’m begging you, someone sell a coffee grinder to grind ‘into flour'”. Because I run my coffee through my hand mill two or three times, and it’s missing in there somewhere.

You have to decide what you want to grind in it: either coffee or anything else. If it’s coffee, don’t use it for anything else, because it has a very unforgiving taste.

Suitable for the finest, eastern-style coffee grind. Easy to maintain, it easily removes particles from the previous grind, which oxidation can damage the taste and quality of a new batch. Can be just mini mills for spices, herbs, making powdered sugar.

Grinding is not uniform enough, and beans overheat in the process and can get a bitter taste and immediately absorb extraneous odors, so grind coffee in a rotary grinder should be used immediately.

If the knives are too high, some of the beans just can’t get under them and don’t grind properly.

The return of the millstones

The Right Electric Coffee Grinder – Disc or Grindstone. Coffee beans are not chopped or ground, but ground instead, making it possible for the aroma to develop properly, for each particle of ground coffee to be enveloped in aromatic essential oils.

You can adjust the degree of grind according to your own preferences. The grinders can be ceramic or metal: the former are better, since they heat up less and are more resistant to wear and tear due to friction, while the latter are considered an outrage by coffee gurus.

Household grinders with a capacity of up to one kilogram overwhelmingly use flat millstones, while professional appliances use conical grinders, stronger and more efficient.

Gourmet and professional recognition, maximum preservation of flavor and aroma of coffee beans. Often there is a locking function when a hard object such as a pebble – and it happens! .

Although many manufacturers claim it is possible to grind at any fineness, this is almost always a deception. There is no way to get “dust” for Turkish coffee when the powder feels like flour in such machines.

Also, the flat millstones should always be cleaned of coffee residue. One common complaint of miller grinders is the stepwise grinding adjustment of the grind level.

The stepless one helps to adjust the grind fineness individually, but you can usually change from one system to the other if the grinding adjustment limiter is pulled out.

Forgotten your worries, stopped running..

Among coffee lovers there are more and more “advanced” coffee machine owners or those who dream of becoming such : the pace of modern life takes its toll, and manual coffee grinding is more like meditation.

From Internet forums of coffee lovers: “Can you tell me, I do not understand how to make coffee in a coffee grinder?”

Automatic coffee machines have a built-in grinder with a choice of fineness of grind often more than ten options . It is to be distinguished from espresso coffee carob coffee makers, where you put the pre-ground coffee.

Coffee machine makers work hard to develop technologies that help get the best taste out of their beverage. For example, the central preparation unit can be understood in such an appliance to the grinder at the moment when the grinding is finished and take a small portion of fresh powder for each new cup. You can adjust the consistency of grind using buttons, rotary knobs, touch controls and online dialogs.

Specialist opinion: coffee beans are best hit by the millstones

The head of the HoReCa department of “MagicTest” LLC, an exclusive

The representative of TM Compagnia Dell’Arabica, Saquella, Bar Italia,

Costadoro,

Alexander

Scherbakov:

“Let’s start with the fact that coffee is not a brown liquid that is sold near subway stations. Coffee is part of human culture, it’s an aesthetic, it’s a way of life.

More than a billion people drink coffee the Brazilian way, the Turkish way, the American way, the Italian way, etc., every day.d.

The specific recipe determines what your coffee will be brewed in. It can be a professional coffee machine coffee grinds professional “barista” or automatic machine grinding and brewing coffee is automatic .

It is also possible to brew coffee in a “pressure cooker”, a geyser or drip coffee machine or brew it in a French press.

What grinding method to choose: with rotary grinder, millstone, or maybe apply “grandma’s” manual grinder?

The body of a manual grinder has built-in millstones, which grind coffee beans into small particles fractions by rotating counterclockwise. Working by hand, you can not achieve a smooth grind or adjust the grinder to a stable fraction, which negatively affects the taste and aroma of the beverage.

By contrast, electric grinders can be set up for a coarse or fine grind with a stable fraction the more stable, the higher the quality of the beverage . This type of grind is suitable for preparing the beverage in a geyser coffee maker or a French-press.

Every barista knows that grinding is very important and different fractions can make both positive and negative effects, and an illiterate approach to this question can spoil the whole drink.

Rotary grinders break coffee beans with high-speed rotating blades. Such a fraction can be safely compared to dust, and such coffee is best brewed in a mortar on the stove or in a special device for making oriental coffee, where the mortar is heated in the sand.

With a brief overview of how coffee beans are ground, you can deduce which grinder and for which type of brewing is suitable:

Manual coffee grinder – unstable fraction, with optimal use in a French press.

The grain grinder is the best for both professional and home use.

Rotary grinder grinds the beans to dust and is only suitable for making classic Turkish coffee.