CoffeeForums Coffee Facts

The best way to ensure freshness in the cup of coffee is by grinding the coffee beans right before you brew. Coffee grinders are now fairly cheap whilst there are coffee makers that come built in with grinders. Basically they are the blade type and burr type, both of which can sometimes be found as one complete mechanism with the coffee machine.

Blade grinders are the most economic choice that has a metal blade to break down the coffee beans where you can control the granular size or finesses by letting the machine run for the time it takes to achieve the fineness. However blade grinders don't give even sized grounds and this reduces the brew quality. Further more the heat generated from high speed grinding to achieve fineness in the grind will unduly heat the coffee and will further change the quality of your brew and give a burnt flavor.

On the other hand a burr grinder is better suited as the action of the burrs crushes the beans between the fixed burr and the moving burr. Ground size can be regulated as well and will produce consistent grounds.

There are two types of burr grinders. The less expensive is the wheel burr which can be very noisy as the wheel spin is very fast and it also can make them potentially very messy.

The other is the conical burr grinder. This model is quieter and a lot less messy as the conical burrs spin at a slower speed than the high speed wheel grinders. This is the best grinder to use with oily and flavoured coffees. These don't clog unlike other grinders. Conical burr grinders are without doubt the best and most complete option. This is however reflected in the price, and they are as a norm at least twice as expensive as other models.

Coffee machines with built in grinders are a double edge sword for real coffee connoisseurs. They can take a long time to clean and it is generally recommended to wash the grinder as soon as the brew light goes out, to avoid the whole thing clogging up.

On the positive side such contraptions make for superb strong coffee, without the acidic bitterness that is sometime associated with home coffee machines.