Best Electric Burr Grinder for 2014?

[kyle1234567]

Hello, everyone:

I have recently become a "coffee-phile" by fresh grinding my beans every morning in a Hario Skerton hand-operated burr grinder. I use a French Press to brew the coffee and obtain my beans freshly roasted. It's great, and the coffee quality is superior. However, the manual burr grinding is getting a bit old. I am looking for the best electric burr grinder that is currently on the market. It needs to grind the beans coarsely in a consistent way. Noise level and cost are not a concern. Do you have any recommendations? There are several old threads about this on other websites, but I imagine something better has come onto the market since 2010.

Thanks for any help and advice you can offer!

Kyle Lee
Chicago, IL

 

[John P]

For Home:

Best overall grinder, Baratza Vario.

Best grinder for the money, Baratza Vario. Be mindful that in order to get an equivalent quality of grind, you will need to spend $1200. The only difference is the Vario is not a commercial duty grinder. Home or catering duty.

Most inexpensive quality grinder that's not the Vario, Baratza Encore.

There you go.

 

[peterjschmidt]

Refer to this thread from last month (searching this site is easy too, BTW)...

http://www.coffeeforums.com/forum/coffee-table/12305-what-coffee-grinder-should-i-buy.html




I would also encourage you to throw out that old/incorrect adage about grinding coarse for french press.

 

[kyle1234567]

Thanks to you both for great responses, so far!

@peterjschmidt: I'm sorry I wasn't able to find that old thread. I appreciate your directing me to it. Also, could you expand on your comments about the coarse grind for French Press? I have tried finer grinds, but they always end up as "sludge" at the bottom of my cup, as well as the last 1/3 of the coffee itself. Only by grinding coarser am I able to eliminate that... Can you point me in the right direction? I am becoming a coffeephile; I haven't yet reached this desired plateau!

 

[peterjschmidt]

I haven't use the Hario Skerton, but I think if you pick up a Baratza Encore you'll like it a lot.

The sludge in a press pot is just a fact of life; you can reduce it somewhat, but you won't be able to eliminate it. I view press pot as a teeter-totter between particle size and steep time. I would rather grind finer and steep shorter. Even with a very good grinder - I use a Baratza Virtuoso for everything non-espresso - you still have some fines and too-small particles, and if you go with a longer steep time, say 5-6 minutes like some advise, those too-small particles will over-extract and produce bitterness. So, I'd rather grind finer, about half way between the middle and espresso, and steep for 3min. with a tad more sludge.

I used a press pot on a daily basis for years, and still use it for 'cupping' purposes because it's so repeatable. Then I moved to a Clever Coffee Dripper for a couple years, but hated the too-clean result of paper filters. Next for about three years, I used a Kone filter and a gooseneck pouring kettle - it was great fun, learning the ritual of the pour - but lately I'm back to the CCD, paired with a #4 Freiling gold filter. It's great, especially for you 'anti-sludge' folks, since the Freiling is a finer mesh than any press pot screen out there.

 

[kyle1234567]

Thank you again, Peter... excellent information. I feel like I'm building-up to the pour-over method, but I'm happy the with press pot right now.

-Kyle

 

[peterjschmidt]

Thank you again, Peter... excellent information. I feel like I'm building-up to the pour-over method, but I'm happy the with press pot right now.

-Kyle

You may as well resign yourself to working your way through several different brew methods, partly just for the fun of it, but mainly to find what suits you best. You may not like paper filters, like some of us. As popular as pour-overs are these days, I still lean toward a full-immersion method, like press pot, CCD, or siphon. The beauty of it all is the journey and discovering what works best for you.

 

[Bardo]

Its seems that the next level is not a plateau, but an ever-receeding pinnacle toward which we all climb.

 

[peterjschmidt]

Its seems that the next level is not a plateau, but an ever-receeding pinnacle toward which we all climb.

That's quote-worthy...

Isn't it nice that we can stop and rest on the climb and settle into any given brew method as long as we like?

 

[lockmanslammin]

Not an expert here, but my brother is pointing me towards a refurbished baratza maestro. He said he has had one for 8 years and likes it a lot. Plus it would be a money saver. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Harmyjane]

The manual Bazaar spice grinder might be the best choice for you to control the grind size, and you can get fresh coffee grindings every time if you don`t mind its small capacity. But I will recommend the electric type like the Quiseen that is ideal for various of coffee, herbs and spices, which can be easily operated by one-press and durable serve life.

 

[coffeefanatic232]

Baratza anything, really.