Proper Coffee Grinder Is Important For Brewing Specialty Coffee

Conical Burr Grinder is Best Choice for Premium Coffee Quality

If you have taken the time to get fresh roasted, whole bean coffee beans shipped to you, and if you are brewing your gourmet coffee using all of the best coffee brewing techniques, then make sure you also use the proper coffee grinder because proper grinding is essential to ensuring the highest quality when brewing specialty coffee.

The process of grinding coffee involves physically breaking down the coffee by cutting or crushing the roasted coffee beans into very small particles. The goal is to facilitate the best extraction of the coffee’s fine aromas and flavors.

Also see: The Top Ten Coffees in the World

Coffee grinders come in two major types, blade coffee grinders and burr coffee grinders. Burr grinders are superior for grinding gourmet coffee, the primary reason being that they produce a more consistent grind size.

Blade coffee grinders are not sufficient for gourmet brewing of  coffee because the propeller-like metal blades of blade grinders run at extremely high speeds, up to 30,000 revolutions per minute, and this can create so much heat that the coffee beans are essentially re-roasted. This excess heat can taint the coffee’s tastes and aromas.

In contrast, Burr grinders work by crushing the coffee beans between a stationary surface and a moving grinding wheel. A burr is used to crush the whole coffee beans between a moving (rotating) grinding wheel (burr or shredding disk) and a stationary surface (disk).

The result of burr grinding is a transformation of the whole bean coffee into very fine particles, the size of which may be varied by adjusting the burrs of the burr grinder for optimal brewing.

The two types of Burr grinders are Conical Burr grinders and Wheel Burr grinders. Conical Burr grinders are the preferred coffee grinder for premium coffees such as Hawaii Kona, Sumatra, or Ethiopian coffee. The reason for this is that Conical Burr grinders have a slower rotation speed, typically about 500 r.p.m.

Conical Burr grinders are also more efficient for grinding very oily coffee without clogging, and for grinding flavored coffees. In addition, Conical Burr grinders are not as noisy or messy as Wheel Burr grinders.

For brewing gourmet Hawaii coffee it is important to avoid using a blade coffee grinder not only due to the excess heat generation but also because blade coffee grinders produce an uneven grind size that creates an inconsistency in the brewing process. Another problem with blade grinders is that they produce coffee dust that can clog the sieve in a French Press or in an espresso machine.

Burr grinders may come with a cleaning brush, and the grinder’s upper burrs may be removable to facilitate the cleaning of the grinding chamber. The area of the grinder where the coffee beans are placed is known as the hopper.