You may have some money on the side, and you can’t decide what to get a coffee maker or a coffee grinder. You might see many companies labeling their products ‘the best coffee maker with grinder’, but getting a separate grinder is way better.
Having a grinder will enhance the flavor, your morning coffee will taste better, and you will finally taste the flavors of the coffee you have been buying. We can also say that the coffee that you will be making at home will come close to the coffee shops you go to get a cup. Here some reasons why getting a grinder is better.
1. You will be getting freshly ground coffee every day
You have definitely bought stale coffee, at least one in your life. You may not have realized it, but almost every bag of ground coffee you have bought has been pre-grounded. That coffee has been staying in a bag for a long time and you have no idea how much flavor it has been losing.
A lot of foods and drinks get stale after some time, and coffee is one of them. There is a process called oxidation. Small organic molecules breakdown over time and that is why the flavor is lost. Also, with coffee, aromatic oils evaporate, and those can be essential when it comes to some of the best tasting and smelling experiences in coffee.
When the coffee beans have been grounded, you have at least 30 minutes to make a fresh brew, but after that, we consider the coffee to be stale. So, getting a grinder at home will ensure that you will always have the freshest coffee.
2. The pleasure of making everything on your own
Having the benefit of grinding the beans, then brewing the grounded coffee is just a new experience, and a good one. If you are not satisfied with one batch, make some adjustments, and do it all over again. With every new brew, you make the coffee will get better and better every time.
You just have to be focused and remember the taste so you can make adjustments. The whole thing comes down to the coffee extraction. It matters how the water and the grounded coffee interact. When you put the grounded coffee in the water, some things get dissolved, but some don’t.
The sour and acidic flavors are the first to be hit by the water and as the process goes forward, those become smoother. Next are the flavors like chocolate and nuts, and at the very end, only the bitter tannins. The end product should be that every stage of the extraction should be perfect; that way, you will surely taste every flavor that the coffee has to offer. If you stop the process to soon or you let it go for too long, you will either have an off-balance or full-flavored coffee.
How the grinder can control the extraction
The key is to control and manipulate the size of the coffee grind. Like we said earlier, when oxygen is added to the mix, the larger particles take more time to extract, and the smaller ones take way faster.
When you finish your brew and the coffee tastes a little sour, that means that the extraction wasn’t fully finished. To make the extraction faster and make sure not to have that taste again, just make sure to grind the coffee finer.
On the other hand, if the brew comes out tasting bitter, then you know that the process was left too long, and you over-extracted the coffee. Do a coarser grind next time to avoid that taste.
It looks easy, but some people have to do a lot of tasting and brewing to master the techniques. But when you finally make that perfect cup of coffee, you will never go back to a regular cup of coffee. Focus and make small adjustments and you will master the process of extraction.
Avoid blade grounders
We think that by now, we know what rewards we get by owning a coffee grinder. Now the next step is to find one that will satisfy our needs. Now let us tell you that just going to the maker and getting the first grinder you see is not a good idea. If you know what you are looking for in a grinder, the best models are pretty easy to spot.
Now here is why you should avoid blade grinders. First of all, they are cheap and don’t get us wrong, some cheap and affordable grinders do the job perfectly, but the blade grinders are just not what you want.
When you put your coffee beans in a blade grinder, they don’t get ground; they get chopped. You can’t control how big the ground will be so, and you will have grinds in all sizes. And we mentioned earlier that controlling the size of the grinds determines the extraction process. That is why burr coffee grinders are the only solution. The beans are ground consistently and you can easily adjust the size of the grind.
The perfect burr grinder
There are two options when it comes to burr grinders, manual and electric. Both have their own pros and cons, so it gets down to preference.
The manual grinders are durable, lightweight, and ironically cheaper than the blade grinders, but do the job way better. You do have to work a little bit, but the reward is amazing. They go for around 30 to 40 dollars and are perfect for people who are just starting to grind their own coffee.
The electric burr grinders are a bit more expensive, but you won’t have to move a muscle in the morning. The coffee will be made faster, and it good to have that option in the morning if you are rushing to go to work. They can be loud, and they won’t last you longer than the manual ones because parts do break.
What is the perfect price for grinders
If you are on a small budget, you have either the blade grinder or the manual burr grinder, and we know you know which one is better. Manual grinders do the job very well, so buying one at a price between 30 and 40 dollars is perfect.
The electric ones go for more, and getting one under 100 dollars, is just wasting money. They are many from cheap plastic and the settings aren’t good enough. There are electric grinders in the price range of 150 to 250 dollars that will do their job perfectly, that is, if you are willing to spend that much.
Begin grinding and brewing your own coffee
We think we made a fair point as to why getting a coffee grinder can be beneficial. We think that having the control to make everything yourself is impressive and that is why we encourage you to do it too. If you are just starting and want to grind your own coffee, get yourself a manual grinder, learn the extraction process slowly and stop going out just to get a cup of coffee when you can make a perfect one at home.